Kmflett's Blog

Sunak & Johnson at Fourpure brewing. Why there?

The photoshoot by Chancellor Sunak and PM Johnson to underline changes to beer duty announced in Tuesday’s Budget didn’t go too well. They were pictured handling 30 litre kegs but Sunak had said that duty cuts for draught beer would apply to 40 litre kegs and above.

That is not yet set in stone and there is scope to campaign to get it lowered, as it won’t happen for a while yet.

It still leaves the question of why Fourpure thought it was a good idea to wreck any element of credibility it has by hosting a Tory photoshoot.

After all Fourpure is definitively not part of the Beerage, UK based brewers who donate to the Tories. Its owned by Australian brewer Lion which in turn is owned by Japanese brewer Kirin. Such is global big beer.

There is no real evidence of Fourpure having links to the Tories. There are stories that Matt Hancock was meant to be organising a Tory social there. He does after all know pubs and landlords. However there is no evidence that this is actually true or in fact happened.

Lion does donate to Australian political parties- equally to Labour and the Liberals(think Tories).

Perhaps we can expect Keir Starmer to host an event at Fourpure then. After all he does actually like craft beer.

Arguably the stunt may have damaged the image of craft beer, although was it really telling us anything about the big beer end of that market we didnt already know?

The Budget & Beer: the power of and limits to campaigning

In Wednesday’s Budget the Chancellor announced what he claimed, arguably correctly, were the biggest changes in beer taxation since Gladstone in 1880.

Not all of the changes are set in stone and are subject to further consultation. That means they won’t be happening yet.

The changes to the strength level at which ‘normal’ duty is levied, which will boost beer under 3.5% (previously 3%) are welcome.

The decision to reduce draught beer duty does reflect the impact of campaigning by CAMRA and SIBA. The aim is to do something to address the price differential between beer sold in supermarkets and that sold in pubs and hence get more people to visit pubs. A cut in duty is unusual and we will no doubt be hearing from temperance campaigners in due course (although I doubt they have too much to worry about- see below).

The point has rightly been made that since the duty cut applies to 40 litre containers and above it excludes most of craft beer production which is in 30 litre containers. That decision is not yet final and campaigning could change it.

As things stand it will benefit bigger and big beer over smaller brewers. I tend to think that global big beer has other things to do than lobbying the Tories for duty changes when it is already doing very nicely, although I’m sure it wont be complaining. Bigger beer, the remaining regional brewers, selling cask beer will certainly have been lobbying (behind the scenes) and some have links to the Tories.

As has been seen with the still to be determined changes to Small Brewers Duty Relief the regional brewers are no friends of craft brewers in many instances.

Sunak heralded this and the pro-Tory media followed, as a cut in the price of a pint at the bar. I’m not so sure about that although of course some pub companies will seize the publicity. Step forward a Mr Martin, where Wetherspoons will sell Greene King IPA for 99p in England during November.

There has been a good deal of complaint from pub campaigns that of course the price of a pint wont go down, what about all the costs they face as small businesses etc. A fair point although it does tend to be the kind of thing some small businesses say while not paying their staff decently.

However there is a wider point, well made by Aditya Chakrabortty in the Guardian (28^th October) Sunak didn’t reinforce Tory austerity but instead in some cases simply reset spending to 2010 levels without addressing what’s happened since. That means that in practice people will be hit with a range of increased taxes that probably won’t be offset by higher wages in many cases.

Even if the price of a pub pint is reduced by a few pence numbers won’t be able to afford it. There is a wider campaign that very much needs to be fought

Budget sees cut in draught beer duty with aim to encourage return to the bar. Some history

It wasn’t by any means the most important of measures announced in the Budget, but the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a series of alcohol duty changes which he said were the biggest for 140 years.

The historical point is correct and not without interest. In 1880 Gladstone changed the way tax on beer was calculated. It moved from being a tax on the ingredients (malt and hops) to the original gravity the beer was brewed at. The Liberal Party were no friends of the brewers- the Beerage were and are Tories- but the effect was to free up brewers to use cheaper ingredients.

The system stayed in place until 1992 when the tax moved to the final gravity of the beer.

Rishi Sunak is still taxing the strength. A lower rate will apply to beers under 3.5% (it was under 3%) which hopefully will promote tasty ‘table beers’ and the like. The higher rate tax will move to 8.5% which will be marginal for most drinkers but could mean that stronger imperial stouts and triple IPAs end up paying the same tax as wine.

