Kmflett's Blog

The Ambridge Socialist

26^th December

Mystery Plays, mystery….

Longer term readers of the Ambridge Socialist will be familiar with our boycott of the Ambridge Panto. In recent times even the BBC has consigned this to the historical dustbin but in 2021 we have instead the continuing tedium of the Mysteries. The Mystery Plays are in themselves both traditional and of some interest in terms of issues and dilemmas. By contrast the Ambridge Mystery Plays have focused, endlessly, on what costumes the cast should or should not wear. Perhaps they could have pioneered the Naked Mysteries.

Fortunately Radio 4 has two hour long episodes of the actual Ambridge Mystery Plays (today and next Sunday) when acting rather than what the cast are wearing will be the focus. In previous years such exercises have been well worth a seasonal listen.

Alan claims a vicar is for life not just Xmas

If you say so vicar…

Protest at the South Borsetshire Boxing Day Hunt

With no specific restrictions in place it looks like the Boxing Day hunt will go ahead. The Ambridge Socialist has backed Mia Grundy’s protests and numbers of supporters have pledged to help. Please meet on the Village Green at 9am on Boxing Day. Glasses of mulled Tumble Tussocks will be available.

Update: We understand that Sgt Burns bootboys frustrated a protest by the Archers Anarchists

Ambridge Socialist seasonal quiz

The Morecambe & Wise shows 1970 & 1971: A world of which we have no conception

BBC2 aired the 1971 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special and a lost episode from 1970 on Christmas Day.

A lot of comedy from that era, 50 years ago, has dated badly, not least because of racist and sexist lines and routines that were thought unremarkable (by many) then but are not acceptable to most now.

Morecambe and Wise stand out in this respect in the sense that the shows, while containing some sexist lines and jokes were generally not something about which anyone could be outraged.

Eric Morecambe died aged 58 in 1983 so actual memory of the programmes being broadcast is almost two generations ago now.

The duo had been in the variety theatres and had made a successful transition to TV. They didn’t write the lines-Eddie Brabin did. They certainly ad-libbed a fair bit, sometimes rehearsed, but their comic genius lay in their timing. Hence you could often see them laughing at tweaks they’d made on their own lines.

Anyone much under 60 would probably needed to have googled who the guest performers were and indeed some of the references. This was comedy as social history. In that sense some references in the 1970 episode were of particular interest. At that time the Tory Government of Edward Heath was in Office and there was a large amount of industrial unrest coming, with outcomes often favourable to organised labour.

Ernie Wise was found reading (in bed) the poems of Mary Wilson (the wife of Labour leader Harold Wilson), while the voice of Wilson himself was heard on a radio ‘mystery voice’ competition (with his ‘pound in your pocket devaluation of the pound lines). Meanwhile Eric Morecambe was heard making favourable references to the TGWU (now part of Unite).

It was the first episode in which Eric and Ernie had shared a double bed, and no comment was made. Homosexuality had only recently been made legal-not that the comic duo were gay.

Wilson himself appeared as a guest on the 1978 Christmas Special(he had stepped down as PM by then) and it is reputed that he thought Morecambe and Wise could help to sort out ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland with their ‘Bring Me Sunshine’ approach to matters in the early 1970s. Very Wilsonian.

It is in 2021 a world of which we have no conception. Can you imagine the furore if the most popular comedy show of today made favourable references to the Labour Party and the TUC?

Christmas dinner at Friedrich Engels (122 Regents Park Rd NW1)

The following is an extract from Eduard Bernstein’s My Years of Exile (1915). Bernstein was a co-thinker of Marx and Engels who went on to be a revisionist leader of the German SPD.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Bernstein

Engels was indeed a considerable fan of plum puddings. He was an enthusiastic beer drinker, particularly Pilsner but had a wine cellar. He certainly didn’t cook the Christmas dinner himself but he was also to be found in the kitchen on occasion. He was well known for his lobster salad, the recipe for which is sadly not extant

Christmas was kept by Engels after the English fashion as Charles Dickens has so delightfully described it in The Pickwick Papers. The room is decorated with green boughs of every kind, between which, in suitable places, the perfidious mistletoe peeps forth, which gives every man the right to kiss any person of the opposite sex who is standing beneath it or whom he can catch in passing. At table the principal dish is a mighty turkey, and if the exchequer will run to it this is supplemented by a great cooked ham. A few additional attractions – one of which, a sweet known as tipsy-cake, is, as the name denotes, prepared with brandy or sherry – make way for the dish of honour, the plum-pudding, which is served up, the room having been darkened, with burning rum. Each guest must receive his helping of pudding, liberally christened with good spirits, before the flame dies out. This lays a foundation which may well prove hazardous to those who do not measure their consumption of the accompanying wines.

