Kmflett's Blog

The resurgence of mild

I’ve posted before on the resurgence of mild but with it has come the possibility to try a range of a new gereration of milds.

Boxcar who were something of the leaders in the trend have brewed double and triple strength version of their dark mild. I’m a fan of the 3.6% original which can be found on cask but is now also in can. The double is 6.3% and the triple 9%. I’ve tried the double in can, but while it was enjoyable I still think the 3.6% version works better. Its full bodied for its strength and just hugely drinkable.

I’ve also tried Elusive’s Pinball a 3.7% dark mild in can, which is Andy Parker’s modern tweak on the style with raison notes. More complex and fully flavoured than some traditional milds I think.

Finally I had a pint of Howling Hops 4% Shimmy at the Cock Tavern (where else) which was a little sweeter than those mentioned above but still very drinkable.

To be able to find the style again is both a tribute to CAMRA for keeping on campaigning on it but also to the newer craft brewers who are adapting and promoting the traditional style again.

Now for a light mild….

Remembering Bob Crow 13 June 1961- 11th March 2014

It’s the twelfth anniversary of the untimely death of Bob Crow.

I have specific memories of Bob not just as one of the outstanding trade union leaders of his time, and someone who died far too young, but as a grassroots activist.

Bob Crow was a delegate to Haringey TUC in the 1980s as a young trade union activist on the London Underground and never forgot his links to the north-east London labour movement, speaking down the years at Haringey TUC meetings and events.

The RMT leader is remembered in the local labour movement as someone who had principles, stuck to them and fought for them to the benefit of the people he represented

Bob Crow’s untimely death 12 years ago on 11th March was a sad loss not just to the entire labour movement but to British public life. While he rose to become probably the most famous Union leader of his generation he always continued to engage with his roots in the labour movement. He was willing to help out Trades Councils, and he was happy speaking to a meeting of a few activists if it helped to get things organised as much as to a big rally.

Keith Flett is a former Secretary of Haringey TUC and remains an active socialist and trade unionist

Brewdog complains to BBC & OfCom about Disclosure documentary

On 24^th January 2022 BBC Scotland broadcast a programme The Truth About Brewdog. It covered a range of issues around the brewer, including its Equity for Punks share scheme. Much of this was already known to those interested but of course reached a much wider audience with the programme.

The last section covered interviews with former and current Brewdog employees about the culture at the Company, often described as ‘toxic’, and in particular the behaviour of co-founder James Watt towards women.

Watt contested the allegations and said they were not, for the most part, true.

The CEO of Brewdog Allan Leighton claimed the complaints were from a small group of disgruntled ex-employees determined to damage the Brewdog brand.

https://www.insider.co.uk/news/brewdog-triggers-ofcom-complaint-over-26366307

Watt and Brewdog’s lawyers complained to the BBC about the programme and asked for an OfCom inquiry into aspects of it.

Matters have now taken their course, Punks With Purpose a group that contains ex-Brewdog employees is small but with a much wider support network. Raising complaints about harassment and bullying is never easy and might impact future employability (although it shouldn’t do).

One wonders if Watt has heard of the first law of holes and the related point that taking action simply amplifies the issues further over a longer period.

At length OfCom has now investigated James Watt’s complaint against the BBC and found that the programme was fair. Given Watt’s disregard for the law of holes a further riposte can’t be ruled out

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-68321350

OfCom findings- 66 page pdf

Link to BBC 2022 programme

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0013yfj/disclosure-series-4-the-truth-about-brewdog

One-Dimensional media. Rising COVID cases Boris Johnson doesn’t want to know about

The very serious situation in Ukraine clearly warrants significant media attention. However there is a one-dimensionality around news coverage at the moment. For example cases of COVID have started to rise significantly again following Boris Johnson’s decision to end all restrictions and claim in effect that ‘it’s over’. Even 3 months ago this would have warranted headlines and extensive discussion.

Ian Sample’s report (Guardian 10.3) on the current state of infections is useful and a reminder that Ukraine should not be the only news story.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/10/uk-covid-cases-rising-among-those-aged-55-and-over

Historians write to the Telegraph to remind of Government policy on refugees 1930s-2020s

A considerable number of professional academic historians who have researched and written on twentieth century European history have written to the Daily Telegraph (10^th March) on Government policies in respect of refugees from the 1930s to the 2020s

In the 1930s the British Government had a disgraceful record on turning back Jewish refugees fleeing from mainland Europe. In 2022 despite its claims to the contrary the actual practice in letting in Ukrainian refugees is so far no better.

