MICHAEL ROSEN VOTED THE MOST ‘HO,HO,HO HIRSUTE’ SANTA 2023
The Campaign for Real Santas, which campaigns for Santas to have genuine organic or knitted beards, has named the winner of its annual vote for the person who would be the ideal organic Santa.
Author and Arsenal supporter Michael Rosen narrowly shaved actor Ricky Tomlinson for the annual accolade
The votes for Real Santa of 2023 were:-
Prince Harry, Personality 13%
Lenny Henry, Actor 13%
Michael Rosen, Author & Broadcaster 39%
Ricky Tomlinson, Actor and Activist 35%
The Campaign for Real Santas believes that only Santas with genuine, organic or knitted beards should be deputies for Santa, world famous for his organic beard, in the run up to Xmas
CFRS organiser Keith Flett said, We don’t know for sure that any of the people on the shortlist do help Santa at this time of year but we do think they are potentially excellent role models for real Santas as opposed to the absurd false bearded types. Michael Rosen lost out to Brian Blessed in 2022 but has returned this year to underline that like Santa himself he has Ho Ho Ho Hirsute resilience
Contact LSHG Organiser Dr Keith Flett 07803 167266
Does History Cost Too Much? Historians defend Paper Archives
The London Socialist Historians Group, which organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, has said that a Ministry of Justice proposal to scrap paper archives of Wills and associated documents is misguided.
The historians say that while digitisation of records improves access, it is far from clear that electronic archives currently have the security to withstand system issues and ransomware attacks.
Paper Archives can be lost or damaged as well and the historians say a combination of digital and paper records is prudent until it becomes clearer in the future that electronic archives are robust enough on their own.
The Ministry says that the cost of keeping paper records is £4.5m annually
LSHG Convenor Dr Keith Flett said, Wills are an important part of family history and reach out to wider areas of historical research. Easier access is welcome but the security of the archives is key. Given how keen the Government is on keeping all of ‘our island story’ for posterity a cost cutting measure is an unacceptable short term proposal.
This Christmas in Ambridge it seems communal Christmas gatherings are the key. Stella will be having Xmas lunch at Brookfield. Leonard, having mended her watch, has warned her that Daveed takes charades very seriously. Meanwhile a cast of many will be gathering with Lily and Paul and roasted parsnips will be served. Joy meanwhile is (or perhaps was) having a free range bird although whether from Borchester Lidl or the Grundys is less clear.
We await news of where Justin will be eating- possibly at the golf club with Brian, as peace talks with Lilian have yet to conclude,or in reality even start.
Xander & the Nativity
Xander has a lead role in a Nativity play. The BBC did not report if he was wearing a false beard. Ian and Adam have had discussions about being openly gay. Given the times a good discussion to have in Ambridge
Christmas event
Jakob is not holding rehearsals much to the concern of Lynda who thinks the event could be boring or perhaps painful. Not as much as her numerous Xmas Pantos however
Ambridge is knackered on a Friday in the Bull
This includes Daveed, Freddie & Joy. A sign of the times
Keir Starmer v E P Thompson on what is the working class?
Keir Starmer appeared again on the LBC show of hard right presenter Nick Ferrari before Christmas. I sense Ferrari must rather like these occasions. Starmer is the leader of the Labour Party but he is a lawyer not a politician. With a brief he is fine, forensic even. Without a brief he says whatever comes into his head which usually leads to corrections down the line.
Ferrari asked Starmer what he understood by being working class. It was a brief exchange, 90 seconds or so, and you can find it on Twitter. A lot of it consists of Starmer saying ‘Um’. However his view was, or seemed to be, that people wanted their lives to be better and were ambitious for this to happen. Ferrari asked him how this differentiated working class people from middle class people. Starmer didn’t know.
That said Starmer’s view, even if incoherently expressed, is a strand in Labour thinking usually associated with the Fabians. Namely that working people deserve decent education, healthcare, housing. This is to be achieved not by collective organisation and struggle but by voting in a Labour Government and for it to legislate for better. I don’t think this is what Rachel fiscal Reeves has in mind. However in a broader view, if a market economy is performing reasonably in respect of growth, it should on occasion be achievable. In time, often quite a long time, but any progress helps.
There is another implied meaning in Starmer’s view though which is that everyone can get on in life. Call it ‘I’ve got the foreman’s job at last’ syndrome. Of course they can’t as society is currently structured. Society has a system of bosses and workers and there is only so much space around the boardroom table. If there is workers control that can change but I don’t think this is Starmer’s policy.
Meanwhile, although I don’t think this was the reason for Ferrari’s question, it’s the 60th anniversary of the publication of E P Thompson’s Making of the English Working Class.
