Campaigners say as just 4 of 85 Hereditary Peers have beards there is a clean shaven ruling-class culture
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that after the Sunday Times (21st March) published details of all 85 Hereditary Peers currently eligible to sit in the House of Lords it was concerned to find that just 4, around 5% have beards.
The four are:
Lord Thurso
Lord Hylton
Lord Lucas & Dingwall
Lord Greenway
Only Lord Lucas of the four is a Tory and the campaigners say that the lack of hirsuteness reflects the reality that the British ruling class still have a clean shaven culture where beards are regarded as doubtful at best.
Two of the four Lords listed are well known for their beards. Lord Thurso, as John Thurso, was named as Parliamentary Beard of the Year in 2008 and Lord Hylton, who has a distinctive organic beard, sometimes features on the shortlist for the same Award.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, when we find that just 5% of Hereditary Peers- by definition all men- have beards perhaps we can grasp one of the issues Buckingham Palace has with Prince Harry.
Steve Bell draws Llandudno goats visiting the barbers for a beard trim
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has welcomed the news that in the current lockdown period goat rule in the seaside town of Llandudno, North Wales has been extended.
The goats traditionally reside on the Great Orme in the town, but with it being much quieter than usual in lockdown, they first started to roam further a year ago in Spring 2020.
The BBC now reports that they have extended their domain to an area two miles from the Great Orme.
The campaigners say that human beings aside, goats are one of the best adverts for hirsuteness and beard wearing to be found and have welcomed the news that they have consolidated their presence in Llandudno.
Steve Bell in his Guardian ‘If’ cartoon has suggested that as barbers shops are now open again in Wales the goats may have stopped by for a beard trim.
The BLF recognises trimming or pruning of the beard as a way to promote healthy follicles and if Bell is right the goats are showing good sense.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, goats have real beard power, which trimming can only help. To be honest if its rule by the present clean-shaven Government or rule by goats many might choose the latter,
I know, particularly living in North London perhaps, that there are those who are likely to avoid doing so. This is usually because their circumstances, invariably through little or no fault of their own. People do not wish to draw the attention of the State to their presence, even if this isn’t what the ONS run survey in England and Wales is about.
I have however no reason not to fill it in and an important one for doing so. Namely that as well as providing useful data for current planning purposes (assuming any gets done) it is also over time provides historians with one indicator of what the population was doing and who it was at particular snapshots in time.
In that sense it has a role to play in democracy and it is worth remembering that the Chartists in 1838 wanted Parliamentary constituencies to be worked out on an equal basis related to census returns.
That has turned out to be a bit more complicated in practice but the historical framework remains interesting
The definite provisions fall under six heads — the famous “Six Points” of the Charter. First, every male adult is entitled to the franchise in his district after a residence of three months.[2] Second, voting is by ballot. Third, there will be three hundred constituencies divided as equally as possible on the basis of the last census, and rearranged after each census. Fourth, Parliament is to be summoned and elected annually. Fifth, there is to be no other qualification for election to Parliament beyond the approval of the electors — that is, no property qualification. Sixth, members of Parliament are to be paid for their services.
It’s year ago this week since modern slaver Philip Moss was exposed by the BBC. Gavin had referred to Blake as a slave and Moss reprimanded him and reminded that the slave workers were known as ‘horses’. A year on both Philip and Gavin Moss are in jail awaiting trial. Apparently Philip Moss now plans to plead guilty after Gavin gave details of the slave operation. It’s not known when a hearing will take place.
The Mystery Plays & Principles
Following Lynda’s decision to purge Clarrie from the Mystery Plays, Eddie has withdrawn himself, putting Mia in a difficult place as she is also due to appear. Eddie meanwhile is continuing with his role as a shepherd in the Darrington Mystery Plays. Eddie has underlined that he is acting on the principle of solidarity, as he rightly would. Clarrie and Mia are unimpressed however. Meanwhile Kirsty has approached Susan to take Clarrie’s role as King. Susan has declined on the grounds that this would amount to scabbing but Clarrie doesn’t see why its an issue.
The Ambridge Socialist says that the real issue here is the need to grapple with the autocratic approach of Lynda Snell and place the running of the Mystery Plays under a democratic and accountable control.
Michael Rosen queries why he isn’t official Ambridge poet in residence
The poet and author Michael Rosen has taken to twitter (as he sometimes does) to query why he is not official Ambridge poet in residence. He noted that he could offer some suitable lines for Lynda Snell to allow her to express her ‘pent up rage’. Little has been heard of the Bard of Borsetshire Bert Fry recently so perhaps it’s time for Rosen
21st March: Fifth Sunday of Lent. The proletarian tradition of peas fried in butter
21st March 2021 is the fifth Sunday of Lent and is known as Passion Sunday in some religious traditions.
Down below however something more basic is celebrated.
The Sundays of Lent were not fasting days and on the fifth Sunday the tradition was to eat black peas left to soak overnight and then (after the Reformation) fried in butter. The tradition appears to have been particularly strong in the north-east of England.
Peas (or sometimes beans) were cheaper and easier to obtain for the poor and known as Carlins.
As Ronald Hutton notes in his of British seasonal traditions, Stations of the Sun, Carlin Sunday was ‘a feast of the poor’
Closed Pubs, Boris Johnson, John Wilkes & the Freeborn Englishman, a Year on
On Friday March 20th 2020 Boris Johnson ordered all pubs to close as a measure to try and control COVID-19 better.
In my view then as an inveterate pub goer if it saves lived, and it very probably did, it was worth it, particularly as the incomes of pub workers were, for at least some, now protected by furlough (more was needed and year on still is for those on zero hours contracts such as a minimum basic income).
