Kmflett's Blog

E P Thompson, Netanyahu & the Rule of Law

The left generally are not great enthusiasts for the ‘rule of law’ and perhaps particularly some aspects of employment law. Those who fulminate about the importance of judges and the law are often seen as being Tories intent in preserving the practices of an unjust society. Often they are.

One politician amongst others in a crowded field who stands out as someone who does not recognise the Rule of Law is Benjamin Netanyahu. Wanted for genocide in Gaza at the Hague, there is no international law or UN Resolution that Netanyahu is not happy to ignore and break.

Of all the post-1945 figures to have considered the Rule of Law the one who arguably wrote most powerfully on it was E.P Thompson.

He devoted a concluding section of his book Whigs and Hunters to the matter. In the book Thompson looks at the eighteenth century Black Acts which listed a growing number of often petty offences for which offenders could be hanged. It was the period of the ‘Bloody Penal Code’. In practice matters often did not work quite like this as Jurys refused to convict people.

Thompson recognised that defending the Rule of Law from the left was not a popular thing to do He noted that ‘I stand on a very narrow ledge, watching the tides come up’. [p260]. However he argued that ‘it is not possible to conceive of any complex society without law’ [p260].

Indeed as he knew well from his researches, ‘for as long as it remained possible, the ruled- if they could find a purse and a lawyer-would actually fight for their rights by means of law’ [p261].

This was not just an individual thing but a collective position. Thompson argued that the rhetoric of the plebeian crowd, of the free born Englishman’ was centrally focused on ’inviolable privacy.. habeus corpus…equality before the law’ [p264] In other words a workable system of law was basic to a defence of popular rights.

He recognised of course that the law was ‘devised by men of property as a defence against arbitary power’ [p264] but argued that a system that provided defence against arbitrary use of power by authority was important to working people as well as the bourgeois [p266].

In short Thompson saw ‘a whole inheritance of struggle about law’. The Rule of Law and what it means is important in any complex society but it is also something to be argued about, and struggled over not just dismissed. The principle of an agreed benchmark for war crimes and genocide is of overriding importance but in a world of contestation between global powers victor’s justice still colours matters.

The ONS have published the top baby names, female and male, for 2022.

The top male name is Noah possibly reflecting the impact of climate change.

Of Keir and Keith there is no sign not just in the top 5 but in the top 100.

Keir Starmer probably derives his first name via is Labour supporting,hirsute Guardian reading father from the first Labour leader Keir Hardie. Apparently he is not delighted to be called Keith and the feeling is mutual. He should stick to Keir.

I would have no trouble being called Keir but my first name derives from the Scottish town of the same name (it has a brewery and distilleries..)

This still leaves the question of why the K names are so unfashionable. Is a defence committee needed?

Palestinian protests, the ICC & the Rules Based International Order

On Saturday 18^th May the fourteenth London demonstration in support of the Palestinians since October 7^th 2023 attracted 250,000 people. As several people have pointed out it is an astonishing record of mass mobilisation unparalleled as far back as the first mass protest of the modern era at Peterloo on 16^th August 1819.

Moreover it was far from the only Palestinian protest in the UK on that day- this is a country wide movement- and its also framed by student protest camps at a growing number of Universities inspired by US students.

Comparison has been made with 1968. It might be argued that this is a far broader movement, although students were then and are now a key element. It has not yet reached the level of the French General Strike of May 1968 which almost brought down the Government

Its impact can be seen in the decision by the International Criminal Court to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant on 20^th May.

Israel, which like the US (but unlike the UK) does not recognise the Court has so flouted what used to be known as the rules based international order, and created in doing so such a powerful opposing protest movement that to retain any credibility it had to act.

Of course there is a problem

Perry Anderson in New Left Review 143(Sept/Oct 2023) wrote on the Standard of Civilisation a detailed analysis of the theory and practice of international law.

He notes:

Naturally enough, the icc—staffed by pliable personnel—declined to investigate any us or European actions whatever in Iraq or Afghanistan, concentrating its zeal entirely on countries in Africa, according to the unspoken maxim: one law for the rich, another for the poor.

The problem comes when Israel so rips up any concept of international law including the one bit that had until then actually worked, when Israel bombed an Iranian diplomatic building, something had to be done. The ICC has duly done something and Biden has called it an ‘outrage’. But if trying to uphold any concept of a rules international order is condemned where does that leave the legitimacy of US imperial endeavours.

