Kmflett's Blog

Beard Liberation Front

26^th November

Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett 07803 167266

Jeremy Corbyn heads Shortlist for Parliamentary Beard of the Year

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has revealed the shortlist for the Parliamentary Beard of the Year 2022.

When voting opens eight candidates will attempt to shave each other for the coveted annual accolade. Jeremy Corbyn received the award in 2021 for a record ninth time.

The winner of Parliamentary Beard of the Year will be announced on 14th December

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, as usual it’s not about whether the politics of a particular MP are approved of or not. It is about the positive impact their beard has had in the public eye during the year, or not as the case may be. There are no whips or block votes involved so it’s entirely down to public support.

Parliamentary Beard of the Year 2021 shortlist

Jeremy Corbyn, (Independent Labour, Islington North)

Andy McDonald (Labour, Middlesbrough)

Jon Trickett (Labour, Hemsworth)

Andrew Stephenson (Tory, Pendle)

Colum Eastwood (SDLP, Foyle)

James Duddridge (Tory, Southend)

Sajid Javid (Tory, Bromsgrove)

Toby Perkins (Labour, Chesterfield)

Voting will start in early December. Two preliminary close shave rounds will provide four finalists for a Beard Off round with the result announced on 14th December

Close Shave Round One Dec 2-4

Close Shave Round Two Dec 5-7

Beard Off final Round Dec 9-12

The past weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living. Industrial action 1970s-2020s

Industrial action is back. The CWU, RMT and ASLEF are engaged in national strike action- albeit discontinuous. The UCU has just finished there days of strike action. The RCN, PCS and others plan action in December.

The reason, in the main, is easy to grasp. Inflation stands at 11%+ (food inflation is higher) and offered wage rises are nowhere this. Many are struggling to pay bills. Strike action is a last resort but a necessary one if employers, who are mostly not themselves in hardship, won’t negotiate an appropriate rise in pay.

The late socialist historian E P Thompson was fascinated by commentary in the Times in an earlier(and much larger) period of strike action the 1970s. Some of this is captured in his collection, Sir, Writing By Candlelight.

I turned to the Times (Editorial 25^th November) to see how things have moved on in the last 50 years. It appears that at least at the Times the  past weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living. There is much reference to ‘union barons’. Yet union leaders like Mick Lynch and Jo O’Grady have to be elected in a postal ballot by union members. I don’t think traditionally barons are elected.

Secondly to take industrial action requires not only a majority of union members to vote for it, again in a postal ballot, but at least 50% must vote. In short unless the mood of members is to take action it doesn’t happen whatever the barons say.

The Times also complains that unions are against modernisation but doesn’t quite get around to mentioning what that means. On the rails for example it means for example less station staff to help the many who need it when buying tickets and boarding trains. Not very modern really.

Lastly the Times say that inflation pay rises cant be afforded. Obviously if the aim is to get ordinary people to pay for a Truss inspired financial mess they can’t be. If the idea is to avoid recession and make sure people have money to spend on goods and services- which translates into jobs and profits- then perhaps they should be afforded. There is nothing even vaguely radical about this so perhaps the Times will get round to thinking it in due course.

Update 3rd December

As the unions still havent agreed to The Times demands another Editorial has appeared (3rd December). Rupert Murdoch’s finest call for a minimum service during strikes law which it is admitted is all but unworkable. Heavy fines for unions are mentioned as someone has clearly recalled Heath’s (failed) National Industrial Relations Court from the 1970s. It has agreed that the right to strike does exist (albeit only in the negative, The Times is not great on employment law) but not if it annoys Times readers. A classic text for future labour historians

The Business University in the 2020s. Why the UCU is right to strikeFollowing a decisive vote for industrial action members of the UCU in Universities are currently taking three days of strike action on pay, pensions and working conditions. While the pay of Vice Chancellors has soared into the hundreds of thousands, many academics are on fixed term contracts and facing real time pay cuts

Unlike in the late 1960s when Universities mainly relied on State funding in the 2020s every University is a business. Members of the UCU, the union that organises in further and higher education understand the point very well.

The influence of business in UK Universities is significant and it’s not interested in rooting out incorrect thinking. If a subject is not contributing in a measurable way to the bottom line funding stops and so does the study of the subject. There is no space for thinking correct, or incorrect.

As in 1970, when E P Thompson edited , Warwick University Ltd, the original business University when it comes to the business University the main enemy is at home.