Ray Illingworth 1932-2021: One of the great England cricketers from the clean shaven era

Yorkshire cricket has been much in the news for less than great reasons recently but Ray Illingworth, who has sadly died at 89, comes from another clean-shaven cricketing era.

Illingworth was captain of Yorkshire and England and after retiring at 51 in 1983 he became an England cricket selector. A spin bowler and batsman he achieved considerable success in what looking back was the great clean shaven interregnum of English cricket.

He came after the beard of W G Grace and the moustaches, sometimes waxed, of the 1930s and largely before the era from the 1970s when players like Mike Brearley and Ian Botham appeared with beards.

He is reputed on at least one occasion to have told a player who appeared on the field unshaven to return to the Pavilion and smarten himself up. However that may simply be a reflection of the general clean shaven cricketing era in which Illingworth played.

The Sunday Times (26th Dec) reports that when Illingworth was Chair of Selectors he complained about England captain Mike Atherton in the 1994/5 Ashes series in Australia. He told to the Sun that ‘the modern trend of not shaving makes me angry. The captain is the worst culprit’

One of the greats of the post-1945 game his pogonophobia notwithstanding.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/59789915

Parliament (not Cromwell) banned Christmas on 8^th June 1647 but that wasn’t all

Parliament banned the celebration of Christmas and other religious holidays on 8^th June 1647. Cromwell had no particular role. However there was an important and not mentioned quid pro quo. Parliament also ordered that the second Tuesday of each month should be a workers holiday. If employers refused then the Courts had the power to intervene..

Die Martis, Junii 8, 1647.

Festivals called Holy-Days be no longer observed. June 8; Ordinance of Recreation.

Forasmuch as the Feasts of the Nativity of Christ, Easter, and Whitsontide, and other Festivals commonly called Holy Days, have been heretofore superstitiously used and observed, Be it ordained by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled, That the said Feasts of the Nativity of Christ Easter, and Whitsontide, and all other Festival-Days, commonly called Holy-Days, be no longer observed as Festivals or Holy-Days within this Kingdom of England, and Dominion of Wales, any Law, Statute, Custom, or Canon to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding: And to the end that there may be a convenient time alotted to Scholars, Apprentices, and other Servants, for their Recreation, Be it ordained by the Authority aforesaid, That all Scholars, Apprentices, and other Servants, shall, with the leave and approbation of their Masters respectively first had and obtained, have such convenient reasonable Recreation and Relaxation from their constant and ordinary Labours, on every second Tuesday in the Month throughout the Year, as formerly they used to have on such aforesaid Festivals commonly called Holy-Days. And that Masters of all Scholars, Apprentices, and Servants, shall grant unto them respectively such time for their Recreations, on the aforesaid second Tuesday in every Month, as they may conveniently spare from their extraordinary and necessary Services and Occasions. And it is further ordained by the said Lords and Commons, that if any Difference shall arise between any Master and Servant concerning the Liberty hereby granted, the next Justice of the Peace shall have Power to order and reconcile the same.

Happy Christmas(but note Marx’s 25^th Dec 1857 advice to Engels on tippling)

Marx in London and Engels in Manchester were frequent correspondents.

Marx wrote to Engels on 25th December 1857 (in part)

I trust you won’t go out tippling too much during the holiday and these exciting times in Manchester and that you’ll pay due attention to your health. Warmest regards to Lupus.

Lupus refers to a co-thinker of Marx and Engels Wilhlem Wolf

*Engels did not take Marx’s advice and frequently complained about over consumption during the Christmas period

Xmas Eve guidelines on how to spot a fake Santa

Campaign For Real Santas

24th December

The Campaign for Real Santas, which campaigns for Santas to have genuine organic or knitted beards, has said that Christmas Eve is the peak time for Santas who do not have genuine beards and hence fail the real Santa test.

The Campaign has issued special Xmas Eve guidelines so that if Santa is spotted it is easy to tell if they are genuine or an imposter.

HOW TO SPOT A GENUINE SANTA

1 Tug the beard of the Santa. If it comes away, then the Santa is FAKE

2 Tug the beard of the Santa again. If the Santa swears then they are genuine. If they simply repeat a ‘ho ho ho’ mantra they are FAKE

3 The Campaign for Real Santas says that genuine Santas must have just the right mix of bonhomie and gruffness and a real organic beard, particularly when delivering presents on Xmas Eve

CFRS organiser Keith Flett said, we know that most Santas with absurd false beards are genuinely trying to help and only a fairly small minority are drunk. However it is important to maintain a key part of the Christmas story, namely that Santa has a real beard. We would urge people to check tonight if they do spot Santa.

