Ecclestone & Postecoglou thru to Beard of Autumn Beard Off Final. Round Two open
Beard Liberation Front
8th October
Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett 07803 167266
Ecclestone & Postecoglou thru to Beard of Autumn Beard Off Final. Round Two open
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers has said that actor Christopher Ecclestone and Spurs Manager Ange Postecoglou have been declared the winners of Round One of Beard of Autumn and now go through to the Beard Off Final
It’s the last of four quarterly awards before the annual Beard of the Year in December.
There are two preliminary rounds of voting with a final Beard Off starting in mid-October
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, As usual competition is bristling for the coveted title of Beard of Autumn
The Archers defy Queen Camilla as Titchener lingers on
The question many listeners to the Archers want to know is exactly how long is Rob Titchener’s contract? Queen Camilla has already demanded that he is in effect rubbed out, yet week after week he appears chuntering on.
He has moved to Penny Hassett something one might think that should have attracted the attention of the ever vigilant Sgt Knacker Burns…
Titchener who if he did have a religion it didn’t appear to be Christianity now wants to be baptised by Alan the Vicar. Alan thinks not. The Ambridge Socialist is not religious and has no view but should readers require views there are large numbers on this subject to be found on Facebook
Brad goes to Uni.
Brad is the first Horrobin to go to University. Social mobility has come to the Ambridge working class even if the motor for it was and is the Robbins Report that was produced in 1963. Things don’t move quickly on the Archers and the motor here is likely to taken from the adaptation of Flora Thompson’s Lark Rise which is in part about changing times in the countryside from the 1880s on.
Lark Rise to Ambridge
Part One was excellent with good acting and a focus on issues like class, history and politics all of which are in Flora Thompson’s book. As above some of this is filtering through to the present day Archers too (not always the acting.)
Grey Gables crisis
Adil’s health is suffering. Grey Gables building work is running behind schedule (which can’t surely be a surprise except to Adil) but whoever now owns the place is already taking bookings for a grand opening. Financial crisis won’t be far behind
After Black Sheep, Brew By Numbers & Brick comes Curious & Wild. Brewery consolidations continue
St Peters Brewery in Suffolk has brought Curious who earlier in the year bought Wild Beer which had been in administration. Details seems sparse but St Peters Brewery was sold to private equity investors in 2021 and a new CEO Derek Jones, formerly with extensive experience with SAB Miller (ABInBev).
Clearly they have enough capital to expand their holdings.
It comes just months after Breal, another private equity group completed their acquisition of Sarf London’s Brew by Numbers brewery.
It was good news that the brewery and tap will keep going. I had a (rare) glass of Brew by Numbers pale at the Peterborough Beerfest in August and it was highly quaffable. More commonly the beer can be found in keg and can.
Breal now own three breweries and taps- Black Sheep, Brick and now Brew By Numbers.
They are a venture capital group, and appear to have related operations elsewhere in the world. They have no obvious experience in brewing and bars. Previous deals have included steel and textiles.
A reading of Marx’s Capital can explain this. Capitalism renews itself by a cycle of boom and bust. The bust phase allows the recomposition of capital to allows for future growth.
Breal and St Peters then are getting in at the bottom of the market, (in craft beer in this case) but see growth and return on their capital to come.
Will things stay the same at the breweries concerned? No. Workers are protected at day one by a transfer of undertakings (TUPE) but after this ETO (economic, technical, organisational)applies to allow changes.
In short good news that the breweries remain and will likely flourish. Those impacted would do well to a join a union if they haven’t already.
Thanks to Tania Nexus for noting on social media that Breal have also brought Vinoteca, a London based wine bar chain, out of administration saving 150 jobs.
Aside from Pilsener Engels was a wine drinker, maintaining a stock at a Dublin wine merchant and advising Marx on the best wines to drink
As beer writer James Beeson has noted on social media Neil Gostelow has advised Breal on the brewery acquisitions (Times 26th August). Gostelow previously worked for KPMG and in that period dealt with the administration of several beer and pub groups including, as Beeson notes, Hopstuff. He joined Breal as an investment advisor in 2022. He does not have a beard.
His view as reported by the Times is that strong craft beer brands have a good future. No doubt he has noted that the economy in respect of brewing and beer is probably at or near the bottom of the market. Getting in now promises later profit. Breal as a private equity group have the capital to think beyond the short term whether or not they have read Capital Volume One as do St Peters.
Expect further consolidations and closures unfortunately, with the proviso that in the process the landscape of craft beer is being shaped by small groups of wealthy individuals whose main interest is profit not beer.
Campaigners criticise ‘rule bound’ World Conker Championships
The long running Campaign for Real Conkers has again distanced itself from the World Conker Championships to be held in Southwick,Northants on Sunday.
The campaigners say the Championships obsession with rules and conkers as a spectator sport is seriously damaging the future of the game.
