Beard Liberation Front urges hirsute to wear masks
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has urged the hirsute to wear masks on public transport and in shops.
The campaigners say that there has been considerable misinformation about wearing masks with a beard.
For general use in public medical standards masks are NOT required. Hence there is no requirement to trim or shave the beard.
The Guardian (22nd July) has suggested that wearing a mask with a beard could ‘irritate the skin’ and suggested a number of commercial products to address the matter.
The BLF says there is no evidence that this is true but it is always a good idea to keep the beard supple by occasionally marinating it briefly in a glass of imperial stout.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, if you’ve got a beard you need to wear a beard on transport and in shops. It’s a matter of social solidarity right now
Mrs Thatcher, The Beerage, & Small Brewers Duty Relief
The Government announced headline details on changes to Small Brewers Duty Relief on Tuesday. I’ll post about the specifics separately but suffice to say the changes were not in favour of small brewers but rather bigger regional to national ones.
A number of these such as St Austell and Harveys had lobbied for changes to the Duty which broadly as now proposed benefit them.
My interest here is in what this says about the Beerage in 2020
The Beerage is a term dating back to the late nineteenth century that details the financial and political links between many brewers and the Tory Party:
In recent times that link appears to have been seriously diminished.
By the 1970s the Beerage was essentially the Big Six brewers such as Whitbreads and Watneys. Mrs Thatcher promoted the Beer Orders in 1989 which aimed to break up their control of the industry by limiting the number of pubs they could own. That created the Pub Companies we know today.
This coincided with a political move by Thatcher to move the Tory Party away from its traditional industrial base and focus much more on financial services, the City of London and so on.
While the Beerage still exists- see the Sunday Times Rich List 2020- its hardly Tory Party focused but rather part of global business:
I was coming to the view that maybe the Pub Companies and the likes of Tim Martin were really the Beerage in 2020.
The Duty Relief move may suggest that the Tory Party still sees values with the historic links it has with Regional brewers (not particularly those on the list of those who lobbied for the duty change) which would not exactly be in the tradition of Mrs Thatcher..
Best Beard of Lockdown poll: Vote closes midday Friday 24th July
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said with the voting set to close in the one-off poll to find the best beard of lockdown on Friday, lockdown beards are bristling for the top places
Lockdown has seen numbers grow a beard, as they were working from home in many cases, and hairdressers and barbers were shut.
The campaigners say that its usual quarterly and annual votes for the best beard emphasise their positive impact in the public eye. By definition, such an impact has been very limited during lockdown.
With communication via Zoom, Skype and Teams, it has been possible to identify some contenders for Beard of Lockdown.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, we believe that a key summer style 2020 is the lockdown beard and by Friday at noon we’ll have a good idea of who the role models are.
The vote will close at midday on Friday 24th July
Beard of Lockdown
Joe Root, England cricket captain now wearing a stylish beard
Mike Dean, Football referee, appeared with a beard for the first time
Al Murray, ‘The Pub Landlord’ grew a lockdown beard
Andy Murray, the tennis champion often has facial hair but grew out his beard in lockdown
Michael Sheen, actor who has grown an organic lockdown beard
Michael Rosen, author who spent many weeks in hospital. Fortunately both he and his beard have survived lockdown
Andy Carroll, footballer who briefly appeared with controversial ‘mutton chops’ facial hair
Chris Woakes, cricketer, who has grown an organic lockdown beard
Andros Townsend, footballer who now sports a fully organic beard
David Beckham, often has facial hair but in lockdown the model for Cottagecore
Tony Archer, Archers character who grew a Hagrid radio beard before being made to shave
Campaigners say Russians interfered with 2017 Beard of the Year poll
United Kingdom’s Prince Harry speaks during the opening ceremonies of the the2017 Invictus Games in Toronto, Canada Sept. 23, 2017. (DoD photo by EJ Hersom)
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that the belatedly released ‘Russian Report’ into interference in UK affairs throws no further light on intervention by Russian bots in the 2017 Beard of the Year poll.
The Annual Award was won by then Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn who shaved Prince Harry for the honour
The BLF said at the time:
There were 23,600 votes cast in the on-line poll and there was worldwide interest particularly from the USA, Germany and Russia which in the final week saw Prince Harry and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn splitting hairs for the annual honour.
The Result
Jeremy Corbyn 13,365
Prince Harry 9,480
Moeen Ali 210
The campaigners say that contrary to what might be thought Russian bots intervened to support Prince Harry, with some evidence that US bots were doing the same.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, trying to work out the precise motivation for Russian interference in the 2017 Beard of the Year poll remains work in progress. What I can say is that it caused a real headache at the time and we had to put extra security on the poll.
