Kmflett's Blog

Camping & Socialism

Those who follow Michael Rosen’s twitter account (@michaelrosenyes) for more than his thoughts on Arsenal may have seen this week some of the details he occasionally posts about family camping holidays he went on when he was younger. His parents were Communist Party members and clearly the camping, often I think in France, had an element of austerity about it.

The literature on Communism and the left and camping seems sparse (though I haven’t done an exhaustive search). Raph Samuel mentions going camping as a youth a couple of times in the Lost World of British Communism although he also suggests that Communists were often too busy politically for holidays.

Richard Evans biography of Eric Hobsbawm has him as a student in the 1930s camping and youth hostelling around France as well as Snowdonia and Surrey.

This may have been a generational CP thing. My late father was a CP member but never once suggested going camping. By contrast as an unorthodox Trotskyist I found myself camping at the Lutte Ouvriere fete in Paris and in more recent years(more union official in this case) camping at the annual Tolpuddle Festival. I also on one occasion recall going on an actual camping holiday in a field outside Scarborough. I think we lasted until the tent floated away in the rain and we retreated to self- catering in the town.

It may be taken that even when younger I was at best agnostic about camping. Basic hotels these days are in many places affordable for a few nights stay and you’ll only get wet in the shower.

Of course camping and protest still has its place. I note that many of the XR rebels currently protesting in central London camp overnight in South London. Luckily for them Sherlock Holmes doesn’t yet seem to have worked out where.

Cricket: ECB Bosses get a bonus, women get unequal pay

It was announced on Monday that senior suit wearers at the ECB who run English and Welsh cricket are to share a £2.1m bonus. This seems a challenging thing to do given that last autumn 62 employees lost their jobs due to a financial crisis related to COVID.

The crisis has lessened in 2021 and the success (in financial terms) of The Hundred suggests cricket’s finances at the top level are on a firmer footing. Tom Harrison who heads up the ECB took a pay cut in 2020, although for how long seems unclear. However its reported that he was paid just over £500K last year which compares to the £700K he was previously getting.

The bonus is apparently a retention payment. Many might think that there are many other suit wearers who could do just as good a job if not better at running cricket than Mr Harrison and his fellow ECB bosses. It’s true of course that by private sector standards £500K is on the low side for a CEO but that would suppose that Mr Harrison could do that kind of job, which in essence requires the holder to have some ability at crisis management.

This world of highly paid suit wearers contrasts rather sharply with that of women cricketers who have been acknowledged as the stars of The Hundred, attracting big audiences and interest. That was not something designed by Mr Harrison & Co btw but something dictated by COVID meaning women’s matches were played back to back with the men’s games at the large Test venues.

In the Hundred the highest paid women cricketer got £24K while the lowest paid male cricketer started at £25K.

Of course some may argue that in some cases thanks to the games structure women cricketers outside of The Hundred got paid little or nothing (there were some contracts). That however is not the point. Harrison has now said that in 2022 women players will get a ‘substantial’ pay rise. Given the bonuses paid at the top one would hope so.

Beard Liberation Front

25^th August

Media Release

Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett 07803 167266

Michael Sheen to keep Beard of the Year Award despite shaving beard

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that it has no plans to strip Michael Sheen of the Beard of the Year Award (joint with Michael Rosen) despite the actor tweeting that he had shaved his beard off.

The campaigners say that the Beard of the Year 2020 was subject to a public vote last December after a difficult year when both beard wearers had had positive images in the public eye.

Michael Sheen may not be eligible for Beard of the Year 2021 later this year if his beard does not make a return however.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, there have been some calls for Michael Sheen to be stripped of his Beard of the Year honour and for it to go solely to Michael Rosen. We see no reason to do this. Both men remain honoured holders of the Beard of the Year title

Michael Rosen has now tweeted his support of the BLF decision

On no account should Michael Sheen be stripped of this prestigious award. He has carried his beard through difficult times, proved to be a superb comic foil to David Tennant and channelled Dylan Thomas perfectly at the National Theatre where @Underthecranes and I saw him.

Beard Liberation Front

25^th August

Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett 07803 167266

Kane had no choice but to keep his Beard Power at Tottenham with Nuno as manager

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has welcomed the news that Harry Kane and his Beard Power are to stay at White Hart Lane at least for the remainder of 2021.

While he had wanted a transfer to Manchester City its clear that the perpetually stubblized leadership of Pep Guardiola would not understand or value Kane’s Beard Power in the way that Spurs manager Nuno will.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Nuno has the most impressive managerial Beard Power in the Premiership and Harry Kane has clearly recognised that for his own Beard Power to flourish he needs to stay at Tottenham.

Beard Liberation Front

24^th August

Root must learn from Virat Kohli’s Beard Power for Test success

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that England’s Joe Root must learn from Virat Kohli’s expert use of Beard Power if England are to have a chance of winning the third Test in Leeds.

The campaigners say that careful analysis, often missed by a largely clean shaven commentariat, shows that every important stage of the first two Tests, Kohli was to be seen stroking and tweaking his beard while pondering tactics.

While the beard stroking may send a signal to the rest of the team, it is also a device to allow the Indian captain to take a little time to review and determine options on the field.

Joe Root has worked hard on his beard in recent seasons and has now developed a captain’s beard. However he has yet to adopt Kohli’s beard power strategy meaning tactical errors remain too common.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Joe Root must carefully study how Virat Kohli deploys his beard on the field and do his best to emulate it, albeit of course with Yorkshire characteristics.