Expect protests to continue and grow and more history to be made.

Beard Liberation Front

Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social

British Sandwich Week focus on the Beard Friendly

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that with British Sandwich Week underway it is reviewing what is the most beard friendly sandwich.

The BLF has issued a call in British Sandwich Week [19-25 May] for sandwiches to become more friendly

Each year during National Beard Week in June the campaigners search for a sandwich that does not have excessive mayo or salad which tends up in the beard rather than the mouth.

With the rise of artisan sandwiches the bread around the sandwich filling, whether a traditional slice, flat bread or ciabatta, often fails to contain the contents which can then spill out into the beard even with the most careful eating.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett, the trend to towards sandwiches without excessive salad and mayo that gets stuck in the beard is continuing, but there remains much work and sandwich eating to do.

British Sandwich Week Most Beard Friendly Sandwich. Some Contenders

Fish finger, Aioli

Avocado on Rye

Cheese & Red Onion

Ham & Mustard

Crab, Chilli

Peanut Butter

Beetroot & Feta

Cheese & Haggis

Marmite & Cheese

John Betjeman who died 40 years ago may have seemed an unlikely Labour Party supporter but he was. A close friend of Mary Wilson he wrote the original Nooks and Corners column in Private Eye.

The link below is to a Labour Election broadcast 60 plus years ago in 1962 where Betjeman attacks concrete slabs of buildings constructed thanks to money. The broadcast is introduced by the Labour MP Tom Driberg and also features Arnold Wesker. Betjeman is at about 12.30

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-enjoying-life-1962-online

19th May

It has been a fraught week in Ambridge. Falon sensibly has spent several nights at the Bull to avoid having further discussions with Sgt Knacker Burns about her miscarriage. Burns is keen on having children (possibly because its the only way to keep the headcount up at the Borsetshire Constabulary) but seems oblivious to the reality that its Fallon who has to decide if she wants a baby not him.

Meanwhile class struggle has resumed between the Archers and the Horrobins. Tracey was absolutely right to call Alice a spoilt rich girl. While there can be sympathy for her alcoholism-the reality is that she is being spirited away to London leaving not the Archers dynasty but the Horrobins to look after Alice.

Gaza

The Ambridge Socialist is organising a Gaza Solidarity Group and plans a protest camp on the village green. Further details here and definitely not on the BBC

George converts to cask beer*

George is conflicted, reflecting a side to his character previously obscure. Offered free beer in the Bull on Thursday he eschewed his usual lager and was drinking pints of Shires bitter, the Borchester brewed pale ale classic. Perhaps with better weather arriving its time for an Ambridge Beer Festival

*thanks to Hazel Potter for this story

Source: Conservative Home

• Douglas Ross – Moray (announced 14/10/21)
• Charles Walker – Broxbourne (announced 2/2/22)
• Crispin Blunt – Reigate (announced 1/5/2022)
• Mike Penning – Hemel Hempstead (announced 17/5/2022)
• Adam Afriyie – Windsor (announced 22/7/2022)

• Andrew Percy – Brigg and Goole (announced 8/11/2022)
• Chloe Smith – Norwich North (announced 22/11/2022)
• William Wragg – Hazel Grove (announced 22/11/2022)
• Gary Streeter – South West Devon (announced 25/11/2022)
• Dehenna Davison – Bishop Auckland (announced 25/11/2022)

• Chris Skidmore – Kingswood (announced 26/11/2022)
• Sajid Javid – Bromsgrove (announced 2/12/2022)
• Mark Pawsey – Rugby (announced 5/12/2022)
• Matt Hancock* – West Suffolk (announced 7/12/2022)
• George Eustice – Camborne and Redruth (announced 18/1/2023)

• Edward Timpson – Eddisbury (announced 1/2/2023)
• Jo Gideon – Stoke-on-Trent Central (announced 9/2/2023)
• Paul Beresford – Mole Valley (announced 12/2/2023)
• Stephen McPartland – Stevenage (announced 13/2/2023)
• Robin Walker – Worcester (announced 3/3/2023)

• Gordon Henderson – Sittingbourne and Sheppey (announced 17/3/2023)
• Graham Brady – Altrincham and Sale West (announced 17/3/2023)
• Pauline Latham – Mid Derbyshire (announced 19/3/2023)
• Craig Whittaker – Calder Valley (announced 21/3/2023)
• Stuart Anderson – Wolverhampton South West (announced 27/3/2023)

