Kmflett's Blog

The Budget & ‘Wet Led’ Pubs. The Tories plebophobia or As Soon As This Pub Closes..

Its almost 20 years since Alex Glasgow, probably most commonly associated with When the Boat Comes In died, but a song he wrote for the Alan Plater play Close the Coalhouse Door seems relevant today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Glasgow

Hospitality including pubs have been very badly hit by the pandemic with many closed for extended periods. This was mostly unavoidable, although not helped by anti-alcohol campaigners who continue to hope they stay closed for ever.

Rishi Sunak’s Budget on 3^rd March recognised this to an extent. Measures like a modest extension to the furlough, reduction in business rates, grants and loans to allow businesses to recover and cuts in VAT (although not on alcohol- here also duty continues to be frozen rather than cut despite long running CAMRA efforts).

Broadly all this comes in the better than nothing category except for one area-‘wet led’ pubs- those that rely entirely or mainly on the sale of alcohol and don’t sell much in the way of food. They won’t benefit from the VAT cut (again) and nor is there any recognition that they have had to close for much longer than some other places.

One begins to suspect a certain class prejudice against a certain kind of pub- the community boozer often- which caters for all rather than just subsets of people. A correspondent in the Morning Star (not me) recently termed this as ‘plebophobia’.

After all what are people doing in these pubs? Not having a nice meal and a chat about things perhaps. Are they organising and plotting subversive activities?  After all amongst a range of other things pubs have a reputation for such things and the authorities  have had concerns about that since  at least the French Revolution in the 1790s.

Even so Alex Glasgow’s message (last line aside) still seems relevant

As Soon As This Pub Closes

I could have done it yesterday if I hadn’t a cold,

But since I’ve put this pint away I’ve never felt so bold.

So as soon as this pub closes, as soon as this pub closes,

As soon as this pub closes, the revolution starts

I’ll shoot the aristocracy and confiscate their brass,

Create a fine democracy that’s truly working class.

As soon as this pub closes, as soon as this pub closes,

As soon as this pub closes, I’ll raise the banner high

I’ll fight the nasty racialists and scrap the colour bar,

And all fascist dictatorships and every commissar.

As soon as this pub closes, as soon as this pub closes,

As soon as this pub closes, I’ll man the barricades

So raise your glasses, everyone, for everything is planned,

And each and every mother’s son will see the Promised Land.

As soon as this pub closes, as soon as this pub closes,

As soon as this pub closes … I think I’m going to be sick

It has been reported that the cost of erecting a statue of Margaret Thatcher in Grantham later this year will no longer be met by public funds.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/mar/02/grantham-council-wont-pay-for-thatcher-statue-unveiling

It was originally planned to erect the statue in central London but this didnt go ahead due to concerns about protests. Instead the statue is to be placed in Thatcher’s home town of Grantham on a 10 foot plinth to keep protesters at bay.

The cost of doing this was estimaed at £100K but following pressure from Labour Councillors the Council has now agreed it should be privately funded.

The privatisation of her own statue is surely what Mrs Thatcher would have wanted anyway

Beard Liberation Front

Media Release 3rd March

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.

Beard Liberation Front

PRESS RELEASE 2nd March Keith Flett 07803 167266

BRITISH PIE WEEK POLL FOR THE CLASSIC BEARD FRIENDLY PIE OF 2021

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that with British Pie Week running from 1-7th March its annual poll on the most Beard Friendly Pie is once again going ahead.

The hirsute campaign group say that as with many prepared foods the requirements of people with beards are often overlooked when it comes to pies. The outcome of the annual poll often reflects that with traditional pies designed for eating ‘on the go’ easily beat leading pie brands.

The BLF says that common issues with pies for those with beards are:

Excessive gravy

Puff or flaky pastry which ends up in the beard not the mouth

‘Deep filling’ making it difficult to avoid contact of the pie with the beard

The campaigners cite some types of the traditional steak and kidney pie as an example of pies which are made without thought for the requirements of the hirsute pie consumer. Such pies often have excessive gravy- and comparatively little steak and kidney- which ends up in the beard.

Unfortunately the same issues tend to apply to many vegetarian and vegan pies too

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, this year we’ve decided to have a narrower focus on the absolute classic beard friendly pie

Link to vote:

Steak & Ale.Stilton

Fish

Leek & Potato

Scotch Pie

Beard Liberation Front

Media Release 2^nd March

Contact: Keith Flett 07803 167266

Jeremy Clarkson’s place on Beard of Spring 2021 shortlist not guaranteed

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that despite the fact that Jeremy Clarkson has grown a lockdown #3 beard, his place on the Beard of Spring 2021 shortlist is not guaranteed.