In the preface he does define what working class is. He writes:
‘I do not see class as a structure nor even as a category but as something which in fact happens (and can be shown to have happened) in human relationships’
Indeed Thompson makes the point in the opening line of the Preface
‘The working class did not rise like the sun at an appointed time, it was present at its own making’
In other words the working class is not a thing or a category but it is defined by a relationship with and often a struggle against other classes, mainly the ruling class. It would be interesting, perhaps, to hear how Starmer defines bosses.
Thompson saw a relationship,a struggle, a movement. Something to be involved in, not comment on.
‘class is not this or that part of the machine, but the way the machine works once it is set in motion, not this or that interest, but the friction of interests-the movement itself, the heat, the thundering noise‘
Lord Sandwich is credited with popularising the sandwich. An eighteenth century politician his effigy was burnt outside the Tower of London on one occasion after he was involved in prosecuting John Wilkes for obscene libel. A sort of toasted sandwich
Wilkes became Mayor of London and a latter day fan is Boris Johnson.
William Cobbett in the 1820s favoured bread and cheese but not the cheese sandwich as such.
Raymond Postgate who founded the Good Food Guide saw the then British Rail sandwich as everything that was wrong with British cuisine in the 1950s.
By the 1960s Harold Wilson was talking to trade union leaders in Downing St over beer and sandwiches
In more recent times some took exception to the way in which Ed Miliband ate a bacon sandwich.
This brings us, sort of, to the strange affair of Keir Starmer and sandwiches. He told a Resolution Conference on 4th December that he sometimes suggested a pub lunch to his sister who would respond by saying she would bring sandwiches. She is a badly paid care worker- the point Starmer was probably trying to make. However the reality is that pub that sells lunches do not welcome people bringing their own food for obvious reasons. Wet led pubs that don’t sell food would have no issue with it in which case Keir would need to be making some sandwiches himself. White bread and dripping possibly…
SHORTLIST UNVEILED FOR REAL ‘ORGANIC’ SANTA OF THE YEAR
The Campaign for Real Santas, which campaigns for Santas to have genuine organic or knitted beards, has named its shortlist of people who could be the ideal organic Santa of 2023.
The nominations for Real Santa of 2023 are:-
Prince Harry, Personality
Lenny Henry, Actor
Michael Rosen, Author & Broadcaster
Ricky Tomlinson, Actor and Activist
The Campaign for Real Santas believes that only Santas with genuine, organic or knitted beards should be deputies for Santa, world famous for his organic beard, in the run up to Xmas
CFRS organiser Keith Flett said, We don’t know for sure that any of the people on the shortlist do help Santa at this time of year but we do think they are potentially excellent role models for real Santas as opposed to the absurd false bearded types.
An On-Line poll for the Organic Santa 2023 is now open, pinned @kmflett
The gap between an official view of reality & the experience of it from below. Piers Morgan to Just Stop Oil protesters
On Friday 15th December a judge ruled that Mirror Group newspapers had hacked the phone of Prince Harry and the then Editor of the Mirror Piers Morgan knew about this. In a statement on the same day Morgan denied he had anything to do with it.
It’s a serious matter because while the Prince had the money to pursue a Court case the hacking of people’s personal phones went further than the rich and famous. Privacy was comprised, a serious matter to Cobbett’s Freeborn Englishman.
What will happen about the judges view on Morgan? In all probability nothing. Britain has a very poor record on holding the powerful to account, a democratic deficit of significant proportions.
In the same week a Just Stop Oil Protester was sentenced by a Manchester Court to six months in jail. His crime was taking part in a walking protest on Holloway Rd in North London. Given the usual speed of traffic there its doubtful much if any inconvenience was caused. Yet under a new Tory law designed to stifle democratic protest, such acts can attract a jail sentence of up to 12 months.
The gap between official politics and the view from the street is yawning. It will be filled by politics. Whose politics is a work in progress.
CAMPAIGNERS SAY CHRISTMAS BEARD BAUBLES HIT THE ZEITGEIST
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has backed the new Christmas trend for Beard Baubles.
The BLF says that unlike the absurd false bearded Santas to be seen in High Streets at this time of year, the Beard Baubles demand a genuine beard and are seasonal fun.
The campaigners caution however that the traditional practice of placing a sprig of mistletoe in the beard should also not be ignored
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Beard Baubles emphasise how important facial hair has become in modern society. We say, if it feels good, do it.
The Beard Liberation Front announces the winner of the poll for the Organic Santa of the Year on 18th December
Socialist crime novels are perhaps not a genre that comes obviously to mind either for those who read crime fiction or fans of the socialist novel. Yet a genre it is.