While I wouldn’t sign up to every aspect of the wording of the letter the key point is important and well made and made in the right place. The Telegraph after all is the paper Boris Johnson wrote in before becoming PM and no doubt will do again when he leaves No.10.

Johnson often says we shouldn’t leave out or cover up any part of British history and this is definitely one bit that needs to be kept in mind today.

At the Covid Inquiry on 20th November 2023 Sir Patrick Vallance criticised the weak leadership of Boris Johnson when was Prime Minister. It was very different from the public image of himself that Johnson promoted when at No.10

There was talk of Churchill when Ukraine leader Zelensky addressed MPs virtually in 2021 which both fits Johnson’s worldview as a Churchill fan and suits the narrative of much of the media most of the time.

Johnson wrote a book The Churchill Factor (2014) whose main purpose was simply to promote Churchill (& Johnson obviously) as a great man who altered history. Johnson argues that Churchill is the ‘resounding rebuttal to all Marxist historians who think history is the story of vast and impersonal economic forces. The point of the Churchill factor is that one man can make all the difference’.

When it comes to Ukraine however the ‘great men’ are not Johnson or Zelensky but Biden, his Foreign Secretary Blinken and Putin. They believe they can shape the future of the world. Indeed the US has already some success in getting, for example, Germany to increase its defence spending. This was a persistent gripe that Trump had about NATO- namely that the US carried most of the financial cost.

The late US socialist Mike Davis has written an interesting (brief) analysis of the current conjuncture east and west where he specifically addresses the great men theory of history. He notes: Everyone is quoting Gramsci on the interregnum, but that assumes that something new will be or could be born. I doubt it. I think what we must diagnose instead is a ruling class brain tumour.’

https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/thanatos-triumphant

When one looks at the outcome of recent wars such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya it can be seen they have not turned out as their promoters anticipated. Matters are shaped as much by soldiers and civilians on the ground as much as great men, the difference being that the former often get killed and injured while the latter just move on to other projects.

E P Thompson on Britain, Europe & a history of solidarity with refugees

I was looking through E P Thompson’s Peculiarities of the English for quite other reasons this week and came across the passage below which has interest in the context of 2022.

It’s an argument about why Britain is not an exception to the rest of Europe (a debate he was having with Perry Anderson and Tom Nairn) and why links existed both in the realm of ideas and in practical solidarities of fighting fascism and welcoming refugees.

Certainly a message for our times from European history and yet more British history Boris Johnson would prefer to avoid thinking about.

Here is this island, and there, across a few wet miles, are Other Countries. Those waters have, on occasion, been crossed. That city, London, is not in the Antarctic but has been, alongside Paris, Vienna and Prague, a great European capital. In its East End there have been deposit after deposit of refugee and immigrant workers. In the universities there have been deposit after deposit of émigré intellectuals. Across that water there came, in the 1930s, wave after wave of refugees from Fascism; across that water there went, in the early 1940s, wave after wave of troops to assist in the liberation of Southern and Western Europe; and across that water there came, in the later 1940s and 1950s, a further wave of refugees from Eastern Europe.

Peculiarities of the English, 1965

Beard Liberation Front

PRESS RELEASE 9th March Keith Flett 07803 167266

PORK PIE VOTED THE MOST BEARD FRIENDLY OF 2022 IN BRITISH PIE WEEK

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that with British Pie Week running from 7-13th March its annual poll on the most Beard Friendly Pie has found the traditional Pork Pie to be the most beard friendly.

It beat the 2021 winner Steak and Ale by a margin of 2-1 with the veggie alternatives of a butter or cheese and onion pie a close third

The hirsute campaign group say that as with many prepared foods the requirements of people with beards are often overlooked when it comes to pies. The outcome of the annual poll often reflects that, with traditional pies designed for eating ‘on the go’ easily beating leading pie brands.

Common issues with pies for those with beards are:

Excessive gravy

Puff or flaky pastry which ends up in the beard not the mouth

‘Deep filling’ making it difficult to avoid contact of the pie with the beard

The campaigners cite some types of the traditional steak and kidney pie as an example of pies which are made without thought for the requirements of the hirsute pie consumer. Such pies often have excessive gravy- and comparatively little steak and kidney- which ends up in the beard.

