Guardian Weekend (1988-2021) & the beer writer who appeared naked on the front cover
Today see the last issue of Guardian Weekend. It was first published in late 1988 with Alan Rusbridger as its Editor.
The cover of the first edition carried an (almost) naked picture of Richard Boston (1938-2006) the original beer columnist who did much to expose the realities of Big Beer in the 1970s and promote the early activities of CAMRA
At the beginning, the new Weekend Guardian was run on a shoestring. The first cover story was written by beer columnist Richard Boston – he’d gone on a trip to the south of France where he attempted to live with a group of naturists. But the Guardian refused to budget for a photographer to go with him – “So a London-based freelance, Nobby Clark, was dispatched to Aldworth in Berkshire to shoot a naked Boston in a deckchair,” Rusbridger says. Boston’s modesty was hidden only by a portable computer.
Guardian Weekend 18th September 2021
The Weekend supplement carried (and paid for) what I think was my first published column shortly afterwards. Unlike the Sunday Correspondent magazine picture of me in the bath I was fully clothed.
It’s the 20th anniversary of the Stop the War Coalition. Derided perpetually by right-wing critics and those who like wars as either pacificists or supporters of terrorism (its quite difficult to be both) like any social movement it has its ups and downs in support. It is however still here and holds a 20th anniversary event at Conway Hall in London on 18th September.
You might be forgiven for not noticing. While the recent withdrawal from Afghanistan marked the end of a 20 year strategy by the US, the UK and others, those who said 20 years ago that it would all end in tears (and for many much worse than that) have not featured much in media coverage.
This tells you unsurprising things about the British media of course, points about its narrowness of focus that have been made many times.
The forces that came together to form the Stop the War Coalition*- CND, the Muslim Association of Britain and a spectrum of the left, perhaps primarily the Labour left and the SWP held a meeting full to overflowing shortly after the war with Afghanistan started in late September 2001. The first demonstration took place in London on Saturday October 13th 2001. I was at both.
With the invasion of Iraq pending the STWC organised what remains the biggest demonstration in British history in central London on 15th February 2003. I was of course there with my national union banner.
So it went on and goes on, protesting against Western military interventions, not always without controversy, on the left but still often ignored by the media for whom the basic message of opposition to war was often an inconvenient one
There is an exhibition finishing on Sunday at Bow Arts featuring a lot of the art work associated with Stop the War down the years and particularly perhaps the early years. The visual aspect of the protest was key and ground breaking.
Its interesting to remember and review for those who were there but as important for those who were not often because 20 years on they were too young. A 10 year old in 2001 is 30 now.
Thatcher laid waste to industry on Teesside. Now Dorries want to destroy the industrial heritage
The Dorman Long tower at the former steel works at Redcar on Teesside was built to store coal in the 1950s. It is a fine example of brutalist industrial architecture. So much so that it has been Grade 11 listed by Historic England.
Unsurprisingly the Tory Mayor covering the area Ben Houchen would prefer to have no reminders of Thatcherite destruction of jobs and industry left on Teesside. He has lobbied for the tower to be destroyed.
In one of her first acts as Culture Minister Nadine Dorries has ignored the Historic England listing and ordered the tower to be blown up. It is an act of Tory industrial vandalism.
I lived on Teesside in the 1970s and 1980s including the 1980 steel strike, in which I had a supporting role. The destruction by Thatcher of people’s livelihoods and lives has left a dreadful legacy and as Dorries diktat shows the Tories are proud of that legacy.
Given that the previous Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden went to great lengths to make sure that no bit of existing British history was in anyway moved let alone destroyed presumably Ms Dorries will now raise no objection to a few old statues being taken down as well.
There are 50 volumes of the Marx and Engels Collected Works containing many letters between the two beard wearers. You can find discussion about what wines they liked and their favourite beer style (pilsner).
There is very little about where they drank in London and even more so in Manchester,
A fascinating blog post now reveals some Manchester detail:
Engels drank with political allies (including Marx when in town) at the Thatched House pub off Market St in central Manchester. It was knocked down in 1972 and is now covered by the Arndale Centre.
In later years it was a Boddingtons pub. I haven’t yet been able to verify if it was owned by the brewery in the 1850s and 1860s when Engels lived in Manchester. However since the brewery dated back to 1778 its likely. The brewery was closed by ABInBev its current owners in 2004 and whatever beer appears under the Boddingtons brand is not Manchester brewed now.
Engels of course also drank with business associates, particularly the German business community in Manchester at the Albert Club and Schiller-Anstalt club. Here he may had pilsner which was certainly available in the UK in the 1860s
Campaigners back protest against Derby school beard ban
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has supported a petition which takes issue with a beard ban which has been implemented at a school in Derby
Students at St Benedict Catholic Academy have been told that in line with the school’s uniform policy that facial hair is not permitted.
A number of students have started a petition to get the ban reversed
The head teacher Kevin Gritton has issued a diktat stating that facial hair is not allowed
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, we support the students petitioning against this absurd ban. Occasionally head teachers do attempt to ban beards but they usually come to realise that we are living in a diverse society where people can appear how they want, provided they are smart. We hope Mr Gritton revisits his policy and brings it into line with the practices of 2021.
Beavertown Corner Pin Tottenham High Rd. A welcome addition.
Beavertown’s pub in conjunction with Spurs is now open on Tottenham High Rd right by the new stadium.
You may or may not be a Spurs fan but the pub is well worth a visit.
I stopped by not long after it had opened on 8th September and found myself standing at the bar with Beavertown owner Logan Plant.
He clearly still has enthusiasm for the beers and developing new ones. I tried a sample of a new nitro stout, aimed I think at Guinness drinkers and the Bones lager. I liked that a lot- a very tasty lager perhaps a little bit too much so for some lager drinkers.
