Kmflett's Blog

Their anthems & ours. God Save the King v The Roast Beef of Old England

With the appointment of Charles as King the reappearance of God Save the King as the national anthem is a given.

There is a lot of history here. In the late eighteenth century there was an anthem war between Loyalists to the Crown and Jacobins who supported the French Revolution. This took place according to E P Thompson in the Making of the English Working Class in provincial theatres- places of entertainment and politics.

Loyalists sang God Save the King and radicals the more traditional anthem, the Roast Beef of Old England. Non meat eaters can relax here. The radicals were not eating beef. Thanks to what we call a cost of living crisis they couldn’t afford it. The basic diet was bread. The point was that there was a time when the poor could afford to eat beef.

The version sung two hundred years ago contained explicitly political lines:

“Scatter his enemies, And make them fall, Confound their politics, Frustrate their knavish tricks.”

Thompson reports an incident at a Sheffield Theatre in 1812. South Devon Officers ‘Church and King Bullies’ insisted on the singing of God Save the King. Thompson notes ‘the mobility in the gallery insisted on it not being sung’

Perhaps its time to reinstate the Roast  Beef of Old England as the national anthem.

Beard Liberation Front

9^th September

2022 Beard, Shorts & Sandals Season extended to show respect to Queen Elizabeth II

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that the 2022 Beard, Shorts and Sandals Season which opened in April has been extended to the end of September as a mark of respect to the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The Queen was an enthusiastic supporter of outdoor activities and the campaigners say that while the immediate cancellation of the season was considered it was thought more in keeping to extend it to allow people to celebrate the Queen’s life or not as they choose/

The 2022 Season has seen a widespread adoption of beards, shorts and sandals particularly during the regular periods of warmer weather

2022 Season guidelines

1] Shorts should ideally be three-quarter length-‘culottes’ for the 2022 season. 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 leaves 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 usually not be worn. However there is no definitive policy on this currently.

3a] If the beard, shorts and sandals are to be displayed in relatively busier urban areas it is likely to be prudent to wear closed rather than open casual footwear and ankle socks, not visible to others may 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, it is entirely up to individuals whether they participate in the last weeks of the Beard, Shorts and Sandals Season and indeed whether they choose wear black socks or none at all. We thought it important to underline that unlike some we are not cancelling things.

Queen Elizabeth 1926-2022 did  not rule over a nation at ease with itself

Britain is a constitutional monarchy so the role of the Royal Family and the monarch in particular is not just ceremonial but also political. Investigations in recent times by the Guardian and others have underlined that the monarch and also King Charles actively sought to influence political decisions where they have interest or concern.

In that context the death of Queen Elizabeth on 8^th September2022 represented a conclusion to the long twentieth century (I have the historian Daryl Leeworthy to thank for this point). The Queen actively ruled over Britain for 70 years. It was not for the most part a nation at ease with itself.

From her early decades when Britain was still extricating itself from direct colonial rule- the first decade of Elizabeth’s reign saw the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya bloodily dealt with by the British Army and even latterly the Royal Family’s relationship with the slave trade has so far only elicited a ‘sorry’.

In the UK it might be argued that until the late 1960s the Queen did preside over a degree of social peace. The changes in society in that period- the legalisation of abortion and homosexuality, the equal pay act are not in anyway associated with the monarchy.

The point was not lost on many since by the time of the 1977 Jubilee the Sex Pistols irreverent God Save the Queen better fitted  a national mood than forelock tugging.

It has been downhill all the way since. The death of Princess Diana, Prince Andrew,  the expulsion of Prince Harry and the numerous doubtful dealings of King Charles. Perhaps it could be argued that the Queen rose above all this but she also presided over it all.

It is if course far too soon to draw anything but the most provisional of historical balance sheets, leaving aside numerous media hagiographies. Political decisions can however be made. It’s time to  end the constitutional role of the monarchy, disestablish the Church of England, and confine King Charles III to a ceremonial role only

Much has made in what is at best an odd phrase that there are no ‘white men’ in the four great offices of State in Truss’s Cabinet. Truss has already noted at Prime Ministers Questions on 7th September that she is the third female Tory PM. When one considers that the other two were May and Thatcher this is not as progressive as it stands. That said Labour’s tradition of elevating clean shaven white men in suits to leader is far from ideal as well.

