Kmflett's Blog

George Osborne, Bullingdon Club member, austerity Chancellor. Will he fight the Culture War at the British Museum?

George Osborne has been appointed to the Chair of the Trustees of the British Museum from October replacing the FT’s Richard Lambert.

Osborne has had quite a number of very well paid sinecures since he stepped down as an MP in 2017 as this Guardian report notes:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/jun/24/ex-chancellor-george-osborne-appointed-chair-british-museum

As Chancellor his 2010 Budget reduced funding for Museums by 15%. The BM’s recent controversial partnership with BP which has attracted protests was justified on the basis of the need to raise funds.

Osborne claims he has always loved the BM. While his appointment certainly owes a good deal more to the Chumocracy than the meritocracy he does have a 2:1 in modern history from Oxford. It is not the ideal historical perspective for the BM which tends to deal in not so modern history (though far from exclusively so) but it should mean he has some general appreciation of some of the historical issues the BM faces.

Professor Dan Hicks and others have raised the question of why the BM has retained artefacts which were in fact stolen or plundered from other countries during the imperial era. The Elgin Marbles are the most well known of these artefacts but there are many others.

Prof.Hicks has argued that while Osborne’s past is well-known we can’t be certain whether he will back Oliver Dowden’s Culture Wars approach:

Does George Osborne at the British Museum Signal a Dangerous Blow to the Arts?

He may have a point. Osborne after all was a neo-liberal Chancellor in a Tory Government in some ways different to the current one. It did not for example promote culture wars.

As a nineteenth century labour and socialist historian the battle in my field is to get things retained in museums at all and it’s about trying to get statues of significant figures put up not taken down or moved.

At the same time the London Socialist Historians Group which I convene has always linked academic research with political activism, and there is a keen interest in understanding more about Britain’s imperial past and making sure that the history counts in respect of modern day anti-racist and anti-imperialist politics.

Hicks argues that the mood music across Europe, reflected now in Scotland, is to reflect anti-racism and to look carefully at what is retained and what is returned in respect of museum holdings. He also suggests that Osborne is aware of that and could bypass Dowden’s culture wars. We’ll see.

The Financial Times (26th June) reports that smaller Brewdog Investors are starting to bark.

Brewdog made a £7.4m loss in 2020 from a £3.7m profit in 2019 but looks to have weathered the pandemic times better than many, with a move into canning and delivery.

Its not the financial performance as such that is currently of concern but rather the reputational damage that may follow after recent complaints by former employees, ultimately not denied by Brewdog, that far from its progressive image, working for the Company is not a great experience (at best).

The Financial Times (26^th June) has been talking to some of Brewdog’s smaller investors. As usual with the FT the article is paywalled but you may be able to get access.

I highlight a few of the key points below.

Smaller investors have put in £80m to Brewdog. The FT notes that for many it’s a sort of loyalty card allowing for reductions on beer and so on. However there are larger investors who look to make financial returns.

The FT has spoken to one early investor who has made a decent return.

However with private equity specialist TSG taking a 22% stake the financial picture is now different. In the event of an IPO or sale TSG gets priority on returns and this is set at 18% compounded.

Brewdog’s latest crowd-funder, which they have said will be the last values the company at 10 times net revenues while Heineken and Coors tend to value at 2-4 times.

The bottom line issue is how the fall-out from how its been treating employees may impact on a flotation or sale of Brewdog, since if consumers turn away from the beers, sales will be hit as will revenue.

If that occurs then the guarantee of returns for TSG could be at the expense of the larger smaller investors.  No wonder they are beginning to bark.

I should add I’m not an investor. I’m only here for the beer, although at the moment only after Brewdog finally do the right thing and recognise a trade union.

The history of moments and movements

A year after the murder of George Floyd there is no longer any question that Black Lives Matter is a movement and not just a moment in historical time. That removal of doubt applies both to those who oppose racism in all its forms and those who see nothing fundamentally wrong with discrimination continuing to exist.

Arguments over statues with the fallen statue of slaver Edward Colston now on display in a Bristol Museum awaiting a decision on its final resting place. Black Lives Matter has never been centrally about statues, much though Culture and Sport Minister Oliver Dowden thinks it has.

Sport is a rather more significant matter. It is watched and played by huge numbers and instances of discrimination and racism are far from unknown.