The old Corner Pin before it became a Spurs ticket office and site office for the new stadium was not really a place you would have wanted to visit too often. The beer was dire and it wasn’t perhaps always the most sociable of places.
That’s all gone now. The full Beavertown range is on tap in the front bar as you enter from he High Rd. There’s also a bar in a spacious outside space which Logan says will hold 200. There is a single hand pump on the bar awaiting a decision on what beer to serve. Logan of course is a well-known fan of Bathams but it seems rather unlikely he’ll manage to get a regular supply of that sadly.
Prices are much in line with what is charged in other craft bars in Tottenham.
The ladies and an accessible toilet are on the ground floor, the gents on the first floor. There are screens for sport in the bar and the outside area. No food as yet. The Corner Pin opens Wednesday to Sunday, all day.
Beavertown of course is at the top end of the craft beer market in London but opening a pub on Tottenham High Rd says something about their commitment to the area and to Spurs- even if Logan is a Wolves fan.
I have had some critical things to say about Beavertown in more recent times (together with a lot of pluses) but there is no reason to be anything but positive here. It’s a good addition to pubs on Tottenham High Rd (which until recently were awful where they existed), with decent locally brewed beer on offer.
Historians say Government rules on TV ‘Britishness’ must reflect realities of ordinary life
The London Socialist Historians Group, which organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, has said that Government plans to make sure ‘Britishness’ is reflected on TV amount to little more than promotion of whimsical versions of what Britain is and has been like.
The historians say that British TV and film has had a strong record of producing films focused on social realism and the often tough realities of life for ordinary people. Films like Ken Loach’s Kes(1970) and TV series like Our Friends in the North(1996), reflected British life in the 1960s and 1970s.
Overtime though a good deal of such ‘challenging’ programming has not continued to be commissioned as broadcasters adapted to Government complaints about ‘left-wing’ bias.
The historians say that new Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries will have to accept that if Ministers want more ‘British’ content on TV it will consist in some part of programmes that reflect realities they would prefer to ignore.
LSHG Convenor Dr Keith Flett said, ‘Dixon of Dock Green may be the Tories preferred vision of British policing but it was neither historically accurate or appropriate for modern audiences. If Ministers want ‘Britishness’ they’ll have to accept that much of the content will be controversial, at least to them
Allan Leighton to Chair Brewdog: First public listing for a craft brewer beckons
While I’ve argued that the appointment of Allan Leighton, former Royal Mail Chair and current Chair of the Co-Op as Brewdog Chair is an opportunity for the brewer to at last recognise a union, the actual purpose of his arrival is rather different.
As the I Paper noted the presence of a fully independent chair is a requirement of the UK Corporate Governance Code. Compliance of that is needed for Brewdog to seek a public listing (IPO) for the company.
A public listing allows for general trading in shares, rather different to its current private equity arrangements.
James Watt has continued to say that Brewdog plans to remain independent but that can never be fully guaranteed once a company is listed.
According to Brewdog Leighton will provide experience on leadership and governance matters
None of this directly impacts on the beer but it does mean Brewdog will become the first craft brewer to go public. Others of course have done so by virtue of being taken over by Big Beer concerns
Beard Friendly Pub of the Year (Classic). Round Three open as The Cock E8 wins Round Two
The Beard Liberation Front has said that the delayed vote for Beard Friendly Pub and Bar of the Year is now open.
Former winner The Cock Tavern in Hackney won Round Two, shaving The Maltings in York. The Cock will now join the Hackney Tap in the final round later in the month. It’s likely the Maltings will also be in the final as the highest second place vote.
The on-line poll features three rounds each consisting of four of the most beard friendly pubs. A final beard off vote will feature the winner of each round and the highest placed second placed pub.
Because of the circumstances of 2021 with many pubs only able to full open in the last few weeks, the poll is largely focused on Beard Friendly Classic pubs with the addition of a few notable newcomers.
The Beard Friendly Pub of the Year is an annual feature in January each year.
However in the extraordinary circumstances of 2021, the Beard Liberation Front has decided to run a vote in September with most pubs now being open post the easing of COVID restrictions
The decisive winner in the Beard Friendly Pub of the Year 2020 poll which saw 11,000 votes cast in 10 days was the Bumble Inn micropub in Peterborough. The runner up was the Cock Tavern in Hackney
Both of these pubs are automatically on the poll.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Round 3 sees 2020 winner The Bumble Inn in Peterborough face off the Beard Friendly Pub of Summer 2021 pub The Three Horseshoes in Bradford on Avon. Two of the best known brewery taps Cloudwater and Lost and Grounded are also on the poll
The criteria for the Award include:
A safe environment for all.
Beard Friendly Pub: a pub that welcomes the hirsute and often has a significant number of hirsute customers, including but certainly not confined to those with modern styles of beards.
Beard Friendly Ambience: a pub that may have fewer hirsute customers but is welcoming to the hirsute through some bearded bar staff and beard friendly beers, plus has a generally relaxed atmosphere for all.
The campaign group says it welcomes diversity in both appearance and drinking. The truly beard friendly pub will have a genuine mix of customers not just a load of old blokes grumbling about life.
Beard Friendly Pub of the Year(Classic) Round Three
From Reclaiming Our History to 1917 & the Black Atlantic, Cato St 1820 & Anti-Nazi Exiles 1933-1945
Monday Oct 4th 5.30pm Marika Sherwood George Orwell told us that ‘the most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their own history’. What has been obliterated from ‘our’ history here in the UK and in what used to be our colonies?
The Red and the Black: the Russian Revolution and the Black Atlantic. Speakers include Winston James (University of California, Irvine). Olga Panova (Lomonosov Moscow State University)David Featherstone (University of Glasgow)Christian Høgsbjerg (University of Brighton)