The Financial Times (8th September) has noted another angle on Truss’s Cabinet which she won’t be mentioning:

The Sutton Trust a social mobility charity has found that 68% of the new Cabinet was privately educated whereas about 7% of the UK population is educated at fee paying schools

Letter Writers send renewed solidarity to @CWUNews posties on strike for decent pay

Letter Writers have sent renewed solidarity to CWU postal workers who are taking two days strike on 8^th and 9th September. Despite working all through the pandemic and helping to keep things going they have been offered a hugely below inflation pay rise. Royal Mail is also threatening worse terms and conditions. Dave Ward CWU General Secretary has also revealed Royal Mail’s plans to sell the service.

As so often in British industry Royal Mail bosses far from taking a pay freeze or cut have paid themselves huge bonuses.

Of course letter writers like myself mostly use e-mail now but the CWU also represents rank and file telecom workers who have also taken strike action on an inadequate pay offer.

Plenty of mail in traditional form still appears though and some of it is not easily amenable to e-mail. Posties remain a key part of the economy and deserve decent pay and conditions. They need our support in getting it.

Beard Liberation Front

7^th September

Campaigners suspend call for Boris Johnson to grow the beard of defeat

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has suspended a call for former Prime Minister Boris Johnson to accept his new status with dignity and grow a beard of defeat after it became clear that it did not have full support

BLF supporter Chris Brooke commented on twitter that if Johnson grew a beard it would bring the hirsute into disrepute and the call should not be supported

The trend was started  by US Democratic Presidential candidate Al Gore when he won the popular vote in the 2000 Presidential Election but lost in the Electoral College to George W Bush

The campaigners say that a beard of political defeat allows time for reflection and clarity on future direction. While it is no secret that Boris Johnson’s future aim is to make money for himself a beard would at least temper the greed a little

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, unlike some we seek a united network without creating unnecessary factions.  For that reason we have suspended the call for Boris Johnson to grow the beard of defeat. We will carry out a consultative exercise at the weekend to judge the views of BLF supporters on whether we reinstate that call or drop it.

Consultation

So, Farewell then Beavertown as Heineken takes complete control

Big Beer in the shape of Heineken has taken complete control of Beavertown brewery:

Of course old Marxists with beards like myself who understand that capitalism tends to monopoly expected nothing less. However as a beer drinker living in Tottenham I cant help feeling a good deal of regret about this.

Beavertown’s beers- which you can find in supermarkets-remains perfectly drinkable. However back in the day, less than ten years ago, they were at the cutting edge of craft beer producing some exceptional beers. That is gone.

My memories of Beavertown go back to the opening of their former pub Dukes Brew and Que in Haggerston. At that point Neck Oil was available in cask and brewed much closer to the Bathams recipe beloved of Logan Plant than it is now.

I last saw Logan just under a year ago at the opening of the Beavertown pub the Corner Pin right by Spurs stadium. He was enthusing about the then new Bones lager that was launching and discussing the cask beers produced by Black Country brewers like Holdens.

His original plan was to get good beer much more widely available and to do so independently of Big Beer. As above Beavertown still produce decent beers but in a deal that looks similar to Camden’s sell out to ABI Logan will now remain only as an advisor. The deal also looks similar to Heineken’s buy out of Lagunitas where they initially took a part stake and then complete control.

We can only wish Logan Plant well in whatever he does next and recall the efforts of many Beavertown employees in the past to produce some great beer.

Beavertown may well remain a decent brand if Camden is anything to go by. The impetus for Big Beer is to cut costs and find efficiencies and produce in the process blander beer. Countervailing to that however is that there is little point in Big Beer being involved with ‘craft’ if the product is as underwhelming as much of the rest of their range.

Liz Truss; from CND Activist, Trotskyist & LibDem to Remainer & right-wing Tory PM. A political chameleon

One sees on social media claims that Liz Truss will be the most right-wing PM ever. She is certainly right-wing but the perspective suggests a certain lack of knowledge about British political history. One might think of Lord Liverpool who at the very least gave the nod for the Yeomanry to be sent in at Peterloo in August 1819. One must also take into account that Truss has spent the past few weeks endeavouring to appeal to a right-wing audience of a few thousand Tory members.

