Kmflett's Blog

Michael Vaughan wasn’t on Test Match Special for the first day of the Leeds Test on Thursday but offering expert views on the TMS website. Aside from Jonathan Agnew it’s unusual for broadcasters to do every Test and Vaughan had already done the first two.

It is though in my view time for TMS to leave Vaughan out of the team. He wasn’t used when allegations of racism at Yorkshire cricket were made last year. He has always denied the allegations and reappeared for the 2022 season with no further BBC comment. No doubt lawyers and contractual obligations are involved.

Most recently Vaughan is one of a number charged with issues of racism after a lengthy ECB investigation. Hearings will be in the autumn and Vaughan is innocent until and unless proven otherwise.

In most other employment situations (except Government Ministers clearly) an individual would be suspended on full pay. For TMS to continue to use Vaughan while issues of racism in English cricket remain live and unresolved is wrong. For the moment he should be left out of the TMS team.

Vaughan has now stepped back from BBC roles. Full marks to the BBC staff who pursued his continued appearance in the context outlined above

The Leeds Test between England and New Zealand starts at the end of the week. The only reason it’s doing so is because of a complete overhaul of Yorks cricket and the departure of key figures.

I posted about unfair dismissal cases brought by several in #1.

The ECB which runs English cricket has carried out a lengthy investigation into allegations of racism at Yorks cricket and charged a number of people. Hearings will take place in the autumn. The names of those involved were not named by the ECB but have appeared widely. One is former England captain Michael Vaughan. He has denied all allegations.

Quite how this will work is unclear. If the ECB were the employer of those involved it would be appropriate to keep names secret. However it isn’t. Rather its a regulatory body. If individuals are found guilty of racism they could face disciplinary action. However as there is no employment relation how would that work?

Meanwhile the former chairman of Yorks cricket Roger Hutton has criticised the ECB for not being more active much earlier. Of course he has his own narrative but it does raise the question of the role of the ECB itself.

The whole thing suggests a lawyer led never ending process- Jarndyce v Jarndyce. That will mean the very serious issues of racism in English cricket remain unaddressed

Finally any media covering the Third Test that thinks they can ignore all this needs to think again

As a trade unionist and socialist I support the current RMT industrial action on job cuts and pensions. It’s a matter of basic solidarity.

These things have a history. E P Thompson wrote about it in his collection of essays Writing by Candlelight. Looking at the 1970 power workers strike and the propensity of letter writers to the Times to condemn strikers. Thompson argued that it was only when rubbish was uncollected or post undelivered that workers began to get a sense of their own power in society.

This is not something that the ruling elite wants to encourage and it continues with the rail strikes. On social media one can find a Times Radio discussion between ex-SDPer Daniel Finkelstein and ex-leftist David Aaronovitch on the best way to articulate that they are of course not supporting the RMT.

E P Thompson was a great letter writer himself and one way of supporting the RMT is to counter the green ink letter writers of Tunbridge Wells and environs

Thanks to @broderly for posting the picture, reflecting the links between the French left and good food. One is tempted to think that a Labour cheese board would focus on mild cheddar and pineapple but that would be unkind to the many Labour activists who like good food and the British craft cheese trade.

Winston Churchill was a great fan of cheese- French of course- which he got from Paxton and Whitfield. Johnson is also a known cheese eater, although it would of an indiscriminate kind. I have no news on what cheese Keir Starmer actually likes if any

On Saturday in London the TUC organised a large march under the slogan ‘we demand better’. There have been bigger marches but seeing the labour movement back on the streets with a wide range of campaigners reminded that there industrial power can still challenge the Tories. There was a good turnout of Labour activists and CLPs too even if Keir Starmer was elsewhere. With strike action very much on the cards on the rails and in the post and telecoms the Tories face a real challenge.

Meanwhile in Paris on Sunday an electoral coalition of the broad (not the far) left got second place with 131 seats in elections for the French Parliament depriving the President Macron of an automatic majority for his austerity policies. A general feeling of discontent also saw saw the fascist party of Marine Le Pen get 89 seats

What to make of all this? Melenchon leader of the left Parliamentary challenge was clear that the fight for a better world needed to take place in workplaces and communities. Those who marched in London mostly knew that but it can hardly be said that a left electoral challenge is on the agenda.

The Welsh Labour Party last week marked a centenary of electoral power back to 1922. The historian Daryl Leeworthy noted that just 10 years before the South Wales labour movement-the miners next step -focused on industrial power not electoral challenge.

