Campaigners issue guidelines for beard wearers as pollen count rises
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has issued updated guidelines for the hirsute on the pollen count. It is forecast to be High or Very High on 27th April by the Met Office for many areas of England and Wales
The campaigners say that the Hay Fever season has extended in recent years and appears to impact more people.
The issue of beards and pollen has seen contradictory advice from commentators, mostly based it appears on whether they like or dislike beards. The BLF research department has investigated and can now provide a more measured guide.
Guidelines for beard wearers in the Hay Fever season
1 The Beard can provide an effective barrier to pollen reaching the eyes and nose and provoking hay fever symptoms. More organic beards are most effective.
2 Pollen remaining in the beard for any significant amount of time can however also provoke hay fever. Care needs to be taken.
3 If using the beard as a barrier to pollen it is *essential* to comb it regularly to remove the pollen
4 In addition the follicles should also be washed regularly to clear any remaining pollen not caught by combing.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, our pollen guide is firmly dialectical. A beard can provide relief for hay fever sufferers but only if our guide is followed.
There is an irony of culture warriors complaining that National Trust scones are made with margarine, the subject of comment in the Telegraph, Mail and inevitably social media. For them margarine is a code word for vegan and hence Woke.
Culture warriors are rarely much good at the British history they claim to champion and so they are unaware that Churchill’s Cookbook, compiled by his chef in 1958, contains several recipes for cakes using margarine. Could it be that the moaners are fighting the wrong culture war?
Nigel Farage turned 60 on Wednesday and held an event at Canary Wharf to mark it. It was of course a private affair. However given some of the attenders including Tory MPs Andrea Jenkyns and Mark Francois, Lee 30p Anderson currently of Reform and Liz Truss it was never going to remain that private. Photos were posted on social media.
One person who was there was Brewdog boss James Watt. He was there as a ‘plus one’ for his partner Georgia Toffolo, a social media star probably rather better known than Watt and a long time associate of Farage.
Farage a wine drinker has likely never heard of Watt. The Brewdog boss posted on social media that any meeting with politicians attracted opprobium from their opponents. However an event which featured a video message from Trump and Farage, a rather controversial figure, is perhaps in a slightly different league.
Watt noted that it was an interesting experience to meet Liz Truss whatever it might be thought could be learnt from such a meeting.
Its all rather far removed from the original rebel image of Punk IPA, but whether its a good look for his business only Watt can ultimately judge
Update
The Sunday Times Business News (7th April) has confirmed James Watt’s attendance and also reports that Paul Marshall financial backer of GBNews and prospective owner of the Telegraph was present. Nick Candy the property developer and Neighbours ‘star’ Holly Vallance were also present.
Perhaps Watt plans to advertise Brewdog beers on GBNews or use Farage in publicity??
New Brexit regulations are set to levy a charge of £145 on small scale imports of items such as cheese and ham from the EU.
The regulations may mean less artisan cheese from Europe appearing in the UK and one cheese that may be hit is Gruyere, Winston Churchill’s favourite.
Gruyere is produced in Switzerland which is not part of the EU but operates by a series of agreements within an EU trading framework. Its not 100% clear at the moment what the new Brexit regulations will mean in this case but no doubt Culture Warriors can mount a Defend Gruyere campaign..
Psephology is the practice of opinion polling, often derided. As long ago as 1959 the socialist historian E P Thompson dubbed it Ephology, inserting pre-conceived ideas about who would or should win elections into actual election contests.
Certainly historically some polling organisations, YouGov in particular, were thought to poll a base which had more Tory voters and hence produce results favourable to the Tories.
However we live in a market economy and polling companies make their money via all kinds of polls with commercial applications. If their high profile election polls are accurate this is profitable in the wider context.
In April Survation produced a survey looking at the next UK Election. It uses the same format that correctly predicted the 2015 and 2019 results and some more recent Election results around Europe.
Looking at the database I checked the figures for Suella Bravermen who will be contesting a new 2024 Constituency Fareham and Waterlooville (in Hampshire) based on boundary changes which have abolished her old seat
Fareham and Waterlooville 2024 prediction (percentage of vote)
Tory 37.75
Labour 34.69
LibDem 13.63
Green 4.43
Reform 8.24
Majority 3.05
2019 majority 42.23
Obviously these are computed figures for a new constituency but in 2019 the LibDems would have been second. So far in 2024 based on the Survation poll Labour is second, with Reform on 8%. The Tory majority in 2019 of 42% is predicted now to be 3%.
Actual voting figures provide a reality check to computed figures, albeit those for local elections held on May 2nd 2024 will be on a much lower turnout than would be the case for a General Election.
