Beard wearers should continue to wear masks as social solidarity & ignore Johnson
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has renewed a call that it first made on 23rd July 2020 for the hirsute to wear masks as a matter of social solidarity.
The campaigners say they have been unimpressed but not surprised by Boris Johnson’s decision to drop a requirement to wear masks in England.
A specially commissioned poll found that 91% of respondents backed its guidance to the hirsute to continue wearing masks in appropriate contexts and settings.
The campaigners say that mask wearing has seen a rise in follicle health over the past two years, as beards have been protected from the elements and accidental exposure to noxious substances.
They also say that mask wearing protects others, hirsute and clean shaven, from anything that the beard wearer themselves may transmit, via the occasional splutter, groan or cheer.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, it’s clear that beard wearers put the duty to protect themselves and others first against clean-shaven fools like Boris Johnson and will continue mask wearing where appropriate
Brewdog’s culture continues to give craft beer a bad name. Time to recognise a union
Its been another bad week for Brewdog publicity wise. Whatever you make of the beer (and I like some) this is becoming a more and more frequent event.
BBC Scotland are broadcasting a programme about Brewdog on 24th January looking at the brewer’s culture which interviews some ex-employees. What Brewdog were putting in the beers they exported to the US that the authorities would not have liked, had they known about it, is unclear. The matter is in the past. The relevant point is that Brewdog employees knew about it but felt they had to do it because of pressure from the top.
It fits with what are now a long series of complaints about Brewdog from former employees about the workplace culture there.
Also this week Brewdog launched a Sad AF beer with a mental health organisation. It was aimed to highlight men’s mental health issues and had a hard hitting video associated. So far so OK. But given the way it has treated some of its employees and the impact this has had on them, the gap between good intentions and actual practice seems yawningly wide.
It really is more than time that Brewdog recognised a trade union to allow employees an independent voice at work and to hear things it might not want to hear when they happen and deal with them, not later in the media.
The truth about Boris Johnson by a colleague, not ‘shambolic’ but ‘ruthless’
A senior Tory MP William Wragg has made allegations of possible blackmail in respect of efforts by Boris Johnson and his team to persuade Tory MPs not to send letters of no confidence in him to a Party Committee (the way the Tories have of dealing with leadership challenges and elections). This relates it is reported to threats to withhold investment from the Constituencies of Tory MPs who don’t support Johnson.
The allegations are potentially serious and may be referred to the Met Police who would no doubt carry out their usual thorough investigation….
Whether true or not it does raise the point about who the real Boris Johnson is.
Sonia Purnell a former colleague of Johnson who has written in my view the best biography of him-Just Boris- has a clear view.
She writes in the book of an occasion in 1992 when Johnson’s future and now ex-wife Marina Wheeler asked her for her opinion of Johnson. She notes that she responded ‘I think he is the most ruthless, ambitious person I have ever met’. Purnell notes that Wheeler seemed surprised as the view of Johnson 30 years ago was that he was a ‘charming if shambolic hack’.
She argues that Johnson has learnt how to hide his ruthlessness by using ‘bumbling, self-deprecation or humour’.
The Colston Four, the Jury System and the Rule of Law
On 5th January the Colston Four were acquitted at Bristol Crown Court. They had been accused of criminal damage, being part of the crowd who toppled the statue of slaver Edward Colston in the City in June 2020 and dumped it in Bristol harbour.
They had admitted being there but claimed a defence of it being morally right to take down Colston. By a majority verdict the jury agreed.
Juries have been annoying Governments since the seventeenth century- although very far from all the time- and the State has continued to attempt to put a stop to that. The majority verdict was introduced in 1967 with the aim not of making it easier for defendants to go free but rather to secure more successful prosecutions. In 1977 a range of cases were removed from jury trial-to be dealt with by magistrates only- and these included many public order offences.
One suspects that the main reason why the Colston Four ended up in Court was because of pressure from Home Secretary Priti Patel. Like most Tory MPs Ms Patel is clearly not good at knowing the British history they profess to be defenders of. There is a long history of juries acquitting in cases where Government interference is suspected.
For the left the British justice system is often seen as one designed to protect the rich where the poor struggle to get justice. At the same time there has been a continual fight to protect what space there is for people to actually get justice. The Rule of Law is designed to protect wealth but if its seen to do so too obviously that doesn’t work.
Hence the protests at Priti Patel’s current Policing Bill which is designed to restrict the right to do so and change the law so that more people end up in Court charged with offences the Government has made up to fit.
The Tory reaction to the Colston verdict underlined how some Tories grasp the point about juries and justice and some don’t. In effect a culture war has begun in the Tory Party over whether they respect trial by jury or whether they have given up on being the Party of law and order.