Clarkson has beard history and it is not always positive.

He grew a beard in 2014 but by 2015 he was writing in a tabloid paper in 2015 that people with beards should be arrested. It appears however that he did not turn himself into police.

The shortlist for Beard of Spring 2021 will be unveiled on 17^th March and the winner announced after a public on-line vote on Easter weekend.

It is the second seasonal vote of 2021 that goes towards the Beard of the Year vote in December 2021

Those on the shortlist must have promoted a positive image of the hirsute in the public eye during the quarter. They don’t need to have a permanent full-time beard.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Jeremy Clarkson’s beard represents a challenge. Is he promoting a positive image of hirsuteness?

Beard Liberation Front

1^st March

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Full results St David’s Day Beard of Wales 2021: Wales proves its beard friendly

The annual vote which decides the St David’s Day Beard of Wales, the Welsh beard that offers the most positive national image, has concluded with actor Michael Sheen shaving the opposition and winning for the second year in a row.

Veteran Cardiff based reporter Martin Shipton came a creditable second.

The full results are as follows:

Michael Sheen 76.9%

Martin Shipton 13.2%

Jake Ball 5.8%

Hefin David 4.1%

The BLF notes that while Hefin David was the main challenger to Michael Sheen in 2020, this year he conceded early on that the actor’s Beard Power would see him win by some beard lengths. This will have impacted his vote. Martin Shipton’s 13.2% is creditable for a first appearance on the poll, having grown again the beard he had in younger years.

The Beard Liberation Front says that images of St David suggest that the Welsh Saint himself may have had an organic beard

Welsh rugby prop Adam Jones won the Award in 2013 just shaving former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. Another rugby player Leigh Halfpenny won in 2014. In 2015 the Award went to Thee Faction musician Chris Fox, in 2016 footballer Joe Ledley won and in 2017 it was Charcutier Illtud Llyr Dunsford, with Chris Fox winning again in 2018. In 2019 journalist Grant Tucker shaved the opposition to claim the accolade. Michael Sheen won in 2020 and went on to share the Beard of the Year Award with Michael Rosen in December 2020.

It is the ninth time the Award has been given following the traditional UK Beard of the Year at the end December each year and the BLF says it is a mark of Wales as a modern nation on St David’s Day that beards are now playing an increasingly significant role in national life.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, On St David’s Day we think of course of daffodils being in full bloom but in 2021 that also applies to beards. Congratulations to the four beard wearers who made it to the final vote. They are excellent ambassadors for a beard friendly Wales

Beard of Wales 2021 shortlist

Carwyn Jones

Hefin David

Martin Shipton

Michael Sheen

Jake Ball

Vaughan Gething

Sir Tom Jones

James Dean Bradfield

St David’s Day debate in Commons pays tribute to late socialist historian & Labour MP Hywel Francis

Thursday 25^th February saw the St David’s Day debate in the Commons. It contained perspectives on the future of Welsh Government and democracy in the wider context of the four nations of the United Kingdom

It also saw a number of tributes to the late socialist historian and Labour MP Hywel Francis led off by Cardiff MP Kevin Brennan

I want to open on a sad note, by paying tribute to the former Member for Aberavon, Hywel Francis, who died earlier this month. Hywel entered the House nearly 20 years ago, alongside me and other current Members from Wales, my hon. Friends the Members for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) and for Caerphilly (Wayne David), my right hon. Friend the Member for Alyn and Deeside (Mark Tami), and the hon. Member for Arfon.

It will not surprise hon. Members and others listening who knew Hywel that, in his maiden speech back in 2001, he spoke about Labour history, the miners’ strike of 1984, Welsh devolution and the rights of disabled people, the latter a subject that was personally very close to Hywel and his wife Mair and their family. In calling, in that speech, for equal rights for disabled people, he said:

“Those are, after all, universal rights, whether they apply to a disabled child in Soweto, or to a disabled miner or steelworker in Skewen.”—[Official Report, 25 June 2001; Vol. 370, c. 456.]

Typical of Hywel: a voice for the oppressed everywhere, an internationalist voice, a compassionate socialist voice, a distinctly Welsh voice. Rest in peace, good friend and comrade.

The full debate is at this link

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-02-25/debates/9A0CC788-4D00-42B4-8D5B-2B778AC9FB02/WelshAffairs

Dai Smith’s Guardian Obituary

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/mar/01/hywel-francis-obituary

My appreciation of Hywel Francis

Hywel Francis 1946-2021. Socialist historian who chronicled the making of the C20th Welsh working-class

Beard Liberation Front

1^st March

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Michael Sheen wins St David’s Day Beard of Wales vote for 2^nd year running

The annual vote which decides the St David’s Day Beard of Wales, the Welsh beard that offers the most positive national image, has concluded with actor Michael Sheen shaving the opposition and winning for the second year in a row.