Taking the knee in football matches has been a feature over the last year and cricket, while less consistent on this, has seen statements of intent from ruling bodies to root out racism.

It’s clear though that a year on there is much work still to do.

The booing by a minority of those present at the England v Austria football match when the knee was taken led England Manager Gareth Southgate to ponder where the practice should be dropped. However in consultation with the players the team will take the knee in Euro2020

Meanwhile the usual keep politics out of sport apologists popped up avoiding the reality that this in itself is a political statement.

Meanwhile in the first cricket Test of the summer at Lords racist and sexist tweets that England bowler Ollie Robinson had made as an 18 year-old came to light. He apologised but it pointed to a culture in the sport that still needs to be confronted and changed.

The wider historical question is whether or not social movements like Black Lives Matter can effect real change in society and if so how.

There is a considerable amount of writing on social movement theory that addresses this, though not always in an historical context.

One model suggests that movements can achieve some change and this leads some to argue that its ‘job done’ and often take up institutional positions to implement the change. Others argue that it is not enough but often grow disheartened as the movement splinters. In short this is about the ability of existing market capitalist structures to accept minimal change while remaining much the same.

Trevor Phillips it might be argued represents this in the current day. Long associated with the Labour Party and anti-racist politics he has been sceptical of BLM and currently sits on a Government committee whose aim is to enforce the retention rather than the removal of controversial statues like that of Cecil Rhodes in Oxford.

The ever-present question, historically and now, is whether institutionalised racism can be assimilated into a Government process and largely neutralised. Boris Johnson certainly tried it. The recent Sewell report concluded that officially directed racism was a thing of the past. The conclusion was much derided because the recent experience of the Windrush generation and Priti Patel’s approach to Asylum seekers suggested that it was out of line with the reality for many people.

Black Lives Matter is often called ‘marxist’ by Tories a familiar charge against effective social movements over many years. It isn’t of course but it does underline why its so important for socialists to be involved. Firstly because pressure can bring real and positive change. Secondly because creating division is so fundamental to how market capitalist society works that ultimately equality is something that cant be fully resolved within existing structures.

Beard Liberation Front

26th June

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Richard Osman beards Roy Keane to win Beard of Summer 2021 vote

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that as part of National Beard Week 2021 Richard Osman quizmaster on Pointless has bearded football pundit Roy Keane  for the coveted Beard of Summer 2021 Award.

Richard Osman

41.4%

Virat Kohli

15.7%

Roy Keane

35.7%

Steve Clark

7.1%

There were two rounds of voting each consisting of 4 contenders. The top 2 in each round went forward for a final Beard Off vote. The winner is announced on Saturday 26^th June as the culmination of National Beard Week 2021.

Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli and football pundit Roy Keane won the first round, while Osman and Scotland football manager Steve Clark won the second.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Both Richard Osman and Roy Keane have beards that have achieved iconic cultural status, symbolising a follicular gravitas. On this occasion Osman has bearded Keane but we congratulate growth on their beard power.

Beard of Summer 2021. Shortlist

Virat Kohli, cricketer

Kane Williamson, cricketer

Richard Osman, author

Harry Kane, footballer

Roy Keane, pundit

Roger Waters, musician

Steve Clark, football manager

Justin Trudeau, Canadian PM

National Beard Week 2021

Monday 21st June: Hirsute Personality of the Year: the beard wearer who has made the positive public impact during the year. 2021 winner Gareth Southgate

Tuesday 22nd June: Beard Friendly Sandwich of the Year: the sandwich that goes in the mouth not the beard. 2021 winner: fish finger

Wednesday 23rd June: Hirsute Broadcaster of the Year: the broadcaster whose beard has had the most public impact. 2021 winner Michael Rosen

Thursday 24th June: Pogonophobe of the Year: the most notorious beard hater of the year; 2021 winner: Boris Johnson

Friday 25th June: Beard Friendly Employer of the Year: the field grows wider each year 2021 Five Points Brewery

Saturday 26th June: Beard of Summer 2021: the third of the four quarterly seasonal Awards 2021 Richard Osman

Tory Men, affairs, Johnson, Hancock & Old Corruption

It isn’t of course just Tory men of a certain age that have affairs with women, often younger women, when they are already married. Some might well note that it’s a ‘man’ thing although in the slightly more enlightened days of 2021 no doubt women also have affairs.