Meanwhile to address the gap between buying cans in supermarkets and pub prices the Chancellor has announced a 5% cut in duty for beer & cider served on draught from containers of 40 litres or above. It appears the 40 litres is not in the small print so will no doubt be the subject of future lobbying. Much craft beer is sold in 30 litre containers.

One suspects that this is really aimed at what is left of the Tory supporting Beerage, the large regional brewers, who serve beer in larger casks. Encouraging cask beer drinking in pubs is positive, though setting a divide with ‘craft’ is not.

Rishi Sunak also mentioned changes to the Small Brewers Duty Relief, first introduced by Gordon Brown, which has been the subject of much discussion, and will it seems be looked at separately.

Most of the measures noted above have been the subject of lobbying and campaigning by CAMRA and SIBA.

The headline which is a traditional is that the changes will mean a cut of 3p a pint at the bar. One wonders what historic file a Treasury Civil Servant dusts off to find such line. When I started drinking beer 50 years ago, a pint of standard bitter was around 12-14p a pint and didn’t vary much across pubs and didn’t change much either. Nowadays beer is much more expensive and there are no standard prices whatsoever, although I can still work out if the price for a beer is somewhat excessive. I doubt given the huge financial impact the pandemic has made if beer prices will be lower, but it might stop them from getting higher.

In summary the Budget reflects some historic interests (of the Tory Party) together with the impact of effective campaigning. Gladstone in 1880 was beset by temperance campaigners and I suspect we’ll be hearing from them too.

Beard Liberation Front

PRESS RELEASE 23rd October

contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

NEIL HAMILTON FACES LAURENCE FOX IN FACE OFF FOR SCARIEST HALLOWEEN BEARD

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, which campaigns against irrational prejudice against the hirsute, has said that the crypt is firmly open as Laurence Fox faces Neil Hamilton in a Face Off for the Scariest Beard of Halloween 2021

The title, awarded each year on October 31st, takes a wry look at Halloween festivities by identifying the scariest beard in the public eye. The winner is likely to win by the narrowest crack of a squeaky floorboard.

The BLF does not generally believe that beards are scary, a view promoted by generations of pogonophobes.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, facial hair is part of Halloween tradition. We aim every year to subvert some of the pogonophobia that lies behind that,  while looking in a light hearted way at ‘scary’ beards.

Scary Beard of Halloween 2021

Eric Trump

Richard Branson

Mick Hucknall

Laurence Fox Winner Monster Round One

Ted Cruz

Neil Hamilton Winner Monster Round Two

Philip Green

Antony Worrall Thompson

Beard Liberation Front

27th October

Media Release

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Beard wearers should wear masks as social solidarity & ignore clean-shaven unmasked Tory MPs

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 are unimpressed but not surprised by MPs excusing themselves from a requirement to wear masks in the Houses of Parliament. Its already clear that the majority of MPs who wont wear masks are clean shaven Tories

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 year, 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 Jacob Rees-Mogg and will continue mask wearing where appropriate

Beard Liberation Front

Media Release 27^th October

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

CAMPAIGNERS CALL FOR A LUXURY TAX ON SHAVING

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said called on clean -shaven Tory Chancellor Rishi Sunak to take the chance to be innovative in the Budget and announce a luxury tax on shaving.

The campaigners say that while there has been a significant growth in beards, in reality they still represent a minority in the country compared to the clean shaven.

The BLF says that shaving is environmentally unfriendly and a Shaving Tax would do a good deal to address carbon reduction targets by reducing use of electric shavers and power used to make shaving products.

Those currently employed in the shaving industry can easily be re-deployed into the beard care area of the economy, a growing sector.

A Shaving Tax could be levied at £100 a year for all those who did not have a beard at the beginning of the financial year- April 1st. It would hit popular targets such as clean-shaven bankers in the City who would have to grow a beard or pay up.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Rishi Sunak remains resolutely clean shaven but he can boost his popularity and the Exchequer’s finances considerably by implementing an innovative Shaving Tax.

The Ambridge Socialist

26^th October

Bert Fry (1936-2021). A proletarian hero

Bert Fry, the Bard of Borsetshire, is dead. He was found in his seat at The Bull.

It came a day after the Bard of Borsetshire had read some of his Borsetshire Lad poems at the Brookfield Harvest Supper. Bert’s poems about rural life were not however his most noteworthy achievement.

