Kmflett's Blog

E P Thompson the Marxist historian died aged 69 in August 1993. Bruce Kent, Catholic Priest and peace campaigner died almost 30 years later on 8th June 2022.

Yet in the early 1980s they found a unity based on opposition to a new generation of nuclear weapons deployed by the US and Britain. Kent told Socialist Review that he was impressed by Thompson’s anti nuclear polemic Protest and Survive.

When Kent became CND General Secretary in Jan 1980 they went on a joint speaking tour across the UK attracting thousands at meetings to oppose nukes.

Despite different backgrounds and views (Thompson had a Methodist background before joining the Communist Party and then leaving it in 1956) they were united in promotion humanity over nuclear destruction.

How far that unity should go remains a matter of political debate see Thompson and END. The historical moment is worth capturing though

It’s two years since the Colston statue was toppled in Bristol. There has been little media coverage. Stand Up to Racism had social media. Bristol Live had a thoughtful comment piece.

The Colston Four case goes to appeal this month. They will remain not guilty, its a Priti Patel vanity project. The argument is that Colston was a very specific Bristol issue that became a global culture war.

Indeed it did at the hands of Johnson and co and remains so. The latest episode is the Thatcher statue in Grantham. The statute of slaver Geffrye still stands at the Museum of the Home in Hackney

The need to keep fighting racism and the symbols of it statues represent remains 2 years on

Despite obviously never ending football it’s June and the cricket season is in full swing. Back in the day I supported the late Mike Marqusee’s Anyone But England. That changed when too slowly England did begin to diversify a little in terms of players (much less in terms of admin). Many of those players and their successors are in the white ball game now.

The red ball team does not look hugely diverse but the key is whether it’s drawing from beyond the usual public school roots of the Test team

Watching and listening to England v New Zealand at Lords though different criteria seemed to apply. I wasn’t too bothered who won. Rather I was interested in the performances of players like Bairstow and Jamieson who appear across the globe in a variety of cricketing formats.

New ways of seeing the game are being fashioned

Marx described capitalists as a band of warring brothers, United against labour but otherwise always seeking competitive advantage.

The Tory Party in 2022 hardly represents mainstream capitalist views but fractions and slices thereof. That is probably the best way to see Johnson’s victory in a confidence vote.

Traditionally the Tories had no such votes. A word was had and a leader discovered they were unwell (Eden, Macmillan). In more recent times votes of Tory MPs have been held-Thatcher lost in 1990. Speed picked up after Labour won in 1997 with IDS, Hague and Howard all summarily purged by Tory MPs.

The post 2016 years have added to the fighting. May won a confidence vote by a similar margin to Johnson but didn’t hang around long. Johnson may struggle for similar reasons. With 148 of his own MPs not backing him there will be issues where he loses Parliamentary votes.

Johnson reportedly was not one of those who campaigned against May (Rees Mogg was) but when Johnson became PM in July 2019 he made it clear that he would get a hard Brexit ignoring any no confidence vote and purging Tory MPs who didn’t back him.

The latest confidence vote suggests the war continues. The main beneficiary will be Labour provided Starmer manages to avoid agreeing with Johnson too much and preferably at all

Should I Stay or Should I Go (1981)

If I Go there will be trouble

If I Stay it will be double

General Election so all can decide?

Royal Jubilees are an invented tradition dating back to King George in 1809 who was promoting war with France. Queen Victoria was keen (1887 & 1897) & the tradition carried on into the twentieth & now twenty first century. Its difficult to see scope for more in the foreseeable.

People’s Jubilees are different but ran only in the first half of the nineteenth century. A banner at Peterloo in 1819 said ‘we rejoice in hopes of Jubilee’. E P Thompson noted more such banners were produced in the wake of the massacre.

They were based on scripture, Leveticus 25. You can find on the net the usual right wing US readings of this. For working people in the 1820s and 1830s it simply meant an end to exploitation. People would work for themselves on land they held.

The Battle of Bossenden Wood in Kent in July 1838, arguably the last armed rising on English soil was an attempt at Jubilee as was William Benbow’s Grand National Holiday in August 1839. The Chartists land schemes also had an element of it.

However you look at the history it’s a lot more interesting than the Royals versions and one perhaps worth reviving

5th June

Jazzer has got the sack(as hopefully has the kitchens storyline). Tracy needs money to cover the rent & get a new car so she can get to work. Answer? Jazzer has sold his pet spider Webster and moved in. The cost of living crisis continued.

Brian who is stressed about everything has had an agina attacks. Tests will follow but it may mean the end for his control of the farm. Meanwhile Ruari has returned but been diverted by his special friend Julienne. This particular story line continues to mystify tho what Ruari gets up to is up to him..

Adil has been for lunch with Roy at the Bull (after he confessed his long ago and brief racist past). Adil thinks the past is another country. We say sackings and scabbing are still a live issue

In other news

The Prof likes Parmesan with his Spagbol

A beacon was lit on Lakey Hill

Some kind of fashion photoshoot happened at Brookfield( who writes these storylines? )

Boris Johnson was booed attending and leaving the Jubilee service at St Paul’s on Friday. On Radio 4’s PM the new Political Editor Chris Mason opined it was organised booing

I wasn’t there but I’ve listened a few times to the sound of the crowd on Friday. There are boos but it’s more muttering, mild groaning a sort of general dissent. Similar though on a lower scale to what Nikolai Ceausescu faced in his final public speech on 2nd December 1989.

I don’t know if Chris Mason has any experience of the sound of crowds but organised booing sounds rather like a line that a Tory MP might come out with.

Of course you could organise a few booers but it would look silly if the crowd was not in sympathy. That wasn’t Friday at St Paul’s. Perhaps Mr Mason should wear a false beard and join a protest crowd or two to understand the complex dynamics at work

Beard Liberation Front

June 4th

Beards against Boris calls for Boris Johnson to get a haircut

The Beard Liberation Front,the informal network of beard wearers has called for Boris Johnson to get a political haircut. It comes after Alan Wilson Bishop of Buckingham said that Johnson’s partygate excuses were not believable and he has to go.

BLF organiser Keith Flett said Johnson is for the chop. We call on all beard wearers to support Beards Against Boris

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jun/03/bishop-of-buckingham-joins-calls-for-boris-johnson-to-resign?CMP=share_btn_tw

Beard Liberation Front

2nd June

The Beard Liberation Front has named the Top 10 beards of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. She has presided over an increasingly hirsute country

Top 10 Jubilee Beards

Brian Blessed actor

Moeen Ali cricketer

Steve Bell cartoonist

John Lennon musician

Bernie Grant MP

Viv Stanshall musician

John Peel DJ

Michael Rosen author

Jeremy Corbyn MP

Michael Eavis Glastonbury