However the structure of society invariably means that ultimately it is the woman who is left to sort out children and many other matters while the man moves on. The sign of a society divided by class and to a significant extent still by gender, as well as other matters.

It is in this context that we can begin to understand Matt Hancock’s affair with Gina Coladangelo.

The personal implications are not good, but it is a pattern Boris Johnson himself is extremely familiar with being a serial affair man. Johnson’s biographer Sonia Purnell has noted of his time as Editor of the Spectator (he was sacked by Andrew Neil):

At any one time there were usually one or two well-bred Oxbridge women in short skirts starting out in journalism- and quite a few found themselves invited to a Spectator lunch so that Boris could give them ‘advice’.

When he was Mayor of London Johnson was reprimanded for failing to declare an affair, said he wouldn’t do it again and then promptly started another.

There is a wider issue here and it is that the behaviour exhibited belongs to a pre-democratic world, before the 1832 Reform Act, the world of Cobbett’s Old Corruption. Here public roles were related not to merit but to who you were and who you knew.

Hancock’s friendship with a pub landlord and his transgressions over contracts are well known but the context of his relationship with Ms Coladangelo fits into the Cobbetian model.

The rigor of any appointment process seems to be in doubt. How did Ms Coladangelo come to be considered? She had known Mr Hancock at Oxford and when appointed, just like Johnson, he made no mention of it, and should have.

Then at some point an affair started between Hancock, the senior figure in the matter, and Ms Coladangelo a paid advisor. That is absolutely outside any protocol. Of course it happens but if and when revealed there should be consequences.

One doubts with Johnson at No.10 there will be.

Ms Coladangelo, who has known the health secretary since they worked together on student radio at Oxford University, was made a non-executive director of the Department of Health last September.

The role comes with a £15,000 salary and involves 15 to 20 days of work per year.

Last November the Times reported that Mr Hancock had failed to declare their friendship when appointing Ms Coladangelo as an adviser in March last year.

She held the role for six months before becoming a member of the Department of Health’s non-executive board.

BBC 25^th June

London Socialist Historians Group

Historians back Peoples Assembly protest on 26^th June. Time to end the Tories war on history

The London Socialist Historians Group which organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London has backed the People’s Assembly demonstration on Saturday 26^th June.

The demonstration assembles at noon at Portland Place in central London and is focused on calling the Government to account for its anti-working class policies in every area.

The historians say they are particularly concerned at the Tories wide ranging war on history.

The move to end history teaching at the new ‘non-elite’ Universities will not only deny working-class students the chance to study the subject it also puts jobs of lecturers under threat.

The Tory offensive on history goes far wider though.

The Government has made numerous efforts to stop the real history of the slave trade from being told, including threats to remove funding from institutions that decide to act on statues of slave traders.

It has also promoted a version of flag waving British history that far from achieving the alleged aim of looking at the entire breadth of national history and its imperial contexts in fact tries to deliver an entirely one-dimensional version of the matter

LSHG Convenor Dr Keith Flett said, With their Culture Wars the Tories are obsessed with a certain kind of history, one that overlooks or explains away the racism and imperialism that is the centre of much British history. We are backing the People’s Assembly demonstration and the aim of calling the Tories to account. It’s more than time after 15 months of the pandemic that it was done.

London Socialist Historians Group

Historians call for singing of Tyrants of England rather than One Britain, One Nation

The London Socialist Historians Group, which organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research at London University, has called for the traditional song, the Tyrants of England to be sung on Friday rather than Gavin Williamson’s One Britain, One Nation ditty.

The song, formally called the Hand-loom weavers lament, dates back to the Luddite period in British history around the time of Peterloo in 1819 and is still sung in folk clubs.

It is one of the most well-known English working-class songs and the words are quoted in full in E P Thompson’s Making of the English Working Class.

The chorus is

You tyrants of England! Your race may soon be run.

 You may be brought unto account for what you’ve sorely done.

The historians say that when first sung in the early decades of the nineteenth century it was seen as a truly patriotic song, defending the principles and livelihood of the Freeborn Englishman against those who were trying to sweep away traditional rights and living standards and introduce a system of market capitalism.

LSHG Convenor Dr Keith Flett said, the Tyrants of England sums up well the Government of which Gavin Williamson is a part. What’s more unlike like his little ditty it has a two hundred year history as a truly patriotic English song, calling out political and economic oppression

You gentlemen and tradesmen that ride about at will,

 Look down on these poor people. It’s enough to make you crill.

