The Beard Liberation Front has said with the transfer of England Men’s Football team Harry Kane to Bayern there is a significant concern that Beard Wars will develop between Kane and Bayern manager Thomas Tuchel.
Kane’s Beard Power is a significant part of his game while Tuchel’s beard is inconsistent and ephemeral often giving the impression that he has forgotten to shave for a few days.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, if Tuchel doesn’t grasp the importance of Harry Kane’s beard to his game we predict there will be Beard Wars at Bayern
National Sideburns Day: Noddy Holder retains most Iconic Sideburns Wearer Accolade
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that former Slade frontman Noddy Holder has retained the title of most Iconic Sideburns Wearer in the annual on-line poll. He shaved Chris Packham, Brad Pitt and Sir Keir Starmer.
The eleventh National Sideburns Day on 11th August, reflects the growing popularity of a range of facial hair styles.
National Sideburns Day was originally held to mark Bradley Wiggins Olympic victory in 2012
The campaigners say that sideburns, sometimes known as mutton chops, and named after US Civil War General Ambrose Burnside were often worn by Victorian politicians
Bradley Wiggins reinvented the post-1945 tradition of sideburns from Elvis Presley to Noddy Holder and the late Lemmy and Alvin Stardust, turned them into something no self-respecting hipster would be without
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, there is no question that Noddy Holder is Mr Sideburns but Chris Packham reflecting a natural look is getting more support. Sir Keir Starmer meanwhile has work to do
Greenpeace held a peaceful protest at Rishi Sunak’s North Yorkshire mansion over his energy policy last week.
Neither Sunak or his family were at home. This wasnt a secret. Media reports showed them on holiday in the US. In fact there was no one there at all. Greenpeace checked. They did not enter the mansion but draped a black cloth over it, symbolising oil.
As stunts go it was quite effective but of course it provoked condemnation from the usual suspects. A Times Editorial (5th August)claimed a red line had been crossed.
Could this be the paper owned by Rupert Murdoch whose journalists relentlessly hung around outside Jeremy Corbyn’s Finsbury Park house? Were similar journalists the reason why Tony Benn started shredding his waste paper because journalists were going through his bins?
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has sent best wishes to Shaun and Maxine who run the Maltings pub in York with the news that it is up for sale.
Shaun and Maxine have run the Maltings for 31 years and it has become an iconic pub known throughout the country and a regular in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide.
While the landlord Shaun Collinge appears to have never knowingly worn a beard the Maltings was named as a Beard Friendly Pub of the Year in a 2021 vote.
The Beard Friendly Pub accolade is of course about beards but its also about a pub that has a welcoming and friendly ambience along with excellent beer. The Maltings easily meets those requirements.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Shaun and Maxine have run a pub that sums up what beard friendly is all about and we wish them well for the future.
Its reported that walking 4,000 steps a day will have a beneficial effect on health.
For numbers, postal workers for example, this will be easily achieved during their working day. Others in sedentary occupations may find that a walk to the pub and back helps.
However the best way to achieve and surpass the 4,000 steps is collectively.
The long march of everyman and woman to equality and liberation remains a powerful radical symbol.
There is for example a protest march at the Tory Conference in Manchester in early October.
However that is a way off. One interim measure might be to join the slow walking protests of Just Stop Oil. They have been partially outlawed by Suella Braverman while Keir Starmer finds them ‘contemptible’.
That rather suggests that they are good for both physical and mental health
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has issued an alert on marmite hummus.
It comes after former Beard of the Year Michael Rosen, alerted the BLF, to his creation of a marmite and hummus sandwich using seeded bread with marmite spread on one slice and marmite on the other.
This non commercial use of marmite and hummus where the amounts can be controlled is approved by the BLF. Commercial variants available in supermarkets offer no such control.
However the BLF remains concerned that getting either marmite or hummus in the follicles can cause serious damage and urges that careful consideration is given to portion control when making a craft marmite and hummus sandwich
2023 Beard, Shorts & Sandals Season suspension lifted; restrictions still apply
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that the suspension of 2023 Beard, Shorts and Sandals due to inclement weather has been lifted with immediate effect. However some restrictions will still apply.
The campaigners that very high temperatures in Southern Europe mean that wearing shorts is inadvisable at best. Conversely further north cool and often wet and windy weather mean that wearing shorts is equally inadvisable without care.
The BLF says that it has implemented temporary guidelines for the re-opening of the 2023 season. These govern types of footwear, length of shorts and the controversial issue of socks:
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 or very wet.
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. They are likely to become waterlogged
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 reopening the Beard, Shorts and Sandals Season with temporary restrictions on length of shorts and sock wearing
Part of the Tory Culture Wars is an obsession that business should abandon diversity and inclusion agendas and focus on what their shareholders want.
A previous Tory leader said ‘f*ck business’ reflecting the fact that while the Tory Party is the historic party of business most of its current MPs have little idea about it. That of course is not the same as noting that Tory MPs are good at making money for themselves
The reason why companies pursue D&I agendas is of course in part box ticking but also because its good for their profits to have a well skilled and diverse workforce and likewise for their customer base
‘ I think we have to make sure businesses are free to do what they want’ Tory MP John Glen is reported as saying as he told Costa Coffee what ad campaigns they should run. (Times 7th Aug). The contradictions of culture wars
ABInBev has seen a 10.5% decline in US sales in the last quarter (FT 5th August). Partly this relates to a campaign it ran to boost sales of Bud Light involving Trans personality Dylan Mulvaney. This led to a boycott by hard right bigots led by Ron DeSantis. When ABInBev backtracked its target audience also fell away.
Beyond the Culture War the decline in Bud Light reflects a wider trend to decline. While US beer volumes shrank 3% in the last year craft beer (broadly defined) sales remained steady.
That said Molson Coors has picked up sales from Bud with Coors Lite and Miller Lite up 8.7%
Modelo Lite has replaced Bud Light was the US’s best selling beer. Not because its hugely popular but because its more widely available as Bud Light disappears off the bar tops
A 74 year old man has been crushed to death as shelving holding wheels of Parmesan he was inspecting collapsed in Lombardy.
Its a warning that cheese can be dangerous. In the Making of the English Working Class E P Thompson notes the ‘Great Cheese Riot’ at Nottingham Goose Fair in 1764 when cheeses were rolled down the streets.
While eating too much cheese may not be ideal there are clearly more dangerous ways to encounter cheese. We might also remember that several cheesemongers rode with the Yeomanry in 1819, well aware no doubt of the potential power their cheese could wield