Although never reported by the BBC he was the long time Secretary of Borsetshire Trades Council. He never lost a negotiation with his employer David Archer. He was also a member of the Borsetshire Communist Party before it wound up in 1990.

Bert Fry was a determinedly rural character and the last in the Archers after the sad demise of Joe Grundy to be born beforeWorld War Two. With his death an era ends.

Meanwhile Eric Allan the actor who has played Bert Fry for 25 years, is fortunately far from dead. Rather he has decided to retire at 81, according to the BBC at least in part to collect conkers.

Perhaps there should be an annual Ambridge conkers tournament in memory of Bert

BBC Tribute

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/21QBp5NJ1XzQMCsKRYKQ8Bw/farewell-to-bert-fry

Socialist history in danger from the Tories. The war spreads to Goldsmiths

Both the Royal Historical Society and the Society for the Study of the Labour History have published statements underlining the danger of withdrawing the study of history from Post-92 environments (mostly former Polytechnics). A link to both statements is below.

The attack how now spread with history, literature and other subjects facing mass redundancies at Goldsmiths College. Quite properly the UCU is fighting this disgraceful attack

The London Socialist Historians Group is in full support. While we back and encourage political activism and research outside of the confines of traditional academic boundaries we also recognise the importance of having the possibility of studying labour and socialist history within the academy. That is why, for example, we have organised the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research since 1995.

As both statements indicate withdrawing history from the post-92 Universities would make the subject less available to working-class students unable to study far from home for a range of reasons.

Further the Government has been engaged in a process of moving funding away from ‘arts’ subjects towards science on the basis that degrees in this area add more value to the economy. There are of course limits to this prejudice. History teaching will certainly continue to some extent at the Russell Group Universities sometimes described as the ‘elite’.

While history teaching at these institutions may not always be of a traditional and conservative nature they certainly have turned out in the past generations of historians in suits with a worldview that is mostly on the right of the political spectrum.

Clearly now Goldsmiths doesn’t fit the Tory criteria of ‘suitable’ history teaching and research

Details of Goldsmiths cuts

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/oct/24/new-university-job-cuts-fuel-rising-outrage-on-campuses

https://sslh.org.uk/2021/05/27/sslh-statement-we-fear-for-the-future-of-labour-history-labour-historians-and-the-next-generation-of-students/

World Cup T20 cricket: Taking the Knee

Update

South African player Quinton De Kock didnt appear for South Africa in Tuesday’s World Cup game after refusing to take a knee despite Cricket South Africa’s decision that players would do so. De Kock was reported as having personal reasons but has said nothing further. On Test Match Special,West Indian player Carlos Brathwaite noted that while personal reasons should be respected its difficult to see what the issue could be with participating in the most basic stand against racism

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/59051327

Taking the Knee against racism remains a feature at the start of many football league matches in England and when the national sides play as well. It remains controversial with some. On the positive side some point out that it is a gesture that doesn’t really do anything much to challenge on-line racism and institutionalised racism. Indeed but the counter balance to that is how much it continues to annoy racists. They know it has a point and they don’t like it.

Across sport taking the knee has been patchy. When England played West Indies in the summer of 2020 and the Black Lives Matter movement returned in force, both sides took the knee. The West Indies still do but England stopped in favour of a moment of unity at the start of games. That was also controversial. Why start and then stop?

It was good to see then that when the West Indies (the holders)played England in the World Cup T20 both sides took the knee. When Scotland played Afghanistan they did the same.

Let’s hope that this time England continue doing so as the Ashes come into view.

Beard Liberation Front

25^th October

Tory MP Gullis barred from Parliamentary Beard of the Year shortlist after Conference remarks

Tory MP Jonathan Gullis, who was elected as MP for Stoke on Trent North has been provisionally barred from the Parliamentary Beard of the Year contest which will run in early December 2021.

Mr Gullis was captured making controversial remarks at a fringe meeting at the Tory Conference in early October. He claimed that teachers who used the term ‘white privilege’ were extremists and should be reported and that anyone found criticising the Government in the classroom should be investigated and sacked.

The campaigners say that Mr Gullis’s words may have been taken out of context and if he clarifies or apologises for his remarks then the decision to bar him from the Parliamentary Beard of the Year contest will be reviewed.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, of course beard wearers disagree about things, aside from beards, and there is no problem with robust remarks. However Mr Gullis seems to have gone beyond that. The BLF is about openness and tolerance and at the moment there is an issue here.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/oct/09/tory-mp-says-using-term-white-privilege-should-be-reported-as-extremism