Capitalism is however nothing if not contradictory. The Government having encouraged overseas students to study in the UK, which is profitable for Universities, now seems to be debating whether this should be restricted to elite Russell Group institutions. There is some complexity in this in terms of what the agenda of capital actually is, although racism remains a core feature.

A key, if not the key way, through all this is for the organised strength of the UCU to shift the agenda away from profit and towards decent pay and conditions for academics and really useful education for students.

CAMPAIGN FOR REAL SANTAS

Organised by the Beard Liberation Front

29th November

Contact Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social

Ho Ho Ho: Campaign For Real Santas issues Black Friday Warning

After its official 2024 launch The Campaign for Real Santas, which promotes Santas with genuine organic beards, has issued a Black Friday warning. It says that people looking for bargains need to be particularly wary of false bearded Santas trying to promote dubious ‘offers’

The campaign promotes real Santas with genuine beards by warning people to be aware of absurd false bearded Santas as the busiest pre-Christmas shopping weekends get underway.

The Campaigners say that with unemployment and under-employment amongst mature men over 50, there is absolutely no reason for anyone to use an assistant Santa who does not have a real beard.

At the same time the Campaign is also keen to encourage more female Santas with organic knitted beards.

Campaigners are urging parents and children to demand that Santas vigorously tug their beards as a definitive test as to whether they are in the presence of a real Santa or not.

CFRS organiser Keith Flett said, in recent times Black Friday has seen an early seasonal peak in fake bearded Santas. Our strong advice is: give them a close shave

THREE STEPS TO SPOT A GENUINE SANTA

1 Ask the Santa to tug their beard. If it comes away, then the Santa is FAKE

2 If the beard remains intact ask the Santa to tug their beard again. If the Santa swears then they are genuine. If they simply repeat a ‘ho ho ho’ mantra they are FAKE

3 The Campaign for Real Santas says that genuine Santas must have just the right mix of bonhomie and grumpiness and a real organic beard.

Notes

The Organic Santa of 2024 will be named on December 18th.

The Campaign for Real Santas is organised by the Beard Liberation Front

Beard Liberation Front

Media Release 25^th November

Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett 07803 167266

Beard of the Year 2022. Second shave off vote open

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has revealed the longlist for the coveted Beard of the Year title.

The Award was first given in 2000 when the late Frank Dobson won. Author and broadcaster Michael Rosen won the on-line poll in 2021.

The longlist will be shaved to a shortlist at the end of November and after semi-finals and a final the winner will be announced on 28^th December

The campaigners say that the criteria for inclusion on the longlist remain the same as in previous years:

A nominee must have had a beard for most of the calendar year

The beard wearer must have provided a positive public image of the hirsute

Beard lengths and styles are not taken into account.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, we’re moving into the follicle frenzy part of the year. Roy Keane and Benjamin Zephaniah are through to the final Beard of the Year shortlist and the second shave off vote is now open

Beard of the Year 2022. 2nd Shave Off round. Top 2 go thru to the final shortlist plus highest placed third places

— keith flett (@kmflett) November 24, 2022

Beard of the Year longlist

Bob Geldoff

Roy Keane

Benjamin Zephaniah

Daniel Radcliffe

Brian Eno

Graham Norton

Michael Rosen

Moeen Ali

Hamza Yassin

Rylan Clark-Neal

Alexei Sayle

Robert Plant

Two years on from 27 deaths in the Channel. Nothing said. Safe, legal asylum routes now

Its exactly two years since a boat carrying asylum seekers capsized and sank in the Channel. 27 people are known to have drowned and 5 more remain missing. Subsequent investigations have shown that both British and French authorities knew the boat was sinking. They could have acted and saved lives. They did not.

No doubt the current Government would blame people smugglers for this (as would Labour). They certainly exploit refugees. They don’t create them. People flee war and conflict, often caused by Western interventions, and seek safety. Some (a fairly limited number) come to Britain because they have family and support here in the main.

At a Commons Committee on 23^rd November 2022 Suella Braverman, then Home Secretary admitted that there are in fact no safe and legal routes to claim asylum in this country. There still aren’t That must change before anymore die. Humanity is more important than the racism of the Mail and Farage

Thanksgiving: celebration & controversy

27th November 2025 is Thanksgiving in the US followed by Black Friday. Thanksgiving is not marked in the UK but latterly Black Friday is.

Of course Britain has thanksgiving festivals, usually in September to mark the harvest. The US festival is partly about this but it is also a political occasion designed to mark the founding of what is now imperial America by settlers. The problem with that of course was that America already existed before that event and had an indigenous population. In that context it is not settlers but colonisers that can be spoken of.