Leader of the House Jacob Rees Mogg intervened in a Commons discussion three times to defend the importance of the jury system calling it ‘the great protector of our liberties’. Meanwhile former housing Minister Robert Jenrick demanded that the Colston verdict should be reversed. He argued, incorrectly, that it meant people could now take down any statue legally. In fact the Colston verdict sets no precedent.
Boris Johnson in a rare moment of circumspection made no comment on the specific case confining himself to a defence of statues of slavers.
Until 1972 when anyone on the electoral roll was liable to be called for jury service, juries were confined to ratepayers (now the Council Tax) and so tended to be overwhelmingly middle aged, middle class men.
Jury decisions, particularly when the State ‘selected’ juries for political trials, often went against defendants. For example when William Cuffay the black Chartist was tried and sentenced to transportation in 1848, he argued that while he had no doubt the jury had considered matters fairly, they were not his peers. In fact they were 12 special constables.
The Colston verdict has to be seen in the context of the wider campaign against the Colston statue in Bristol and the support it has gathered. The jury were clearly sympathetic and historically that situation has worried the Government of the day.
How Pandemic Restrictions ended in the Nineteenth Century: Profit Before People
Boris Johnson announced the end of most compulsory COVID restrictions in England on 19th January. On the same day it was announced there were 96,545 COVID infections in England and 301 reported deaths. The figures were a reduction but remain high. In 2021 it was suggested in the other three UK nations that to lift restrictions entirely would mean infections had dropped below 50 people in 100,000. In my area of North London cases have dropped to half of what they were at the start of January and now stand at 760 people in 100,000.
The impact of deaths from COVID, long COVID and economic hardship has been felt in all sections of society. If it hadn’t been Johnson would have done nothing as the ruling classes of Europe did on cholera in the nineteenth century until they started dying from it as well.
Getting on for two years in certainly in England we are also at another stage familiar to nineteenth century historians. Namely that it has been determined that the economic cost of the pandemic outweighs the importance of controlling it and so ‘let it rip’ in a phrase Johnson may or may not have used at some point.
The difference thankfully with the nineteenth century is that thanks to science and the NHS we have an effective vaccine which means that while infections remain high at the moment, serious illness and death are much less.
But hundreds are still dying from COVID each day. The disease doesn’t discriminate but class society does. It’s a fair bet that as in the COVID first wave, many of those dying will be the less well off, those in poor housing and poorly paid jobs that can’t be done from home. Numbers may not have been vaccinated but in many cases that won’t be because they have ‘researched’ matters on the interweb but because they are from sections of society whose interface with official society is very limited. In places that is recognised and addressed by local Councils and health authorities. In No.10 it is a world and a people of whom they still have no conception.
Meanwhile whatever their status they are people with names not just numbers, except obviously to Boris Johnson
Brighton Manager Graham Potter faces Benedict Cumberbatch in Beard of Winter Trim Off vote
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has announced the shortlist for the Beard of Winter 2021 poll.
The list contains a diverse range of contenders for the annual seasonal accolade. Leading the list is the hirsute President Elect of Chile Gabriel Boric
It is the first of four seasonal awards that lead to the Beard of the Year Award in December 2022.
The Beard of Winter focuses both on fuller organic beards, suitable for winter weather but also on beards that have made an early New Year impact in the public eye.
In the first Trim Off round Brighton football manager Graham Potter faces Benedict Cumberbatch who wears a beard in his new film The Power of the Dog
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, it is as ever a wide ranging, eclectic, list but one very much focused on the winter season. We have been keen to make sure we don’t miss beards that have been making a significant positive impact in the public eye in the last few weeks.
The poll opens on 19th January and closes on 30th January 2022
There will be two ‘Trim-Off’ rounds from 19-21 January and then from 22-24 January. Each will feature four contenders. The top two from each round will feature in a final ‘Beard-Off’ vote from 26-30th January
Beard of Winter Trim Off Round 1. Top Two go to the final Beard Off
Big Beer marches on: Fourpure & Magic Rock for sale
Lion the Australian brewer who in turn are owned by Kirin have announced today that they plan to sell Four Pure and Magic Rock breweries, assuming there are buyers. They want to concentrate on the Australian and US markets.
I’ve drunk in the taprooms of both brewers over the years, when they were independents. What their future is we shall see but there is ample speculation on social media.
I think its correct to suggest that as craft brewers bought by Big Beer neither had quite the brand that either Camden or Beavertown had. You don’t see their beers on bars in the same way that you do of those two Enfield brewers. Perhaps Lion simply took the view that they couldn’t compete.
None of that is of course about the beer. I still occasionally drink a Magic Rock beer, but I’ve avoided Four Pure entirely since Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson staged a political stunt at the taproom.