Labour, religion and Christmas

Most reading this I suspect might concur that Boris Johnson’s Christmas address was at best waffle and arguably rather offensive in somewhat minimising the impact of the pandemic on people’s lives.

One thing that Johnson did get right however was in pointing out that while Christmas is a Christian country the values celebrated are human ones common to all.

England has as an Established Church, the C of E, and is officially if perhaps somewhat nominally in 2021 a Christian country. A good deal of British history is tied up with that however. I’m not religious but have always respected people’s right to have and follow a faith whatever it might be. Religious tolerance should be a cornerstone of democracy.

That said Keir Starmer’s Christmas message is a little odd. The Labour leader has publicly stated that he is not religious but does believe in faith, something at a broad level I might agree with him on. In that context starting the message by arguing that Christmas is a time for Christians, implying that all others, needn’t read on, is puzzling

I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas. Christmas is a time for Christians across Britain and across the world to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. It’s a time to come together, to spend time with friends, with family and with loved ones.

https://labourlist.org/2021/12/keir-starmers-christmas-message-i-know-a-better-future-is-possible/

Labour of course does have a strong relationship with religion of various faiths. The Tolpuddle Martyrs were Methodists and Keir Hardie had been a lay preachers in the evangelical temperance context. The ILP had roots in Methodism too.

Harold Wilson quipped that Labour owed more to Methodism than Marx, a line which seems to have been first used by Morgan Phillips in 1953. Wilson was making the point that he had barely glanced at Marx’s Capital (he was Oxford Don & an economist so like many things Wilson said this probably wasn’t entirely true). Labour probably does owe more to Methodism than Marx but that doesn’t meant to say that Marxism in various forms hasn’t had its influence.

Tony Benn is one of the better known examples of that, taking ideas from both traditions and finding common ground, another issue much debated.

Methodists were of course non-conformists and so we can perhaps understand why Keir Starmer prefers to avoid being religious at all however..

A liberal Christmas: Christmas Eve at Scrooge & Marley’s, Cornhill

It is a Christmas like no other. Again.

Official Government advice is to avoid mixing too much and stay at home. Unless you are working of course, in which case carry on.

No doubt we will find out in due course how many Ministers manage to keep to their own guidelines. Again.

There is a sense from this neo-liberal Government that the idea of the masses having time off, mixing and enjoying themselves is not a happy one. Who knows what might happen when people gather together- they talk about things..

Of course in 2021 there is actually a very good reason why people should not gather, to avoid increasing further COVID-19 infections. Numbers of scientists who specialise in this area have rightly underlined the point. Sometimes one does get the impression that a few of their number actually dislike people gathering together in principle at any time. See the Government perspective above.

It’s worth reminding ourselves of the person who sought (and failed) to be the poster-boy of the original liberal Christmas in the 1840s,one Mr E. Scrooge. As will be seen below he begrudged his clerk having a paid day off on 25th December from his office in Cornhill, City of London. That concession reluctantly made he expected him back at work early on 26th December.

Fortunately one group of underpaid workers who will be following that in 2021 are those who work very hard in the NHS. They deserve our support, where Johnson certainly does not.

At length the hour of shutting up the counting-house arrived. With an ill-will Scrooge dismounted from his stool, and tacitly admitted the fact to the expectant clerk in the Tank, who instantly snuffed his candle out, and put on his hat.

“You’ll want all day to-morrow, I suppose?” said Scrooge.

“If quite convenient, sir.”

“It’s not convenient,” said Scrooge, “and it’s not fair. If I was to stop half-a-crown for it, you’d think yourself ill-used, I’ll be bound?”

The clerk smiled faintly.

“And yet,” said Scrooge, “you don’t think me ill-used, when I pay a day’s wages for no work.”

The clerk observed that it was only once a year.

“A poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every twenty-fifth of December!” said Scrooge, buttoning his great-coat to the chin. “But I suppose you must have the whole day. Be here all the earlier next morning.”

Extract from Charles Dickens, Christmas Carol (published December 1843)

Engels to Jenny Marx

Manchester, 22 December 1859

Dear Mrs Marx, I take the liberty today of sending you a dozen bottles of wine for the festive season in the hope that they will be to your liking and contribute to the FAMILY’S cheer. The champagne and Bordeaux (Château d’Arcins) can be drunk at once, while the port wine should be allowed to rest a little and won’t be in proper condition until about New Year.