Sir, E-Mailing by Candlelight. Times letter writers on University ‘blacklisting’ of books
On the 10th August the Murdoch Times published an ‘investigation’ into Universities allegedly removing controversial books from reading lists. 300 Freedom of Information requests found that just two Universities and moved a book from essential to secondary reading.
In fact what the Times was really obsessing about was trigger warnings on books. In essence these just give an indication of some of the subjects the book covers. Not really something to froth at the mouth about.
On 11th August the paper published a selection of readers letters on the subject. E P Thompson wrote an essay ‘Sir, Writing by Candlelight’ about reactionary Times letter writers 50 years ago. The standard is clearly in decline. Where is the letter demanding that all books by Marxists are blacklisted for example?
A more relevant point was raised by history academic John Foot on social media. How many students read books on set reading lists? I never did
Enough is Enough: its not just a cost of living crisis. E P Thompson 1818; George Monbiot 2022
We are approaching the 203rd anniversary of Peterloo. It was a protest about the right to vote but rather more than that. People were living in a system where they had no representation and no say. In addition but also centrally they struggled in many cases to afford enough to eat.
In the Making of the English Working Class E P Thompson argued that the cost of living crisis was about wider issues than just that. He quoted a cotton spinner from 1818
The rise of a master class without traditional authority or obligations; the growing distance between master and man.. the loss of status and above all independence of the worker.. the partiality of the law, the discipline, monotony, hours and conditions of work, loss of leisure and amenities
George Monbiot 9th August 2022
It’s not a cost of living crisis so much as a rip-off crisis.
People are being ripped off by energy companies, ripped off by landlords, ripped off by a government that channels benefits to the rich while watching the poor slide into destitution.
National Sideburns Day: Noddy Holder voted most Iconic Post-1945 Sideburns Wearer
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that former Slade frontman Noddy Holder has been voted most Iconic Post-1945 Sideburns Wearer in the annual on-line poll. He shaved Elvis Presley and Lemmy for the honour.
The tenth 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, this year, on the 10th anniversary with the Commonwealth Games in the West Midlands it seems particularly appropriate for Noddy Holder to be voted the most Iconic Post-1945 Sideburns Wearer
August was known as the ‘silly season’ in the media because little happened and stories needed to be made up to fill space. No more. There are energy and cost of living crisis, wars and a Tory leadership battle
The Murdoch Times has however stuck with tradition and its front page lead on 10th August was about an alleged cull of University reading lists. The paper sent out 300 Freedom of Information requests to University authorities. The aim was to find out if books had been dropped on the grounds of political correctness. Two responses (out of three hundred) responded that a couple of texts were no longer mandated reading but still on lists.
In an Editorial the Times changed tack slightly and said the concern was that larger numbers of books had trigger warnings alerting students to problematic content. Or to put it another way reading lists had a brief summary of what books were about.
In my undergraduate days it was a point of principle not to read books on set reading lists (but read around the subject).Judging by the comments of Liz Truss’s University tutor in the Sunday Times she did the same. Was it our comprehensive school education?
Perhaps times have changed or perhaps the Times was being extremely silly. Indeed it reports that a response of several academics to its FOIs was ‘fuck off’
Former Labour PM has called for an emergency budget to deal with the cost of living crisis. One can only agree and note that since Starmer is apparently on holiday until 15th August and no one else can say anything significant until the dear leader returns perhaps its just as well Brown has spoken out.
Below is a brief account of what Brown did 15 years ago in a previous capitalist crisis. It might be noted (see final para) that there were unexpected conclusions
It is 14 years since the demise of Lehman Brothers caused a worldwide financial crisis the impact of which is still being felt today.
The late historian Eric Hobsbawm argued at a meeting of the Communist Party Historians Group in the 1950s that they ‘must become historians of the present too’. That is historians should be able to provide an historical context which will help understanding of what happens in the current day.
Many will think that Hobsbawm was a much better historian than he was political analyst and it remains to be seen whether his Forward March of Labour Halted will be seen over time as much more than an intellectual apologia for the rise of New Labour.
Even so Hobsbawm had a very good point when it comes to histories of the present. In the 24-hour news cycle, fed by the sound bite, there is little room for analysis let alone context.
Gordon Brown was Prime Minister when Lehmans went under and before that he had been the New Labour Chancellor since 1997. He set the Bank of England free from direct Government control and focused on a Labour policy that was pro-market capitalism. He claimed that his economic policy had moved beyond the boom and bust cycle that is inherent in capitalism. Clearly Brown had read even less of Marx’s Capital than Harold Wilson apparently managed.
2008 underlined big time that Brown most certainly had not abolished bust. He acted to shore up the capitalist system and it is worth reflecting that while he had some success in preventing a total collapse the then Tory opposition led by Cameron and Osborne offered no ideas whatsoever about what might be done to sort out the crisis.