Unfortunately the same issues tend to apply to many vegetarian and vegan pies too

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, it’s the first time the traditional pork pie has won the annual Beard Friendly accolade but it is clearly both tasty and beard friendly.

Beard Friendly Pie 2022 shortlist

Steak/Seitan & Ale/Red Wine

Fish

Butter/Cheese & Onion

Pork

Who funds the Tory Party? Oligarchs (not just Russian ones)

While Labour’s finances boomed under Jeremy Corbyn despite the fact that he’s not super keen on capitalism they seem to be doing less well under Sir Keir Starmer who is more of an enthusiast.

However Labour’s finances (although perhaps not personal donations to Starmer) are relatively transparent.

The same can hardly be said of Tory Party funds. The Party has a limited membership base (still far less than Labour). Party members can be relied on to do lots of unpaid work when it comes to winning Elections which after all is what both main parties aim to do. Without that funds are required.

Unlike Johnson himself(he claims) the Tory Party is currently well funded. It is the party of big business so you’d expect that. Except that this is not where much of the funding comes from.

The key fund raiser is Old Etonian (obviously) Ben Elliott who is Tory Co-Chair. Elliott runs a business called Quintessentially which specialises in catering to the whims of very rich people. Hence Elliott the FT has reported is very well connected not just to very wealthy Russians but very wealthy people across the globe.

There is a Tory Advisory Board (perhaps a bit like a left-wing Political Committee) that gathers monthly to hear from Johnson or Rishi Sunak. The FT suggests that a requirement for membership is a donation of at least £250K. Key members are not in fact captains of industry but Thatcherites, mirroring the direction the Tory Party has gone in recent decades.

For example attenders at the June 2021 gathering in Kensington included Rishi Khosla (banker) Peter Cruddas (online trading) and Howard Shore (Shore Capital).

Other key players include Mohamed Amerst (telecom deals) Lubov Chernukhin (partner of former Russian Minister Victor Chernukhin), Alan Howard(hedge fund manager) and Rosemary Said (arms trade connections).

More generally the FT reports that some of  the largest Tory donations come from Property Companies.

Labour quite rightly has raised the question of whether the above represents cash for access, a 2022 version of Cobbetian Old Corruption. The Cameron/Greensill affair and lots of issues around former Minister Hancock suggest the closest scrutiny is required.

The politics here is key. Brexit was meant to be about getting back control of all things ‘British’ from the EU. In reality the key funders of the 2022 Tory Party are people whose interests lie in making money wherever it can be made across the globe. Investment in British industry and research, which Brexit or not, would not be a bad idea, not least jobs wise, hardly features.

Beard Liberation Front

Press release 9th March

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

BEARD OF IRELAND 2022 POLL SECOND TRIM OFF ROUND OPEN

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that competition for the Irish Beard of the Year 2022 is officially open

Academic Peter Coles and rugby player Jamison Gibson-Park won the first Trim Off round with the second now open to complete the list for the Beard Off Final.

The 2017 winner was politician Colum Eastwood who bearded broadcaster William Crawley for the annual Award.

In 2018 the DUP’s Lee Reynolds shaved writer Dominic O’Reilly for the honour with Colum Eastwood in a steady third place.

In 2019 Lee Reynolds retained the title

The 2020 winner was Maynooth academic Peter Coles

In 2021 Aodhan Connolly shaved opponents to win the coveted title

The BLF says that while traditionally a land of predominantly clean-shaven cultures, Ireland has in recent times become something of a centre for stylish and trendy beards.

Contenders for the title in 2022 include a diverse range of the hirsute- a golfer, rugby player, political and trade union activists, a broadcaster, an academic as well as a Health Minister.

The campaigners say the poll is specifically about the impact the beard of an individual has made in Irish public life and no other factor.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, competition for the 2022 Beard of Ireland Award will no doubt bristle with the winner announced on 17th March

There will be two preliminary Beard Off votes between 5-7th March and 9-11th March. The top two from each round will then go on to a Best Beard of Ireland vote between 13-15th March

Vote at this link:

Beard of Ireland 2022

William Crawley, broadcaster

Matthew O’Toole, politician

Jamison Gibson-Park, rugby player

Peter Coles, academic, Maynooth University

Shane Lowry, golfer

Aodhán Connolly, Businessman

Robin Swann, Health Minister, Belfast

Owen Reidy, ICTU officer