Beard Liberation Front

19^th February

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Roald Dahl’s The Twits has been modernised but the beard hate remains

The Beard Liberation Front has said that following an exercise to ‘modernise’ the language in the children’s books of Roald Dahl, some alterations have been made to The Twits, described by the Guardian as an anti-beard manifesto.

However none of the, minor, changes impact on the pogonophobia- beard hate- that is a central part of the book.

In the Twits, Mr Twit, a generally rather disgusting character is portrayed as someone who never washes or takes any care of his beard. As a result remains of previous meals, including stilton, sardines and scrambled egg can be found in it.

The campaigners say that while Dahl’s caricature of beard wearers is something that the hirsute can laugh about, it is notable that while the modernising project has rightly considered sexism and misogyny to be unacceptable in 2023, beard hatred is still OK.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Roald Dahl was a known beard hater and The Twits is a reflection of this. It remains however a classic and something the hirsute can laugh at. We remain interested to learn though why pogonophobia was considered acceptable by the modernising project.

19th February

The Coronation of King Charles 111 will not be the event of the year for Ambridge Socialist supporters. We will be organising a Roll On The Red Republic festival on the Village Green in May.

That said there is an interesting Archers link to the Coronation, leaving aside the Queen Consort’s long association.

A report in the Times (18th February) notes that since the late twelfth century a Coronation tradition has been to present the new monarch with golden spurs. Oliver Cromwell had them melted down, sensibly, but on the Restoration a new set was made for the Coronation of King Charles 11 in 1661.

At the last Coronation in 1953 the spurs were carried by Lord Hastings and Lord Churston (Yarde-Buller). Both claim descent from John Marshall who first performed the role for Richard 1 in 1189. Unfortunately Lord Churston died aged 88 on Thursday leaving just Lord Hastings.

Lord Hastings is in fact Delaval Hastings who from 1990-92 was Cameron Fraser of Ambridge. He bought the Berrow Estate and struck up a relationship with Elizabeth Archer (as well as Caroline Bone). Elizabeth became pregnant but determined to have the baby. At this point Cameron Fraser disappeard, revealed as a con man,and Elizabeth did in fact have an abortion

The Ambridge Socialist

19^th February

Ruling Class Ambridge: things fall apart

The fall out from the death of Jennifer Aldridge continues with key sections of the Ambridge ruling class squabbling amongst themselves. Lilian and Tony are not talking, Ruairi refuses to respond to Brian’s texts (has he tried WhatsApp?) and has departed for London again.

Brian is disgruntled at Kirsty and Roy’s attempts to tidy his garden, and has had to resort to talking to Will about bereavement. In fairness this was a decent episode.  Brian however will not discuss with Alice plans for Jennifer’s funeral which in turn is stressing her out. She has talked to her drink advisor.

The only person to take advantage of all this has been Justin. After discovering the actual relationship between Julieann and Ruairi he engaged in a little light bullying to get him to reveal what he knew about a business contact of hers.  Satisfied for the moment Justin has ‘forgotten’ about the escort issue

In Other News

Kate still claims to be a farmer

Freddie’s Valentine’s  disco at the Bull played some  real bangers at least if the BBC report  was accurate.

Nolathandu has been to Arkwright Hall with Brian

London Socialist Historians Group

18th February

Bookmarks the socialist bookshop is marking 50 years of socialist bookselling this weekend with a celebration in central London.

From its original Finsbury Park shop to the current one at 1 Bloomsbury St Bookmarks has ensured that the left and the labour movement have been well red down the years.

The London Socialist Historians Group, which organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research just up the road from the bookshop, send solidarity greetings. Bookmarks is one of the best place to find books on socialist history, across a range of subjects and issues. It has an important role to play as a new wave of industrial struggle arises in Britain.

Brecht, A Worker Reads History

A Worker Reads History

Who built the seven gates of Thebes?
The books are filled with names of kings.
Was it the kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone?
And Babylon, so many times destroyed.
Who built the city up each time? In which of Lima’s houses,
That city glittering with gold, lived those who built it?
In the evening when the Chinese wall was finished
Where did the masons go? Imperial Rome
Is full of arcs of triumph. Who reared them up? Over whom
Did the Caesars triumph? Byzantium lives in song.
Were all her dwellings palaces? And even in Atlantis of the legend
The night the seas rushed in,
The drowning men still bellowed for their slaves.

Young Alexander conquered India.
He alone?
Caesar beat the Gauls.
Was there not even a cook in his army?
Phillip of Spain wept as his fleet
was sunk and destroyed. Were there no other tears?
Frederick the Great triumphed in the Seven Years War.
Who triumphed with him?

Each page a victory
At whose expense the victory ball?
Every ten years a great man,
Who paid the piper?

So many particulars.
So many questions.

What is the Starmer Project?A crowd was chanting Keir Starmer’s name in central London this week at a protest against transphobia. Pro Jeremy Corbyn chants were a familiar feature of the previous leader’s tenure. Unfortunately for Sir Keir the chant was not a positive one.

In the week that the Labour leader issued a diktat that Jeremy Corbyn would not be a Labour candidate in Islington North and appeared in Kiev to underline that he is just as keen a warmonger as any Tory it seems reasonable to ask what the Starmer project is.

Of course at the obvious level its about defeating the Tories and winning an election. However as an Editorial in the Murdoch Times moaned during the week, Starmer’s Labour remains relatively light on policy. The Times wants Starmer to distance himself further from unions and strikes.

The reaction of pro-Starmer commentators to the events of the week gave more of a clue on the Project. Polly Toynbee in the Guardian opined that it didn’t really matter whether Corbyn won as an Independent in Islington North. This happy go lucky approach to elections was not I think something Toynbee had when she stood as an SDP candidate back in the day. Then she understood the symbolic importance of Labour losses.