Braverman’s Constituency has Wards in three voting areas, Fareham, Havant and Winchester. In Fareham the picture looks mixed. The Tories lost six seats but easily retained control of the Council with the LibDems the main challenger. Labour made significant gains in Havant but not in the three Wards in Braverman’s new Constituency. In Winchester the Tories did lose heavily to the LibDems in both relevant Wards.
The Telegraph (4th May) reports that after the May 2nd elections the LibDems see Braverman’s seat as one of several in Surrey and Hampshire they have a chance of winning. In Braverman’s case the report cites the gains the LibDems made in Fareham.
Update #2
The Times (10th June) reports from Braverman’s Constituency and out with the candidate doesnt find many of her supporters. It notes:
Boundary changes have put Labour within a few percentage points of winning,according to the latest MRP poll, while the LibDems are only a few more percentage points behind
Braverman has said that the Tories and Reform should join forces (Times 10th June) but post the reappearance of Farage, Reform are also challenging in the seat
A large scale Savanta poll (19th June) suggests that Braverman is one of a list of well known Tories who could be set to lose their seats on 4th July
Could it be goodbye Suella? That will depend on what people do, not on opinion polls
The start of the Men’s First-Class cricket season in England and Wales. Tradition meets 2024
Friday 5th April sees the start of the men’s first-class cricket season in England and Wales.
Unless you are enthusiast you may not have noticed (you might struggle not to notice the start of the football season even if you are not a fan).
There won’t be all that many spectators in person but in 2024 games are live streamed with BBC Test Match Special ball by ball commentary. Hopefully this will spark interest.
Coverage and publicity for the start of the season will be limited no doubt. The current focus in cricket is the Indian Premier League, the biggest draw in world cricket
There is I a wider angle now.
In times past the start of the domestic season was a chance to follow some live cricket for the first time in months, the England winter overseas tours having been completed some-time since. In 2024 you can watch and often enjoy cricket games in a range of formats day and night on Sky and TNT from all around the world.
The County game is the basis for cricket. Of course not enough watch it and for most clubs finance is a real issue but these have both been true for a long time. Reducing the number of Counties (a media obsession) won’t broaden its appeal. Really tackling racism in the game and significantly improving the path into the County game from the structures that exist at the grassroots might. In short fashioning a cricket fit for 2024, fit that is for those who enjoy playing and watching cricket, not for those who see it is another vehicle for profit making for their own ends.
US Weapons for Israel & Aid for Gaza. Beyond talk, time to turn up the volume of protest
The eleventh march for Gaza took place in central London on 30th March. Around 200,000 marched to the US Embassy to Trafalgar Square on Easter Saturday. The crowd was diverse and peaceful. Many, many protests and meetings have taken place not only in the UK but around the globe.
The Times which frequently runs Editorials on protests (in the UK a bad thing, elsewhere often to be applauded) determined (29th Feb) that banning demonstrations on Palestine would be wrong. It suggested instead that protesters just stop having them.
This was a point echoed by Home Secretary James Cleverley who claimed protesters had made their point. Particularly after Israel deliberately killed aid workers, reflecting the Western media’s priorities, the volume of talk has gone up. Biden has spoken to Netanyahu and apparently said US support was dependent on Israel addressing suffering in Gaza. In reality the support will continue and Israel will do nothing.
In the UK there has been talk that arms sales to Israel might well be illegal. Starmer has said the ‘war’ must stop now. Nothing has actually happened anymore than the British contribution to UNWRA has resumed, halted after earlier Israeli lies.
The largest protest in British history remains that against the Iraq War on 15th February 2003. Yet while there were many protests on Iraq that march was a one off.
On Gaza since October 2023 not just London protests have taken place but many others around the country. Meeting, marches, walk-outs from workplaces and colleges have all featured.
It’s a mass movement with few historical parallels given the variety and breadth of protests and the short timescale. That no doubt explains why there have been calls from the Islamophobic hard right for protests to be curtailed or banned. They can’t understand why people are protesting on such a scale and if they did they would oppose it.
There are of course some historical parallels but even here we are looking at a time scale of days and weeks not months. In 1848 in London in late May and early June, Chartists marched in their thousands every night in central London seeking to push forward the campaign for the vote which had been frustrated at Kennington Common in April 1848.
When we look at Suffragette protests for the vote in the early twentieth century or climate protesters now we can see sustained protest. The difference with the Gaza protests is the huge numbers consistently on the streets.
That was the real motor behind the UN Resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire passed with a US abstention on 25th March, six months too late. Israel has been ignoring UN resolutions for decades and did the same here. The reality however is that Netanyahu is ever more isolated particularly as the link with the US is perhaps partially fractured.