England had a similarly controversial Thanksgiving on May 29^th. It dated from the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and was designed to celebrate the re-appearance of King Charles, albeit his son. It was a politically disputed event and celebrated more in some years than others, depending on how popular the monarchy was. Even so it was celebrated because a feast day is preferable to a non-feast day. Unless of course you are an American Indian where the context remains very different

Tory MP calls for Just Stop Oil to be a ‘proscribed organisation’. Fascism arrives as your friend

In the House of Commons on 23^rd November Tory MP Gareth Johnson called for Just Stop Oil to be made a proscribed organisation. That would mean supporting it would be a criminal act. The Prime Minister declined to agree but underlined that Suella Braverman’s various efforts to ban protest could deal with the matter.

An authoritarian Government is not the same as a fascist one but you don’t need a weatherman…

Gareth Johnson  

(Dartford) (Con)

Q6.   Last month, Just Stop Oil clambered up the Dartford crossing, causing chaos for days. It then attacked artworks, the M25 and anything else it could to cause misery and mayhem. These people are not protesters; they are criminals. Will the Prime Minister therefore consider making Just Stop Oil a proscribed organisation so that it can be treated as the criminal organisation it is? (Unique identification number 902417)

 The Prime Minister 

The kinds of demonstrations that we have seen recently disrupt people’s daily lives, cause mass misery for the public and put people in danger. The police have our full support in their efforts to minimise this disruption and tackle reckless and illegal activity. The Public Order Bill will give them the powers they need. I look forward to seeing the support that the Bill receives from every part of this House.

Fascism: I sometimes fear…

I sometimes fear that

people think that fascism arrives in fancy dress

worn by grotesques and monsters

as played out in endless re-runs of the Nazis.

Fascism arrives as your friend.

It will restore your honour,

make you feel proud,

protect your house,

give you a job,

clean up the neighbourhood,

remind you of how great you once were,

clear out the venal and the corrupt,

remove anything you feel is unlike you…

It doesn’t walk in saying,

“Our programme means militias, mass imprisonments, transportations, war and persecution.”

Michael Rosen

Socialist Historians back historic @UCU strike action. Conditions for teaching & research are being destroyed by ‘business model’ Vice Chancellors

London Socialist Historians Group

Media Release 24^th November

Contact LSHG Convenor Dr Keith Flett 07803 167266

Socialist Historians back historic UCU strike action. Conditions for teaching & research are being destroyed

The London Socialist Historians Group, which organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, has backed what will be the largest ever strike action by members of the University and College Union (UCU) on 24. 25 and 30 November

The academics and professional support staff are taking strike action over real time cuts to pensions,  pay and conditions.

The historians say that a continuing supply of historical research is at risk as academics are made redundant or look for jobs elsewhere in the face of a relentless attack by employers on their pay and pensions.

LSHG Convenor Dr Keith Flett, this dispute is about whether or not academic life and the important teaching and research that is central to it, can continue in any form beyond a marketized race to the bottom type of education which seems to be the model many University Vice Chancellors seem to prefer. The liberal education that Universities should be providing is under real and sustained threat. UCU members are right to strike and we hope they win.

Full details

https://www.ucu.org.uk/rising

Beard Liberation Front

Media Release 23rdNovember

Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett 07803 167266

Beard of the Year 2022. First close shave vote open

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has revealed the longlist for the coveted Beard of the Year title.

The Award was first given in 2000 when the late Frank Dobson won. Author and broadcaster Michael Rosen won the on-line poll in 2021.

The longlist will be shaved to a shortlist at the end of November and after semi-finals and a final the winner will be announced on 28^th December

The campaigners say that the criteria for inclusion on the longlist remain the same as in previous years:

A nominee must have had a beard for most of the calendar year

The beard wearer must have provided a positive public image of the hirsute

Beard lengths and styles are not taken into account.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, quite a bit has changed follicle wise since we started Beard of the Year over 20 years ago now. For example the England Football  team for the World Cup features only three clean shaven players. Even so the accolade of winning Beard of the Year is still a considerable honour

Beard of the Year first Shave Off vote. Top 2 go the shortlist(plus highest placed third place)

— keith flett (@kmflett) November 23, 2022

Beard of the Year longlist

Bob Geldoff

Roy Keane

Humza Yousaf

Daniel Radcliffe

Brian Eno

Graham Norton

Michael Rosen

Moeen Ali

Alan Moore

Rylan Clark-Neal

Alexei Sayle

Robert Plant