Labour as the late Ralph Miliband demonstrated in his book Parliamentary Socialism is above all an electoralist party. Yet a Guardian Editorial on Starmer’s diktat which advised the left in the Labour Party to back him or leave, noted winning elections is about attracting wide support not about telling hundreds of thousands of Labour voters to piss off.

Labour may well win the next Election against a backdrop of Tory implosion and SNP crisis but Starmer, verbal attacks on the Tories aside, doesn’t seem as obsessed by this (as he should be)as he is in bashing and purging the left.

It may be that the real Starmer project is to build a new centrist grouping in British politics in which the left doesn’t feature. Winning elections can come later, except that without the left, as previous Labour leaders have(often grudgingly)noted winning elections without the left is difficult. Arguably the left has others things to do but that is for another post

Double IPAs: some unreliable thoughts

I was at the well curated DIPA night at Cardiff craft beer shop PopnHops a couple of Fridays ago with my partner Megan.

There were four recent DIPAs on tap. Putty and Whale Sharks from Verdant, Development Hell 2 from Azvex and Curtains from Beak. All were around 8% so it was half pints and sipping. Of course what one person likes another doesn’t but I think I enjoyed the Azvex the most. It was the least murky of the four although I have nothing against murk (preferably without lactose).

Putty of course has a name and several people arrived asking specifically for it. I think Verdant posted that it was first brewed for Hop City (Leeds) in 2017 when the New England IPA style was not much in evidence in the UK (of course there are excellent West Coast IPAs and DIPAs too).

Putty 2023 tasted fine to me on draught (I also had a few glasses at the Kings Head in Bethnal Green several weeks back) but if I had been asked to distinguish it from Whale Sharks I might have struggled a little.

Those who specialise more in beer history than myself (I do beer politics of course) will no doubt correct me but I think the origins of the style in the UK go back to a series of DIPAs Cloudwater brewed. Like Putty they had a real following at the time.

I suppose the obvious point is that as the style develops and more examples are brewed will the thrill move on from Putty. One might also ask in the context of a cost of living crisis if beers which will come in at well over £5 for a half will find that much of a market

 Marmite Defence League poll celebrates beard friendliness

17^th February

Following questions raised by Michael Rosen and others on social media the Beard Liberation Front in conjunction with the Beard Liberation Front ran a snap poll to check views and experiences on whether or not Marmite is beard friendly

The result

48% said Marmite is beard friendly with care

26% said its messy

Where we stand on Marmite

Marmite is a natural product deriving from brewer’s yeast. It is historically a by-product of brewing

It was ‘invented’ by a German scientist Justus von Liebig

Originally Marmite was derived from the Bass brewery in Burton on Trent.

Marmite is salty but also has some health enhancing elements to it including vitamins.

Its recent marketing focuses on a ‘love it or hate it’ element to Marmite, and it is a ‘which side are you on’ food.

Organiser Keith Flett said, while Marmite or a similar product is manufactured and eaten elsewhere in the world it is a quintessentially British item associated with the country’s brewing heritage. Our snap poll shows that with care Marmite is also one of the most quintessentially beard  friendly foods

The League holds no brief for the multinational Company that owns Marmite

Keir Starmer’s has issued an ultimatum to the Labour left to back his leadership or leave the party. Perhaps Sir Keir would prefer to elect a new membership. The German poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht had a similar idea after the 1953 East German Uprising

The Solution, Brecht

After the uprising of the 17th June
The Secretary of the Writers Union
Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee
Stating that the people
Had forfeited the confidence of the government
And could win it back only
By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?

Heart Union Week 2023: time for widespread trade union organisation in craft beer

13-19th February 2023 is ‘heart’ unions week. Of course 14th February was Valentine’s Day but the week underlines that ‘love’, or perhaps fellowship, is collective as well as individual.

https://www.tuc.org.uk/heartunions

Events are going on across the world of work. The bottom-line idea is to get people to join a union.

One area where it would be good to see unions is craft beer. Only a few craft breweries currently employ enough people to justify a full-scale recognition and negotiation framework. Where they do they’d find that their brewery worked a lot better for having a mechanism for properly sorting out issues. They would also find they’d lose a lot less skilled workers who walk out because they have an issue they can’t see a way of resolving.

For craft beer workers even in small breweries there are significant benefits to union membership. Representation when appropriate of course but also professional advice and help across a wide range of issues.

The reality is though that if you are not a trade union member your ability to do much about issues at work except leave is very limited indeed. And if you are a member then there is the perpetual work of making sure the union effectively represents people- that only comes from an active membership not a benign General Secretary! It will also help if you are actively politically. A change of Government that is actually on the side of working people remains long overdue sadly.

However self-activity is the start. As the late Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm noted the world won’t change itself for the better on its own. People are required for that, and people organised in some form of collective activity, which is why being in a union is as important now as it was a hundred years ago.

Both Unite and the IWW are organising in craft beer currently. They deserve support and joining is a good start.

There is some useful knowledge in various parts of the media about the cost of living crisis, joining it up brings really useful knowledge.

The data comes largely from the Office For National Statistics.

Headline inflation for the last 12 months has dropped to 10.1% but food and energy price inflation is far higher.

Low fat milk is up 45.2%, bread 19% and gas prices 129.4%.

Meanwhile 2.5 million days were taken in strike action in the last six months of 2022 with 850,000 in December alone. The highest figures since 1989(Times)and the highest montly figure since 2011

It’s left to the Morning Star to report that real term wages in the last 3 months of 2022 dropped by 2.5% and 3.4% over the whole of 2022 the lowest since records started in 2000.

Work very much in progress with numbers of live strike ballots