• Nicola Richards – West Bromwich East (announced 27/3/2023)
• Henry Smith – Crawley (announced 31/3/2023)
• John Howell – Henley (announced 12/4/2023)
• Robert Goodwill – Scarborough (announced 13/4/2023)
• Julian Knight – Solihull (announced 21/4/2023)

• Jonathan Djanogly – Huntingdon (announced 21/4/2023)
• Christopher Pincher – Tamworth (announced 26/4/2023)
• Matthew Offord – Hendon (announced 2/5/2023)
• Alister Jack – Dumfries and Galloway (announced 17/5/2023)
• Richard Bacon – South Norfolk (announced 20/5/2023) 

• Philip Dunne – Ludlow (announced 22/5/2023)
• Dominic Raab – Esher and Walton (announced 22/5/2023)
• Andy Carter – Warrington South (announced 30/5/2023)
• Will Quince – Colchester (announced 9/6/2023)
• Royston Smith – Southampton Itchen (announced 9/6/2023)

• Bill Cash – Stone (announced 10/6/2023)
• Lucy Allan – Telford (announced 15/6/2023)
• Steve Brine – Winchester (announced 23/6/2023)
• Chris Clarkson – Heywood and Middleton (announced 28/6/2023)
• Ben Wallace – Wyre and Preston North (announced 15/7/2023)

• Trudy Harrison – Copeland (announced 24/07/2023)
• Stephen Hammond – Wimbledon (announced 14/9/2023)
• David Jones – Clwyd West (announced 20/9/2023)
• Alok Sharma – Reading West (announced 26/9/23)
• Chris Grayling – Epsom and Ewell (announced 06/10/23)

• John Baron – Basildon and Billericay (announced 26/10/23)
• Nick Gibb – Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (announced 13/11/2023)
• Bob Stewart – Beckenham (announced 20/11/2023)
• James Duddridge – Rochford and Southend East (announced 20/11/2023)
• Oliver Heald – North East Hertfordshire (announced 23/01/2024)

• Mike Freer – Finchley and Golders Green (announced 31/01/2024)
• Bob Neill – Bromley and Chislehurst (announced 2/02/2024)
• Kwasi Kwarteng – Spelthorne (announced 6/02/2024)
• Nickie Aiken – Cities of London and Westminster (announced 7/02/2024)
• Tracey Crouch – Chatham and Aylesford (announced 12/02/2024)

• Kieran Mullan – Crewe and Nantwich (announced 13/02/2024)
• Paul Scully – Sutton and Cheam (announced 4/03/2024) 
• Theresa May – Maidenhead (announced 8/03/2024)
• Brandon Lewis – Great Yarmouth (announced 14/03/2024)
• James Heappey – Wells (announced 15/03/2024)

• Robert Halfon – Harlow (announced 26/03/2024)
• Tim Loughton – East Worthing and Shoreham (announced 13/04/2024)
• Nadhim Zahawi –  Stratford-on-Avon (announced 09/05/2024)
• Chris Heaton-Harris-Daventry (announced 16/05/2024)
• Jo Churchill – Bury St Edmunds (announced 23/05/2024)
   
  James Grundy – Leigh and Atherton (announced 23/05/2024)
  Eleanor Laing – Epping Forest (announced 23/05/2024)
  Huw Merriman – Bexhill and Battle (announced 23/05/2024)
  Michael Ellis – Northampton North (announced 23/05/2024)
  John Redwood – Wokingham (announced 24/05/2024)
   
  Craig Mackinlay – Thanet South (announced 24/05/2024)
  Greg Clark – Tunbridge Wells (announced 24/05/2024)
  David Evennett – Bexleyheath and Crayford (announced 24/05/2024)
  Andrea Leadsom – South Northamptonshire (announced 24/05/2024)
  Michael Gove – Surrey Heath (announced 24/05/2024)

The Sunday Times Rich List for 2024 which estimates the personal wealth of the richest at least notionally UK based people suggests that in global Big Beer the personal fortune of the owner of Heineken is doing rather less well than the owners of ABInBev.