100 years on there is a lot of history on both sides of the equation but finding a balance between Parliamentary and extra Parliamentary action should be a key discussion

If you follow social media you may have seen a story about Boris Johnson trying to appoint Carrie Symonds as his Chief of Staff when he was briefly Foreign Secretary in Theresa May’s Government. It didn’t happen and the story, though apparently not denied, was pulled from early editions of the Times.

A recent biography of Johnson by Tom Bowker notes that Johnson was already fed up because Symonds had been fired by Brandon Lewis as Head of Tory Comms and assumed this was May’s work

Why is this story of any interest? Because it plays to what we know of how Johnson goes on in Government. Jobs are given not on merit but as sinecures and favours to those who back Johnson. Its the world of pre-1832 Old Corruption where democratic oversight and accountability had little influence

19th June

Following health issues Brian has resigned as manager of Berrow Farm. Borchester Land have deliberated & ignoring Justin’s claim on the job appointed Martyn Gibson. Gibson of course wants cost savings & more cost savings. He hasn’t a clue how to achieve them & so has demanded that Hannah & Neil tell him. Gibson of course wants cuts in jobs & standards.

The Ambridge Socialist says that after Grey Gables, Berrow must not be another defeat for workers in the area. The first way to save money at Berrow is to sack Gibson.

The existing workforce should occupy Berrow & demand that Borchester Land offer it to them on a long lease well below market rates.

Work can then start on moving Berrow from an industrial unit to a craft pig farm producing high quality pork, profitably. This will allow for a well paid unionised workforce of increasing size.

Farewell Patrician Ambridge

First long time Ambridge patrician Oliver Sterling who helped the Grundys over many years illegally sacked the Grey Gables workforce. Now Brian Aldridge has walked away from Berrow arguing he was never interested in the future of jobs. Farewell then the fair weather patricians of Ambridge

Ambridge ruling class to get new girl & boy

Yes Natasha is having twins

Good News for Shires bitter

Shires bitter is one of the classic regional pale ales. The BBC has reported good sales at last weekends Borsetshire Show, beer tent. Let’s hope sales at the Bull hold up

On 18th June large numbers of trade unionists, socialists & a wide range of activists marched in Central London under the slogan ‘we demand better’. Better that is on pay, the cost of living, public services and many other issues.

Not much tends to happen directly as a result of such protests. Rather its a case of how much they reflect the mood down below across the movement in workplaces and communities.

Here things look promising. The RMT is set to take strike action on the rails and tube next week. The CWU is balloting for strikes in both the post and telecoms. It might be the most promising period for working people to push back against employers since the first half of the 1970s.

The ruling class at least grasps the point. The FT (18.6) quotes a Cabinet Minister that the Tories could face a de facto General Strike with pressure for 8-9% pay rises threatening to increase inflation in a replay of the 1970s. Brian Reading who advised Heath’s Tory Government in the 70s has argued that while unions may be weaker such is the scarcity of skills workers are in a good place to make employers pay up

The issue of racism in Yorkshire cricket and the wider game has not gone away and it was never going to. Its far too serious for that. This is the first in a series of posts that will look at Yorkshire, the ECB and wider issues.

Yorkshire dismissed a number of club employees when the original issues of racism were raised. A number including Andrew Gale took a case to Leeds Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal.

The Tribunal issued a two line interim judgment on 23rd May. Yorkshire agreed the dismissals were unfair as no disciplinary process was followed. However it claimed it had good reasons for summary dismissal. The case will now proceed to determine appropriate compensation in this context.

Hence the matter is not resolved as media reports have suggested but very much still in play

Lawyers will be the main winners here with the issue of racism very much an also ran one suspects

Beard Liberation Front

16th June

The Beard Liberation Front the informal network of beard wearers has said that on the 101st Bloomsday it has finally approved one of the iconic edibles mentioned in James Joyce’s classic text as beard friendly

The BLF had previously held back from endorsing the gorgonzola and mustard sandwich as beard friendly because of concerns that the mustard could get into the follicles.

However with many versions of the classic sandwich now using sourdough bread which gives a firmer basis to the sandwich this is less of a concern.

BLF organiser Keith Flett said on the 101st Bloomsday we are pleased to finally confirm that the gorgonzola and dijon mustard sandwich is beard friendly