I noticed a tweet by Tottenham brewery Redemption earlier noting that it was brewday for their award winning beer Hopspur (they are indeed very close to White Hart Lane) and how they loved the smell of brewing.
So do I, to my perpetually clogged nose- as a born and bred Londoner-its a rather malty smell, a reminder one hopes of some delicious beer to come.
Nowadays of course you can access that smell very often by visiting one of the craft brewery taprooms that exist all over the UK (Northern Ireland has a different law for now). But even 15 years ago you either had to work in a brewery or go on a guided tour to get into a brewery, see the brewing process at work and get that brewing smell.
Except there was one other way and that was if you lived in a city or town with a substantial brewery as part of its centre. Eldridge Pope in Dorchester was mentioned in the above twitter exchange. The brewery is long gone but the chimney remains.
Brains in Cardiff moved from their Old Brewery site on the Cardiff Castle side of Cardiff rail station to the old Bass site immediately on the Cardiff Bay side of the station a while back. I’ve lived partly in Cardiff for 25 years and one of the great smells of a morning in the City centre was the waft of the smell of brewing across the streets. It was arguably one of the defining smells of the place and a reminder of an industrial heritage.
The brewery is currently being demolished (Brains have built a new one nearer the Bay) although the chimney is staying. The smell however has gone forever.
Update
This post got a large number of responses from people who remembered the smell of brewing from locations where it mostly doesnt take place anymore. Michael Rosen recalled Benskins in Watford, then there was Boddingtons in Manchester, Scottish & Newcastle in Newcastle and Edinnburgh and so on. Burton, thankfully is one place, where the smell of brewing can still be found.
Its clear that aside from the physical buildings the smell of the brewing process in a location provided a sense of place and local or regional identity.
Now the more popular beer brands are brewed mostly in mega-breweries, by definition, rarely in town centres and the sense of regional presence, smell and indeed taste has been lost.
The Griffin (then the Land of Cakes) in more recent times
The National Charter Association, the first working class party anywhere in the world, was formed at a delegate meeting which began 184 years ago this week on 20th July 1840.
The NCA provided an organised structure to attempts to win the vote for working men around the Six Points of the People’s Charter.
It had an elected provisional Executive, a branch structure with a paid membership. It lasted until 1860.
The meeting took place in the Griffin pub in Great Ancoats St, Manchester. The pub dated from 1791 and was closed in 2005 by which time it was known as the Land O Cakes. It is now the Bem Brasil restaurant*
Perhaps typically of how much of Britain’s working class history is either forgotten or not remembered at all I don’t believe there is any current plaque on or near the spot to mark the event
thanks to @gwilty200 for info on what the pub is now
Craft beer taprooms: the new normal & a trip to the far side
Having returned to London after 122 days locked down in Cardiff, I decided to check out a couple of craft beer tap rooms (along with friends Hazel and Ian).
Both were on the Blackhorse Lane area of E17 which has some claim to be a new beer mile as it has taps from Wild Card, Exale, Signature and Trumans, all within walking distance of Blackhorse Rd station.
Its what we know in Tottenham as the far side, the far side of the Walthamstow Wetlands that is. There is a reason why breweries and taps are opening here, and not Tottenham now. Premises are cheaper and in today’s context that’s important.
Anyway a start was made at Exale, a tap I’d visited just before I personally locked down on 16th March. It has developed since then with outside seating and a small outside mezzanine area too.
The beer from Exale (brewed on site) and guests is always interesting, as is the fish tank, which featured in the name and design of a lockdown beer Murder on Crab Island. I particularly enjoyed an imperial stout a collab between Exale and Left Handed Giant, but then I would..
What of the new normal? You can pre-book -tables, although there is space for walk-ins. There is plenty of sanitiser, and table service, with cashless payment. The inside being an industrial until has a high roof and is light and airy and obviously outside is outside.
A short walk back towards Blackhorse Rd station led to the turning for the Signature and Trumans taps (to right and left respectively at the bottom of the lane). We tried the Trumans tap as its newly opened.
Its currently an outside beer garden alongside what will be Truman’s very large new brewery. Where they are planning to sell all the beer that it’ll have the capacity to produce intrigues.
For now though it’s an outside space (again pre-booking with walk-ups). It’s the most COVID-19 secure environment Ive visited since my return to London. Sanitiser and temperature checks at the entrance. You are then shown to a table, all of which are screened from each other, and ordering beer is via an App.
The only time you really need to move from your seat is to embark on the quite long walk around the new brewery to the toilets. The sit-downs are apparently compostable affairs but I used only the pissoir…
It is a massive space and the beer range while limited was decent enough with a balanced 5% IPA on offer.
A nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon and reflect on some of things missed in lockdown. Discussing the mean of life, the universe etc over a few beers with friends may seem a trivial matter but in days like these it was really cheering to be able to do it again, safely.
Best Beard of Lockdown poll: vote against a return to the clean-shaven office
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said with the voting set to close in the one-off poll to find the best beard of lockdown on Friday, author and Arsenal fan Michael Rosen has retained a lead.
However several other lockdown beard wearers could still give him a close shave.
Lockdown has seen numbers grow a beard, as they were working from home in many cases, and hairdressers and barbers were shut.
The campaigners say that its usual quarterly and annual votes for the best beard emphasise their positive impact in the public eye. By definition, such an impact has been very limited during lockdown.
With communication via Zoom, Skype and Teams, it has been possible to identify some contenders for Beard of Lockdown.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, its clear that with Boris Johnson urging a return to the clean-shaven office in August he thinks the age of the lockdown beard is at an end. This poll suggests differently
The vote is open now and will close at midday on Friday 24th July
Beard of Lockdown
Joe Root, England cricket captain now wearing a stylish beard
Mike Dean, Football referee, appeared with a beard for the first time
Al Murray, ‘The Pub Landlord’ grew a lockdown beard
Andy Murray, the tennis champion often has facial hair but grew out his beard in lockdown
Michael Sheen, actor who has grown an organic lockdown beard
Michael Rosen, author who spent many weeks in hospital. Fortunately both he and his beard have survived lockdown
Andy Carroll, footballer who briefly appeared with controversial ‘mutton chops’ facial hair
Chris Woakes, cricketer, who has grown an organic lockdown beard
Andros Townsend, footballer who now sports a fully organic beard
David Beckham, often has facial hair but in lockdown the model for Cottagecore
Tony Archer, Archers character who grew a Hagrid radio beard before being made to shave
We’ll applaud Sgt Burns when he arrests Moss & finds the bunting thief
Sgt Harrison Burns went on community radio on Thursday, having been well briefed by media expert Kenton, and painted himself as a tribune of the oppressed. He received a round of village clapping at the end.
Sgt Burns as a tribune of the oppressed seems to the Ambridge Socialist a rather unlikely possibility. When he’s arrested Philip Moss and finally caught the bunting thief we may take another look.
The Bull gets a new peacock
After Kenton murdered the Bull’s previous peacock Jolene has determined to get a new one. Kenton claimed that he had had 175 name suggestions on The Bull’s website for its name. The Ambridge Socialist ran a twitter poll which came out narrowly in favour of Jeremy over Keir…
Flytipping. Inspector David Knacker investigates
It was not of course Sgt Burns who discovered the identity of the person whose rubbish was flytipped and caused damage to the combine harvester* but self-confessed roof murderer David Archer. Archer found an e-mail belonging to Joy who had paid an apparently reputable operative to dispose of the waste. The Ambridge Socialist thinks that Moss is behind this.
172 years after his birth time to put W G Grace at the centre of modern cricket
The Beard Liberation, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that 172 years after his birth its time to put W G Grace at the centre of modern cricket.
Grace was born on 18th July 1848 in Downend and died in 1915.
His cricket and his beard were legendary and continue to be one of the most iconic images in sport.
The BLF says that English cricket has become increasingly hirsute in recent years and nowhere is this better captured than England captain Joe Root coming out with a designer beard for the second Test against the West Indies at Old Trafford.
Its now time to bring the framework of cricket in line with the ever-increasing hirsuteness of the game
A number of key issues relating to beards in cricket are stuck in the corridor of uncertainty
Take the case of a batsman with a substantial, W G Grace style beard, and a wicket keeper with a very similar growth of facial hair. A spin bowler delivers a ball which confuses the batsman and ends up in the gloves of the wicket keeper. Yet in the flurry of beards around the wicket the umpires view is obscured and because of the mass of facial hair involved ball tracking technology is not decisive as to whether or not the batsman hit the ball.
The campaigners say that as things stand the batsman’s actions might be held to be covered by Rule 42 (2) on Fair and Unfair Play which states in part ‘The umpires shall be the sole judges of fair and unfair play. If either umpire considers an action not covered by the Laws to be unfair he shall intervene without appeal..’
A concern could be that the batsman had deliberately deployed his beard to obscure the umpires view much as, before DRS, batsmen occasionally moved their pad when an lbw shout was made.
However the BLF says that in its view this would be pogonophobic and that cricket’s laws must be updated in a such a way as to take positive account of players beards.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, in 2020 cricket needs its W G Grace moment. There are many more important things than beards, but in cricket as W G underlined, they matter.