Comparison has also been made with Carlsberg’s decision to sell London Fields. While the same general principles apply the case is slightly different. When Lion bought Four Pure and Magic Rock they were well regarded craft breweries whose sale caused, rightly, concern. With London Fields Carlsberg essentially acquired a brand name to promote in the hope the history was not known or forgotten. Perhaps it was but the brand wasnt strong enough in the market.
It does underline that what Big Beer swallows up it can easily regurgitate when it sits. A reminder that business is business in beer as elsewhere.
There are different models of craft brewing around and perhaps now is the time to have another look at them.
Priti Patel’s plans defeated by protest & the Lords defence of the ‘Freeborn Englishman’
The authoritarian Police Bill designed largely around the prejudices of Priti Patel, was debated in the House of Lords on Monday evening. Measures aimed at cracking down on ‘noisy protests’, stopping protests being effective and preventing named individuals from protesting were all defeated. Some can be reintroduced in the Commons and some can’t be>
The House of Lords has a significant Tory majority that was absent on Monday either because they’ve had enough of Johnson or because even they are aware the rights of the ‘Freeborn Englishman’ promoted by William Cobbett and featured in E P Thompson’s The Making of the English Working Class.
The Freeborn Englishman could appear on the left or the right of the political spectrum but one thing that was definitively not liked was the exercise of arbitrary State power, and that is what Patel’s Police Bill is all about.
Much as the Labour Lords work deserves credit, along with a number of LibDem and Crossbench Peers, pressure from without was also key here. Numerous and persistent protests on the Police Bill had raised the matter to one that could not be ignored politically. Those protests will need to continue.
Jonathan Agnew gets it wrong on how to save English cricket. What is to be done?
The BBC’s cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew has posted his thoughts on changes that need to be made to English cricket after the Ashes debacle where the England team again lost heavily to Australia.
I should note that I know Aggers and generally respect his views on cricket. Of course like us all he has limitations and is to some extent of his time, but his views rightly command attention. Perhaps rather more so than some ex-players who sometimes seem to have agendas related to their personal careers.
However Agnew’s remedy for the travails of English cricket seem to me wide of the mark.
He is right that even if Joe Root remains as captain for now a new senior management structure needs to be put in place. There is not only the issue of the poor performance of the England team in red ball cricket there is the much wider question of racism which requires very serious attention.
One practical thing that a new senior structure could do quickly is to put a framework in place to allow Root to focus more on his batting and ban him from bowling his ‘spin’.
Agnew wants to scrap the new Hundred competition and he is on tricky ground here since the BBC is financially involved in it and broadcasts it. Its played nowhere else and ran in 2021 at the peak summer and in doing shifted County red ball cricket to the margins of the season. The result we’ve seen in Australia.
Those who think the Hundred was designed to undermine the 18 County structure and the red ball game were and are I think right. I found the Hundred quite enjoyable personally and it did a lot for women’s cricket. That said it wasn’t really much different to the T20 blast the tweaking of which was in fact the original plan- before the ECB allowed consultants at it.
Agnew suggests taking the artificial sides(8) that play the Hundred adding two more and using this to create a new red ball competition. He also suggests the existing 18 Counties continue with the Blast and 50 over competition and perhaps run their own 3 day red ball competition. This makes the season more cluttered not less.
Who in any case is going to watch Aggers new red ball game? Not Hundred spectators and not existing County fans surely, so who?
I’d suggest that its time to invest in and promote the County red ball game,. That would or should mean broadening very significantly the base from which the Counties get players beyond the existing public school focus. That would require administrative effort and the right kind of administrators in charge, preferably not ex-public schoolboys.
Investment can come commercially or from Government cash wise and its needed. If the game looks like its changing and there is some success then it will come.
Much of this is long overdue and there is no guarantee it will happen. Full marks to Jonathan Agnew though for making a largely disinterested contribution to an urgent debate.
Campaigners call on Nigel Farage to salute the flag as GB News plays the anthem at 05.59 each day
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has called on Nigel Farage to appear live on the right-wing views channel GB News at 05.59 every day to salute the Union Jack as it plays a version of the national anthem.
The campaigners say that Nigel Farage has never had a beard although he did briefly sport a rather doubtful moustache. However part of the BLF’s founding principles is that people should be able to dress and appear as they want. On that basis the BLF has called for Farage, who has a penchant for wearing shorts, to show his true patriotism by saluting the flag live wearing a pair of Union Jack pants each morning.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, GB News has said that their version of the anthem will be accompanied by pictures from around the UK. We think that whatever audience the channel has at 05.59 would much prefer to see live coverage of Nigel Farage in truly patriotic union jack pants