 Look down on these poor people, as you ride up and down

 I think there is a God above will bring your pride quite down.

Chorus

 You tyrants of England! Your race may soon be run.

 You may be brought unto account for what you’ve sorely done.

Beard Liberation Front

Press release 25th June contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Five Points , Hackney Brewer, named Beard Friendly Employer of the Year

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that Five Points Brewery has been named Beard Friendly Employer of the Year 2021

The campaigners say that Five Points that has recently moved to a new brewery and taproom site on Mare St in Hackney is noted for being a socially conscious brewery, paying the Living Wage. Its Managing Director and Head Brewer are both usually hirsute, and while there is a diverse workforce, most of the male employees have been pictured with beards.

Past winners of the accolade in recent times have ranged from the BBC and the Church of England to the craft brewer Beavertown Brewery.

The campaigners say that Five Points is noted for its beard friendly cask and craft keg beers but the Beard Friendly Employer Award is more focused on an employer that promotes a diverse workforce and decent working conditions.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, 2021 has been a difficult year for craft beer not just because of the pandemic but also because it has become apparent that the progressive ideals sometimes associated with the industry are not always also actually practiced. In giving the Beard Friendly Employer of the Year Award to Five Points we hope to underline that a unity of theory and practice can be achieved in respect of a diverse workforce.

National Beard Week 2021

Monday 21st June: Hirsute Personality of the Year: the beard wearer who has made the positive public impact during the year. 2021 winner Gareth Southgate

Tuesday 22nd June: Beard Friendly Sandwich of the Year: the sandwich that goes in the mouth not the beard. 2021 winner: fish finger

Wednesday 23rd June: Hirsute Broadcaster of the Year: the broadcaster whose beard has had the most public impact. 2021 winner Michael Rosen

Thursday 24th June: Pogonophobe of the Year: the most notorious beard hater of the year; 2021 winner: Boris Johnson

Friday 25th June: Beard Friendly Employer of the Year: the field grows wider each year 2021 Five Points Brewery

Saturday 26th June: Beard of Summer 2021: the third of the four quarterly seasonal Awards 2021 TBA

George ‘austerity’ Osborne becomes chair of British Museum whose funding he cut

George Osborne has been appointed to the Chair of the Trustees of the British Museum from October replacing the FT’s Richard Lambert.

Osborne has had quite a number of very well paid sinecures since he stepped down as an MP in 2017 as this Guardian report notes:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/jun/24/ex-chancellor-george-osborne-appointed-chair-british-museum

As Chancellor his 2010 Budget reduced funding for Museums by 15%. The BM’s recent controversial partnership with BP which has attracted protests was justified on the basis of the need to raise funds.

Osborne claims he has always loved the BM. While his appointment certainly owes a good deal more to the Chumocracy than the meritocracy he does have a 2:1 in modern history from Oxford. It is not the ideal historical perspective for the BM which tends to deal in not so modern history (though far from exclusively so) but it should mean he has some general appreciation of some of the historical issues the BM faces.

Professor Dan Hicks and others have raised the question of why the BM has retained artefacts which were in fact stolen or plundered from other countries during the imperial era. The Elgin Marbles are the most well known of these artefacts but there are many others.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Hicks_(archaeologist)

Their retention in London is of course part of the Tory Culture War in 2021 and it probably isn’t too difficult to work out which side Osborne is on in that war….

On the eve of The Hundred John Arlott on post-1945 English cricket (The Guardian 1st January 1969)

A year late The Hundred, cricket administrators latest plan to get money and interest into the game, is finally set to start.

Over 50 years ago in the first edition of The Guardian for 1969 John Arlott wrote a piece reviewing where football and cricket were and were likely to head. 1969 was the year that the John Player League, Sunday afternoon, limited over cricket, was introduced.

The penultimate paragraph of his piece reads:

Post-war cricket has gone from the sometimes forgotten popular peaks of 1946, 1947 and 1948 through crises of finance and image and through changes some of which appeared to be made solely for the sake of change. Now it makes the most important change in its modern history. In 1969 first-class counties allocate more than 20 days to one-day matches and the control of the game in all but law making, passes away from the MCC.

It sounds in many respects rather familiar but we might also remember that Arlott, perhaps best known for his commentaries on Test Match Special was actually one of the TV commentators for Sunday League matches…