Of course both are public companies so the personal wealth of the owners, while interesting, and concerning to many,does not particularly reflect how Heineken and ABInBev are doing

Charlene De Carvalho-Heinken and Michel De Carvalho have dropped from eighth to fourteenth in the Top 350 with a personal wealth of £11.751bn down £1.371bn on 2023 but roughly where they were in 2022.

Meanwhile Alejandro Santiago Domingo and Lady Charlotte Welleseley who are associated with ABInBev have risen from 80 to 78 with a personal wealth of £2.2bn up £33m on 2023

The Earl of Iveagh and the Guinness Family is at 192 down from 179 with wealth of £916m down £67m on 2023. The Earl also owns the Norfolk Estate that supplies the King’s Christmas tree at Sandringham

Big Beer is still very good business, for the owners anyway

Temperance & the left. An historical discussion that should be revisited

The Guardian, which when it was the Manchester Guardian, was supporter of temperance as a progressive working-class demand, has a report on alcohol abuse leading its print edition (18^th May) https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/may/17/27bn-a-year-spent-in-england-on-harm-done-by-alcohol-study-finds

Alcohol abuse is a serious issue and should be taken seriously

Unfortunately the Guardian article is largely an exercise in temperance prejudices which is reflected in the Institute of Alcohol Studies connection. The IAS is the successor to the UK Temperance Alliance.

Very similar articles based on the at best highly doubtful statistics summarised by the IAS have now appeared in the Times and the Telegraph as well

My issue with this is not temperance as such but the dishonesty in which such views are cloaked these days. There are those who think drink is a bad thing and society would be better off if people didn’t drink. It was once a respectable and quite widely held view, including on the left and in the labour movement. It’s a pity that its modern supporters can’t be upfront on the matter.

I’ve always been clear that while fairly obviously I like a drink I have quite robust views on where and when it’s appropriate to drink. When I organise meetings I’m very strict about no drinking before or during the meeting. It causes disruptive behaviour. Unlike the pub which has rules and laws and a landlady or landlord, meetings don’t have such a helpful framework. Your only course of action is to throw a non-sober person out.

Some history on the relationship between temperance and the left is below. I do wish modern day temperance campaigners, many of whom do sit on the liberal-left, would own this and be upfront on matters. Then maybe we could have a genuine discussion on the role of drink in society the downsides and the upsides, instead of publishing rather odd pieces of ‘research’.

The relationship between radical and labour movements and drink was complex from the start.

Pubs were radical meeting places. One need only look at how protesters gathered at Peterloo on 16th August 1819 from all over the north-west, some stopping at ale houses on the way for refreshment (water not generally being safe to drink).

The 1830 Beer Houses Act allowed for the opening of a new layer of pubs that sold beer only (no spirits)and had a mainly working-class clientele.

The Chartist Movement certainly met in pubs but also contained those who regarded, rightly, drunkenness as the enemy of radical organisation. The Chartists had a principle of ‘exclusive dealing’ buying things only from those who backed the Six Points of the Charter for the vote. The August 1839 Grand National Holiday called for abstention from all excisable goods underlining the development of a temperance trend.

Temperance remained an important part of working-class and labour politics in the first decades of the twentieth century. Keir Hardie was a temperance supporter from the early days of the Independent Labour Party in the 1890s. He argued ‘that a man who can take a glass or let it alone is under moral obligation for the sake of the weaker brother who cannot do so, to let it alone.

By 1905 a Trade Union & Labour Official Temperance Fellowship had been formed and a majority of the Labour MPs elected in 1906 were abstainers. Philip Snowden, a leading figure in the first Labour Government in 1924 published Socialism and the Drink Question in 1908. There was a problem though. The Tories were the party of brewing, beer and pubs and working mens and socialist clubs sold drink not only because it was what their customers wanted but also because it provided the profit to allow them to continue.

Temperance has remained, in part, an honourable tradition rooted in dislike of giving money to (Tory) drinks manufacturers and a realisation that unsober people rarely get to change the world for the better.

We might also be reminded what the Labour MP Victor Grayson had to say about efforts to promote temperance in law in the House of Commons over a hundred years ago:

In October 1908 Grayson tried to adjourn a Licensing Debate in the Commons so the question of unemployment could be considered. The next day he underlined the point: ‘there are thousands of people dying in the streets while you are trifling with this Bill’.

Many of those who survive on Universal Credit may well think Grayson had a point. Whether they like a drink or not their focus is on keeping a roof over their heads and making sure they have enough money to eat.