She is sometimes described as eccentric, which may be sexism, but may also be a recognition that those who are competent in one area- Truss is an accountant- may not be in other areas.

I prefer a Sunday Times view that Truss is a pragmatic chameleon, rather like in that sense Johnson who backed both sides on Brexit before deciding Leave was the best career opportunity.

As a youth in Leeds in the 1980s Truss was involved with CND, going on demos and so on. Partly this was family influenced but no amount of cajoling can get someone on a demo they are not interested on being on.

At Oxford the historian and barrister David Renton reports (see @livesrunning) that she was recruited to the Socialist Worker Student Society after a long chat with himself. However she stayed only a couple of weeks before de-camping and becoming  a leading LibDem, campaigning for the legalisation of cannabis (it must be presumed that she did inhale), but also a way of standing out from Tory ex-public schoolboys. Johnson did something similar although more with the SDP.

Renton notes that like himself Truss was elected to the student council but over two years did not distinguish herself in debate. Given that she is a lacklustre public speaker this seems like a missed opportunity to learn the skill of oratory (I did the same myself- I only mumble in private- though obviously not at Oxford)

Truss entered the world of work at the moment New Labour won a landslide in 1997. At that point she joined the Tories. Why? The pragmatic chameleon had worked out that the time had passed for her to make her way in Labour or the LibDems(whose MP numbers only went one way after 1997/2001) but the Tories at a low ebb presented the ideal opportunity for someone to make their way when few others were keen.

What will she do as PM? I have no crystal ball but only a broad shot at a materialist analysis (consciousness determines being). Truss will try and do what best promotes her future. She may find as Johnson did, that events, dear boy, events conspire against her. Particularly if protests like Enough is Enough continue to gain momentum.

Beard Liberation Front

6^th September

Campaigners call on Boris Johnson to grow the beard of defeat

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has called on former Prime Minister Boris Johnson to accept his new status with dignity and grow a beard of defeat.

The trend was started  by US Democratic Presidential candidate Al Gore when he won the popular vote in the 2000 Presidential Election but lost in the Electoral College to George W Bush

The campaigners say that a beard of political defeat allows time for reflection and clarity on future direction. While it is no secret that Boris Johnson’s future aim is to make money for himself a beard would at least temper the greed a little

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said. In recent weeks while Johnson has been partying and on holiday there have been signs of a proto-beard. Now he can go for the full Lord Salisbury look

Was Boris Johnson the worst Prime Minister of the last century?

This article appeared in the Guardian on 5^th September.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/04/the-most-controversial-pm-since-lloyd-george-historians-on-boris-johnson

The general view is that Johnson was the worst PM since Lloyd George (PM 1916-1922) because like him Johnson ignored or subverted democratic practices and indeed laws and did what suited him personally.

Johnson is certainly guilty of this. One can think of the illegal proroguing of Parliament to force through a hard Brexit or the breaking of his own Covid laws with Partygate. Parliamentary democracy is very far from perfect but Johnson’s various efforts to undermine or ignore it, made it even worse.

Even so there are many other contenders for the worst PM of the last century. A few are noted below.

David Cameron. Blundered into an unnecessary vote on the EU and then resigned when he lost it

Tony Blair. Took Britain into an unpopular war in Iraq that saw millions die

John Major. Privatised the railways

Margaret Thatcher. Laid waste to manufacturing industry and jobs

Ted Heath. Proclaimed a 3 day working week in 1974 called an Election and lost it

Anthony Eden. Involved Britain in the Suez debacle in 1956

Ramsay MacDonald. Split the Labour Party in 1931 and ushered in the hungry thirties

Johnson’s hard Brexit while it has hardly had a beneficial impact in most areas can hardly be compared to the energy and climate crisis and the Tories unwillingness to grapple with them. Johnson was just too lazy and self-obsessed to be the worst PM in a century. Lloyd George was also self-obsessed, he was certainly not lazy