While the volume of talk has increased action has not yet come. That depends on keeping on keeping on with the protests and turning up the volume
The BBC’s cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew is 65 on 4th April
He announced in April 2024 that he would be stepping down as the BBC cricket correspondent at the end of that summer, a job he had been doing with some distinction for many years. It seemed prudent. With the ever extending global nature of cricket, changing formats and often audiences too, its time for someone from a new generation to grapple with the challenge of the new. Tbh is not clear who has filled Aggers role perhaps in the context of unfortunate at best BBC budget restrictions.
The good news though is that Agnew will continue to host Test Match Special until at least 2028. I’ve been listening to TMS since the 1960s and it has evolved and changed over the years. Indeed it had to or it wouldn’t still be on air. Agnew has been an important part of the journey. Someone who shares the curiosity of the late Brian Johnston about what people are like and why they do what they do, a sense of basic humanity too often lacking in the world of 2025.
Agnew as a commentator very largely avoids what has unfortunately become the style of too many sports commentators, the shouty and the hyperbolic. He is mostly calm and thoughtful and above all someone who can be listened to as perhaps in some ways a voice of an English summer.
Of course now he is 65 it really is time for him to heed the generously given advice of the Beard Liberation Front and add even more gravitas to his commentaries by growing a beard.
Liz Truss has paid a rare visit to the UK to attend the 60th Birthday event of Nigel Farage. In the reverse of the Dylan song Farage is of course Forever Old.
The picture was posted on X by self styled Tory MP Andrew Jenkyns and also in the photo is Arron Banks reflecting no doubt on the glorious success of Brexit. The BBC have reported that other hangers on present included self styled MPs Mark Francois and Lee 30p Anderson.
Others reportedly attending included reality TV regular Georgia Toffolo, a Tory since her teenage years and former Farage aide, and her current partner Brewdog boss James Watt. They are probably not central to a reconfiguration on the political hard right.
Oddly the event took place not in a northern working men’s club but at a Scottish themed venue in Canary Wharf
No doubt the gathering will give further pause for thought on realignments on the political right. Missing however was Suella Braverman who is in Israel talking to Government officials on her plan for victory in Gaza (we might assume). In what capacity and on whose authority Braverman was acting is unclear.
Darren Jones, who is a Labour MP, can often be found in the media saying, to be kind, the most inane things.
On this occasion he has suggested that Labour is not a party of protest as it may have been for example under Jeremy Corbyn, but one focused on achieving an election victory.
It seems reasonable to suggest that Mr Jones has never read even the first page of Ralph Miliband’s history of the first six decades of the Labour Party, Parliamentary Socialism. There Miliband notes that Labour has always been the most dogmatic of parties, not about socialism but about Parliamentary process.
The origins of the Labour Party in 1900 were a combination of trade union officials and leaders and socialist organisations, the Independent Labour Party and the Social Democratic Federation. The SDF withdrew but ILP supporters- of who Keir Hardie was one- featured in the first 1924 Labour Government.
On both sides of the equation protest featured. Unions had strikes, certainly an industrial protest. The ILP campaigned on a range of bread and butter working class issues around housing and poverty. Protest was most certainly involved.
The 1924 Labour Government was not about protest, even though numbers of Ministers had a strong track record of protesting. Rather it was focused on reassuring the King and the Establishment that it could govern prudently.
Attlee in 1945,a Major, headed a Government consisting of some who had served in the Coalition wartime Government. Ernie Bevin, a union leader and an architect of NATO was not exactly a protest man. Nye Bevan who had been temporarily booted out of the Party in the 1930s for wanting to do more about fascism was a protester. Then again he was also the statesman who gave us the NHS.
In the modern era it might be argued that Labour has been a party with protesters in it, even at the most senior levels, but not a party of protest. Michael Foot was central to CND marches in the early 1960s. Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell certainly was not. In the mid-1980s Neil Kinnock did not overtly support the miners, but many Labour MPs did. More recently well over a hundred Labour MPs voted against the Iraq War in 2003 and many protested about it. Tony Blair by contrast was a big fan.
Labour it can be argued has been a party of Government that did not support protest when in Office. It did however contain numbers who did back protests in and out of Office including MPs. Both can be accommodated within the framework of Parliamentary Socialism.
However as Darren Jones seems to be saying under Starmer’s Narrow Church, protesters will not be allowed in to worship. It is a model that has always had support in the Labour Party but there have also been other perspectives that took a much more nuanced view of the balance between power and protest. On reflection Mr Jones might some to see that the two are related not just in general but in the history and structures of the Party of which he is an MP.