Of course by 2010 they had had an idea of sorts. They still did not know how to address the fall-out from Lehmans but they were determined that their class was not going to pay for it. A policy of austerity was introduced, with the assistance of the Liberal Democrats in a Coalition Government.
The plan was simple. Market capitalism and market capitalists had suffered a near catastrophic crisis, largely due to their own greed and in some cases stupidity. Yet they were not going to pay for it either in corporate or personal terms. On the contrary those who had had absolutely nothing to do with the crisis, the working class, were going to pay through relentless cuts to public services.
We might also reflect, as Tony Benn did in his diary at the time, that 2008 was also the time when a a New Labour Government had to do something it was in principle ideologically opposed to. Namely nationalise large parts of the British banking system.
Letter Writers send solidarity to postal workers set to strike for decent pay
Letter Writers will want to send solidarity to CWU postal workers who are taking four days strike action beginning on 26th August and on days in 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.
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 are set to take further strike action next week.
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.
The Archives hit back. FBI raids Trumps Mar-a-Lago home
The FBI has raided Trump’s house in Florida following legal action by the US National Archives. When a President leaves Office they are required to hand over all official documents to be kept by the State. Trump of course did not as the 15 boxes of papers already handed over underline.
There is a real issue currently about how modern records (say post-1945) are being kept, or not kept. Hardly a socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research goes by without the matter being raised:
The issue is twofold. As we move into the electronic age people value paper records less and often just discard them.
Some of these records are digitised but it is haphazard. Meanwhile the keeping of electronic records is also doubtful. Sometimes web domains lapse and material is lost. The British Library is active in this area trying to make sure records are archived. We must also accept that historically with paper records a lot was destroyed, accidentally or on purpose.
Former Guardian Editor Alan Rusbridger has written a very interesting piece on his ‘hoarding’ of his old paperwork:
Long may he hoard. I myself struggle to throw stuff away conscious that in the piles of papers and leaflets that are stacked in my flat lies a whole history of the left over the last 40 years that is mostly not (yet anyway) on the interwebs.
Meanwhile we may reflect on what happened to the official papers Boris Johnson reportedly left strewn about the Downing St flat, how many meetings in the Johnson era were not officially minuted and how many e-mails were sent from personal accounts.
Not just Trump but Johnson too
Dr Keith Flett is the convenor of the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London School of Advanced Studies
Heatwave warning on fried follicles issued to beard wearers
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that with a heatwave expected for a week in many parts of the UK the hirsute are at serious risk of frizzled follicles without taking preventative action.
The campaigners say that prolonged exposure to the sun can:
Dry out beard follicles
Like grass cause the follicles to lose natural colour
Cause the follicles to become brittle and drop out
Preventative action is advised by BLF follicle experts is key
Keep the beard damp by occasionally dowsing it with water
Nourish the follicles by drinking water, craft beer or lager regularly
Do not apply any beard oils or balms. These will make matters worse
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, our message to the hirsute and their follicles this week is, let’s take care out there
Four Pure & Magic Rock have 3rd owner in less than 5 years. Whatever happened to the craft beer ‘dream’
Four Pure and Magic Rock have been bought by Odyssey Inns from Australian brewer Lion which itself is owned by Kirin. Lion’s acquisitions in 2018 and 2019 look different in the world of 2022 and the breweries had been on the market since January.
I’m not sure Odyssey Inns actually own pubs as the company was only registered in November 2021 but one of the three Directors is Stephen Cox, who resigned today as an non-exec at well regarded (mainly)lager brewers Utopian.
Hopefully this means both breweries are now independent again, finance and business plans allowing. However both have now had three owners in less than five years. If there are any employees left from that period they’d be well advised to join a union pronto if not already a member.
The original craft beer dream as I recall was that the new breweries were fiercely independent and would not sell to Big Beer. In addition what they cared about was making good quality interesting beer, profit not so much(though no business can sustain making a loss forever).
Of course capitalism tends to monopoly as the history of brewing underlines but to be fair there are still breweries out that have stuck to the original craft principles. Perhaps Four Pure and Magic Rock will now re-join them again, but what a long strange trip its been.
Ambridge ruling class in crisis as Godmother Peggy Woolley takes a back seat
Peggy Woolley (aka June Spencer) has announced that she will no longer take a part in BBC broadcasts from Ambridge after 70 years.
She was married to publican Jack Archer and then to the owner of Grey Gables. In recent years she has been the ruling matriarch of Ambridge with a battle going on as to who would be her eventual successor.
David Archer pushed Nigel Pargetter off the roof of Lower Loxley in 2011 in a bid to secure the succession when he was married to Elizabeth Archer. More recently however he has come to an accord with her new partner abattoir owner Vince Casey
Other contenders include model railway fan Tony Archer, trainee vicar Shula Archer and publican Kenton Archer.
Ambridge Socialist Editor Keith Flett said, as the Godmother Peggy has had a huge influence in Ambridge most recently positive with the rewilding project. Her succession will lead to tensions in the ruling Archers dynasty