Civil libertarians (of which broadly I’m one) might say that it is the dream of all authoritarian Governments to try and do something like a closure of pubs. Indeed Foucault argued this has been the case since the Middle Ages.
On the other hand in March 2020 right-wing libertarian Brendan O’Neill claimed that Johnson’s action made Britain look like North Korea (Spectator)-which would still be preferable to any society O’Neill had a say in.
There was a problem a year ago though and it was called Boris Johnson. It is tempting to think that Johnson is a charlatan who doesn’t believe in anything much except himself and that I think is true. Except that this means that one of his great heroes is a former Mayor of London, John Wilkes (1727-1795). He undoubtedly fitted the Johnsonian characteristics noted above but his slogan was ‘Wilkes and Liberty’ and it was far from being without substance.
At the St Georges Fields Massacre on 10th May 1768 his followers protesting at the jailing of Wilkes raised the cry of No Liberty, No King. Troops opened fire killing seven and injuring fifteen
E P Thompson noted how Wilkes ideas led to Cobbett’s Freeborn Englishman
The champion defending his individual rights passed imperceptibly into the free-born citizen challenging King and Ministers and claiming rights for which there was no precedent
Johnson had other reasons for lionising Wilkes, he was a member of the Hellfire Club of sexual libertines, but his support for the liberties of the Englishman was also key. This was echoed in his comments on 20th March 2020 about closing pubs. He had clearly been reluctant to do so and delayed too long.
Fortunately ‘experts’ eventually prevailed.
A year on has Johnson ditched his Wilkes-ite beliefs? It’s not clear. He remains eternally optimistic, known now as ‘boosterism’ which is ok if there are things to be optimistic about but much less so if reality indicates caution.
He mentioned pubs again in a press conference this week- few other Ministers do.
There remain issues here. Firstly its become clear that Johnson’s idea of a pub and that held, for example, by many reading this, is likely to differ. The idea of ‘wet’ (drink) led pubs where proletarians gather is a world of which Johnson has no conception.
Secondly a year ago it was poorly understood how pubs might lead or not to COVID infections or what might be done to minimise this. A year on neither of those is true.
That means while a year ago it made sense in the context of rising infections and lack of knowledge to shut pubs it makes much less sense to keep them closed now-at least any longer than other places.
Perhaps we could try a few Pubs, Wilkes & Liberty virtual protests…
20th March. The Spring Equinox: a new season for labour…
The official start of Spring was 1st March in the UK. The Met Office divides the year into four seasons and so the months of March, April and May are ‘Spring’. To be fair the Met Office do also point out that the start date of astronomical Spring is March 20th, the Equinox.
The labour movement festival of May Day which celebrates the new birth of Spring is firmly within that framework, hence all the (Walter Crane inspired) garlands and flowers that go with some of the imagery of the day.
Neither March 1st or March 20th are dates that work for the traditional British Spring however which began during February. The logic of this was that as more daylight appeared fields could be ploughed and crops sown.
Ronald Hutton writes of the date of Spring in Stations of the Sun:
During the Twentieth Century the notional beginning of spring came itself to be moved backwards to the vernal equinox, by a slow process induced by the mass media. This was part of the American system of reckoning seasons from solstices and equinoxes, which works admirably in the climate of most of the USA, but is nonsensical in the rhythm of the British year.
Raph Samuel in his survey of Victorian seasonal labour also noted that the impact of Spring:
The ebb and flow of wayfaring life in nineteenth-century England was strongly influenced by the weather. The months from March to October were the time when travelling people were to be found on the roads, and when they were joined by every class of occasional itinerant.
Of course there were years in the nineteenth century when various epidemics from cholera to smallpox and typhus raged when this didnt apply. Whether 2021 is, like 2020, another of those it’s as yet too early to be sure.
Beard of Spring poll sees Archbishop of York faces Prince Harry
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that voting is now open for the coveted Beard of Spring Award.
Beard of Spring is the second of four seasonal awards that lead to the Beard of the Year in December.
The campaigners say that while the second seasonal award of the year traditionally focuses on new beard growth, the focus in 2021 is as much on those whose beards have appeared in a positive public light during the quarter.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, the Beard of Spring poll sets the beard-benchmark for the period ahead when beards can be flaunted in public as the weather improves.
The vote is open now and will close at midday on Good Friday, with the winner announced on Easter Saturday
Park in Muswell Hill renamed after long time local resident Oliver Tambo
In present circumstances it could only be virtual but I was pleased to see the renaming of Albert Road Recreation Ground in Muswell Hill after O.R. Tambo today.
Oliver Tambo lived for many years just a short distance away after he had fled apartheid South Africa and he co-ordinated and led the eventually successful struggle against apartheid from there.
As the Mayor of Haringey Cllr Adam Jogee reminded us there has been a statue of Tambo in the park since 2007.
It was personally a rather poignant moment as I went to school at Alexandra Park in the first half of the 1970s which is one corner of the park and it was used as the school playing fields.
The meeting was chaired by Council leader Joseph Ejiofor and heard from the South African High Commissioner in the UK Thembi Thambo, Oliver Tambo’s daughter. Her recollections of using the local 134 and 102 buses in her youth underlined just how close and long-lasting the connection between the area and the fight against apartheid has been.
The meeting also heard from Lord Hain, himself a veteran opponent of apartheid, who reminded us of the sacrifices and the (armed) struggle that had been part of the fight to get rid of the racist system.
It was a brilliant prelude to the UN World Anti-Racism Day, marked on 20th March but will no doubt not go unremarked by sections of the Tory press and probably Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden who doesn’t like renaming things…