The Belgian revolutionary Ernest Mandel was a lifelong enthusiast, writing a Marxist analysis of crime books. Pluto Press published a left-wing crime series of which, at least in my view, Nigel Fountain’s Days Like These, about the fight against fascism in north-east London in the 1970s, remains a classic. From a feminist perspective Virago have a significant list of crime fiction.
Phil Brett’s Blood Soaked Liberty is the latest in his series of novels where the central figure- heroes not really working for the left- is Pete Kalder. Kalder is a veteran socialist who has stumbled into detective work.
Brett’s book is not just a whodunit but also science fiction.
Its set in a future Britain where after a prolonged struggle a workers Government is in power. It is run by a broad alliance of socialist and anarchist groups and the storyline looks at attempts by the enemies of the fledging workers state to undermine and destroy it
We find Kalder rescuing works of art from millionaire collectors who have fled the revolution and putting them on public display. However he is seconded to become the political lead for the CRIB, a sort of socialist Special Branch consisting of a few police officers who have come over to the side of the revolution and some tech wizards.
The book starts with the murder of an anarchist Mike Stewart who has been busy designing new people focused townscapes. Its clear that his death is designed to stir tensions between the factions in the workers Government, but who did it, why and what else might they be planning?
Brett pursues the storyline through fast paced chapters where there is no shortage of dramatic events to keep the reader hooked. We find the Shard as a sort of HQ for libertarians and anarchists, but on the other side of the Thames Alexandra Palace has been turned into a museum of the revolution.
A knowledge of the geography and politics of north-east London, where much of the action takes place, is not essential to read and enjoy the book but for those who are familiar it adds an extra dimension.
There are other elements to the storyline which add perspective and interest. Brett looks at some of the structures that the new workers state has put in place, including community councils to run local neighbourhoods, William Morris style. There are workers tokens for money and workplace relations are of course significantly changed.
The book also has a high level of tech surveillance, used for investigation and monitoring but now in the interests of the people. Its not specified quite how far into the future the book is set but as a long serving trade union officer in telecoms I did find myself wondering whether a lot of the tech would actually work as brilliantly as it does in the book!
Brett and the CRIB relentlessly pursue the enemies of the new workers state. Obviously a review of a whodunit novel can’t reveal who it was- you should read the book to find out! However suffice to say that Kalder and his comrades have some success in tackling the counter revolution but by the end of the book its clear that the struggle will be going on to defend the workers state.
Brett has written a highly readable volume of crime fiction that should be on the shelf or e-reader of socialists in the current day
Test Match Special, Geoffrey Boycott & cricket broadcasting
According to Geoffrey Boycott in the Daily Telegraph (where else) the BBC’s Test Match Special is but a shadow of its former self. His comments were occasioned by the news that TalkSport have got the radio broadcast rights for England’s forthcoming Test series in India.
Of course Boycott really means that TMS without Boycott is no good though I am certain many don’t agree with that. Indeed in the last year TMS was the most listened to broadcast on BBC Sounds.
The reality is that for TMS and cricket broadcasting the times they are a changing. English and Welsh cricket has issues with discrimination on the basis of ethnicity and gender and cricket broadcasting that consists of a lot of ex-public schoolboys who are getting on in life is no longer what those interested in cricket, want to hear. The cricket expertise is fine, it’s the prejudices and worldviews that are problematic.
TMS has extended considerably its range of commentators in recent times and is much the better for it.
Its coverage of the recent cricket World Cup in India was in my view exemplary. Fascinating broadcasting even if you don’t like cricket which was always one of the great strengths of TMS.
TMS also covers every game in the County Championship on Radio 5 Extra and the web. It fills the gap in cricket reporting left by the decline of local papers. Its worth remembering that Sky has the TV rights to these games but shows hardly any.
This points to the changing nature of cricket broadcasting. It was always likely that Sky now owned by Comcast would role back from a good deal of its TV coverage. Audience figures are rarely revealed by Sky but it seemed clear that the current owners Comcast have little idea what this cricket game is all about.
Rupert Murdoch by contrast does have which explains why the Murdoch Empire which owns TalkSport is expanding its radio coverage. It has the money to do this and the BBC does not.
TNT is also expanding its TV coverage. The ex-BTSport operation now owned by Warners has some former BT rights but is adding more. Why? I’m not sure except it has lots of channels to fill.
The future as usual is uncertain but the era when cricket broadcasting meant the BBC on radio and Sky on TV is changing.
In practice this means currently that while in my day the cricket event of the festive season was often the Boxing Day Test in Australia now there is plethora of international games and nearly all of them can be found somewhere on TV and radio