Beard Liberation Front

25^th August

Contact: BLF Organiser Keith Flett 07803 167266

Concerns that Labour may be ‘auto-excluding’ members with beards

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has raised concerns that the Labour Party may be auto-excluding from membership some members with beards and others who may have been captured on Zoom talking to someone with a beard.

The Beard Liberation Front is not a party political organisation and support for it is not banned by the Labour Party. However the campaigners say that under Keir Starmer’s leadership there appears to be a move to return to the clean shaven revisionist days of the late 1990s when figures like the late Frank Dobson and Robin Cook were regarded with suspicion for wearing a beard.

The Beard Liberation Front has received reports that members have been told that they are being investigated for potentially hiding their support for proscribed groups under their beards.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, the present situation appears to be Kafkaesque. When you consider that the first leader of the Labour Party Keir Hardie had a distinctive beard the apparent concern over a century later with members facial hair is both worrying and absurd.

Beard Liberation Front

24^th August

Charlie Watts revolt into style embraced facial hair in the 60s

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers has paid tribute to Charlie Watts who has died at 80, as a style icon.

In later life Watts was known for his sharp suits and clean shaven appearance.

However in the 1960s and 1970s he did wear facial hair on occasion and it was of course stylish.

Watts is quoted as saying: “Back in the ’70s, Bill Wyman and I decided to grow beards, and the effort left us exhausted.”. This is believed to be a reference to an unsuccessful attempt to match the full organic beard that Mick Jagger had on occasion.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, the reality is that on the occasions Charlie Watts did wear a moustache or a light beard it was very stylish, fully in line with his blues background.

Beard Liberation Front

Media Release 24^th August

Contact: BLF Organiser Keith Flett 07803 167266

Campaigners ‘relaxed’ as Beard of the Year Michael Sheen shaves beard

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that it is relaxed as Joint Beard of the Year 2020 Michael Sheen posted a picture of himself on twitter clean shaven.

Sheen shared the annual accolade with award winning author Michael Rosen after a public vote.

Sheen has told the South Wales Argus that he shaved the beard in stages and may use the chopped follicles to stuff something and auction it for charity.

The campaigners say that one of the Beard Liberation Front’s founding principles in the mid-1990s was that people should be able to dress and appear as they want. However Sheen will not be eligible for Beard of the Year 2021 unless the beard makes a re-appearance.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, if Michael Sheen wants to be clean shaven for the moment he has our support. People should be free to appear as they want, and that does of course include wearing a beard.

The other joint Beard of the Year 2020 winner Michael Rosen remains firmly hirsute as he has done for many years.

Lord Botham Trade Envoy.  A sinecure of pre-1832 ‘Old Corruption’

Boris Johnson has announced the appointment of 10 new trade envoys including Kate Hoey  and Ian Botham.

Botham is of course one of England’s best known cricketers and has done considerable charitable work. His trade envoy appointment however no doubt owes as much to his support for Brexit as his celebrity.

Trade envoys were started in 2012 by Dave Cameron, which in the light of recent events might give pause for thought in itself. They are however unpaid and essentially ceremonial type roles.

One thing that does get paid though are travel costs and hotel bills when the envoy visits the country they are meant to be boosting trade with. Lord Botham can therefore look forward to all expenses paid trips to Australia should their Government ever decide to let non-residents visit again.

The latest figures I can find show that the cost of trade envoys from 2015-2018 was £430,000. Not a huge sum when you consider what the Government wastes on other appointments with its political mates, but quite a bit if you are on universal credit.

It is the world of pre-democratic pre-1832 politics, what William Cobbett referred to as Old Corruption. A world of sinecures based not on merit or worth but on who you know

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/aug/23/ian-botham-appointed-uk-trade-ambassador-to-australia

The Hundred: official statistics….

The ECB which runs cricket in England and Wales have produced a press release (23^rd August) providing statistics about The Hundred which concluded on Saturday at Lords.

Press releases don’t tend to mention downsides (unless to excuse them) and this one certainly doesn’t.

Even so that stats are of some interest

The headline is here:

57% of viewers hadn’t watched any other live ECB cricket in 2021

•510,000 tickets sold and issued across the competition

•55% of ticket buyers hadn’t bought a ticket for cricket in this country before

•Attendance across the competition is highest for a women’s cricket event globally ever

•More than 34.3m video views as event goes digital

As already noted the impact for women’s cricket is a significant positive, albeit it could have been achieved in another format and was only achieved here because COVID restrictions dictated double headers of womens and mens games at large venues.

The reference of tickets ‘sold and issued’ suggests I think that quite a number were given away free.

A couple of other paragraphs are perhaps of interest. Merch is important to any operation nowadays but the fact that I have an Oval cap does not mean I support Surrey or identify them. I got it to keep the sun or rain off.

The para on the matches themselves is also interesting although if 15 went down to the wire its actually saying most were one sided, characteristic of short form cricket

Fans have shown a remarkable affinity with the eight brand new teams as well, with replica kits selling out from club shops. More than 28,000 items of merchandise have been sold, including 7,000 items of team kit and training-wear.

The cricket has been high quality, with more runs per ball in the men’s competition than the IPL and the Big Bash League, and more in the women’s than in the Women’s Big Bash League. 15 matches went right down to the wire with all to play for in the final five balls, and batters smashed 429 sixes.

Link to full press release

https://www.ecb.co.uk/news/2230059/more-than-16m-tune-in-to-the-hundred-as-competition-welcomes-new-fans-to-cricket

Finally ECB head Tom Harrison has said that the pay gap between men and women players will be less in future. Equal would be good but words in this context mean little. One hopes the PCA are already on to it