The Campaign for Real Conkers continues to believe that conkers is something to be played, not watched, and above all is a game that is free for all and can be played anywhere without the need for rules
Campaign organiser Keith Flett said, we know the Championships raises money for charity and is good fun but the focus on it is damaging conkers. It promotes an image of conkers as a game for people of a certain age, while conkers lay uncollected and unused by younger generations.
He added, fortunately there is good news. There are more and more local conker festivals around often associated with craft brewery taps such as Brick in Peckham. Here lies hope that conker games will continue for a new generation.
2023 Beard, Shorts & Sandals Season extended to Tuesday, *England & Wales only*
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that the 2023 Beard, Shorts and Sandals Season has been extended until Tuesday 10th October in England and Wales only.
The Season was previously extended until the end of September but what appears to be brief spell of sunny weather in England and Wales has allowed for a further brief extension.
The BLF says that it has implemented temporary guidelines for the extension of the 2023 season. In particular shorts should only be worn between the hours of 10am and 6pm
1] Shorts should be three-quarter length-‘culottes’. The length of shorts is particularly important as climate change may mean that unprotected legs get sunburnt.
2] Footwear should be casual. There is a considerable range of sandal type footwear now available. Some leave parts of the feet and toes open to public view, while some does not. The BLF is not prescriptive about the matter.
3] Socks should not be worn.
4] There is no prescription or definition on what type of beard may be worn, or how this may match with the shorts and sandals. This is left up to the individual.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, climate change is a very serious issue and given the weather impact currently we are further extending the Beard, Shorts and Sandals Season with temporary restrictions on the time it is prudent to flaunt the beard, shorts and sandals with more limited daylight and colder mornings and evenings.
The protests of Just Stop Oil have been effective at placing climate change firmly on the political agenda. While direct action is one way of making a point, there are others. What the sociologist Charles Tilly called the Repertoire of Contention includes petitions, marches, rallies and strikes. They can be less dramatic than stopping the M25 but they too can get a message across.
Tilly sees a hierarchy of contention and protest from the petition to riot and revolt. The world doesn’t work like that. People can petition and take direct action at the same time, and often combinations of protest strategies can bring at least some results. The key is to start protesting in the first place.
In this sense the decision of Dale Vince who has been funding Just Stop Oil to switch to supporting a Labour Election victory is one-dimensional. Both voting and protesting are possible at the same time
As Hackney SWP point out climate protest would flourish better without funding from rich businessmen, and with grass roots funding. The same applies to voting Labour. The more the motivation comes from the bottom up and the less from links with business the more likely it is something will be done about climate change
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has expressed concern that a beer which echoes the meme ‘noice’ associated with author, broadcaster and Arsenal fan Michael Rosen, has a picture associated with it does not seem to feature his award winning beard.
Noice a 7.5% imperial stout is produced by South London craft brewer Gipsy Hill. It is carbon negative so definitely follicle friendly. However concerns remain that the picture on the can is not a reasonable likeness of Michael Rosen and particularly his beard
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, everything looks good about this beer except its lacking the essential ingredient, a likeness of Michael Rosen and his beard.
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers has published the shortlist for the coveted Beard of Autumn Award.
London Assembly Member Andrew Boff has been added to the list after his intervention at the Tory Conference
It’s the last of four quarterly awards before the annual Beard of the Year in December.
There will be two preliminary rounds of voting with a final Beard Off starting in early October
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Andrew Boff politely called out Suella Braverman’s attempt to demonise sections of the community based on sexuality. The BLF has always stood against all forms of discrimination, including that focused on beards.
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that voters in Rutherglen have sent a clear message on beards to authority.
The full beard of the Tory candidate was rejected, clearly on the grounds that they were hiding Suella Braverman in. Rather the the more conservatively hirsute Labour candidate shaved the SNP.
This can be seen as a clear message to clean shaven Starmerism and a recognition of the hirsute heritage of Scottish Labour going back to Keir Hardie
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Rutherglen sends a clear message to Keir Starmer. Beard Power wins elections
It’s part of the crisis of Westminster politics that both main parties have very limited numbers who are actually any good at politics. Its not just about right and left, although that remains important, but whether politicans are actually any good at politics in the first place.
Sunak managed to announce the cancellation of HS2 to Manchester at the Tory Conference in Manchester. Not even the The Thick of It had that as a plot line.
Meanwhile ahead of the Labour Conference in Liverpool Starmer has told Granada that he is happy to write for The S*n, speak to them etc. That would be the paper boycotted on Merseyside after Hillsborough (and for many other reasons).
The policies are reactionary and wrong in both cases but it is the sheer inepitude of the politicans making them and the timing that stands out as much.
Both Sunak and Starmer have little experience as MPs or of Parliamentary politics.
Perhaps there was a reason why the Independent Labour Party was formed in those shadowy parts knowa as the provinces (Bradford) exactly one hundred years ago by people who had plenty of experience of grassroots politics