Veteran Cardiff based reporter Martin Shipton came a creditable second.

The Beard Liberation Front says that images of St David suggest that the Welsh Saint himself may have had an organic beard

Welsh rugby prop Adam Jones won the Award in 2013 just shaving former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. Another rugby player Leigh Halfpenny won in 2014. In 2015 the Award went to Thee Faction musician Chris Fox, in 2016 footballer Joe Ledley won and in 2017 it was Charcutier Illtud Llyr Dunsford, with Chris Fox winning again in 2018. In 2019 journalist Grant Tucker shaved the opposition to claim the accolade. Michael Sheen won in 2020 and went on to share the Beard of the Year Award with Michael Rosen in December 2020.

It is the ninth time the Award has been given following the traditional UK Beard of the Year at the end December each year and the BLF says it is a mark of Wales as a modern nation on St David’s Day that beards are now playing an increasingly significant role in national life.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, The Best Beard of Wales announcement always coincides with St David’s Day and Michael Sheen has again shaved the opposition as the person who offers the most positive hirsute national image. We congratulate him, and his beard.

Beard of Wales 2021 shortlist

Carwyn Jones

Hefin David

Martin Shipton

Michael Sheen

Jake Ball

Vaughan Gething

Sir Tom Jones

James Dean Bradfield

Tory Culture Wars turn to reading lists. What price Really Useful Knowledge?

In the paper of choice for Tory Culture Wars-the Sunday Telegraph-Universities Minister Michelle Donelan seems to think that decolonisation of the curriculum is..censoring history’.

Ms Donelan, according to her Wiki entry, has a BA in history from York although what period of history is not clear. What does or does not appear on reading lists is usually left to the lecturers that set them and so invariably has a level of personal preference as well as professional expertise.

When I did my first degree (a very long time ago now) I didn’t pay much attention to reading lists. I’d usually skim through a key text so that I could visit the University library and find some articles and books more to my liking. From memory the only person who actually paid attention to reading lists on my politics and history course was a Tory from Buxton. Perhaps this explains Ms Donelan’s comments.

Historically though the argument has been about in many areas an almost systematic exclusion of radical and left wing texts from many reading lists

Michael Rosen has rightly reminded in recent times of the alternative English Literature study plan that appeared in Trevor Pateman’s Counter Course (1972). Rosen used the pseudonym Joe Spriggs who I presume was some kind of well-known Arsenal player of yesteryear.

Counter Course had a whole series of alternative reading suggestions across University curriculums.

My own take has been over the years to promote what radicals in the 1830s called Really Useful or Spearhead Knowledge. That is education that looks at what really goes on in a market capitalist society, why and what might be done about it. A paper I gave on this 10 years ago is linked to below:

Really Useful Knowledge 1830-2010

The Ambridge Socialist

28^th February

Brookfield in crisis: sheep futures in doubt?

The debate about which way forward for the ruling dynasty of Ambridge has re-ignited this week. The Ambridge Socialist is more interested in the dispute than the reasons for it. However David Archer seems concerned that he is viewed as a dinosaur for wanting to keep Brookfield as a mixed farm (think sheep) to hedge all profitable bets. Roooth by contrast (backed by Pip) believes that Brexit has done for sheep (bad news for Gregg Wallace’s lamb obsession) and that cattle are the way forward. While they argue perhaps the proletarians of Ambridge can press their case.

The Lurve Caravan

Meanwhile Ben is looking for somewhere ‘private’ to be with Evie. Presumably he is concerned about being surprised in the Brookfield shower by Jill or David- hunting for badgers. His solution is to be refurbish the lurve caravan where an anti-Valentine’s party was held a while back. This could be more interesting than the cider barn

Ambridge Socialist investigation into trade unionism & BBC reporting of Ambridge

The Ambridge Socialist has mounted a major investigation into trade unionism in Ambridge and how the BBC reports it, or rather doesn’t. An interim report should be available shortly.

Sgt Harrison: Superstar

Apparently Lynda has decided that in the Easter Mystery Plays she is supposedly staging Sgt ‘Knacker’ Burns should play Jesus Christ. Superstar? Hmmm. One for the jury.

Jazzer, Jade & Jimbo

While Chris Carter has revealed he once had a beard we have heard about Jazzer, Jade, and Jimbo (aka Professor Jim) this week. We really do miss Ambridge Extra