Kmflett's Blog

The Cato St Conspiracy 23^rd February 1820 & Lords Cricket Ground

The Cato St Conspiracy took place 206 years ago.

A group of radicals led by the veteran agitator Arthur Thistlewood had determined to attack a Cabinet dinner in Grosvenor Square and thereby spark a nationwide rising. It was in part a reaction to the Peterloo Massacre in August 1819 but was also part of a much wider revolutionary current stretching back into the last years of the eighteenth century.

Cato Street is in Marylebone not that far from what is (and was then) the site of Lord’s Cricket Ground. It is one of the last places one would associate with a revolutionary conspiracy.

However two of those tried for the Cato St conspiracy at the Old Bailey in April 1820 lived near to Lord’s and a number of the witnesses called were employees at the ground.

The reference to Davidson living near Lord’s ‘in the new Road’ (Marylebone Rd)suggests that this may have been at one of the earlier locations of the ground before the move to the current site in 1814. He was said to wander the ‘rough streets’ near Lord’s Cricket Ground late at night to intimidate some of the residents. His perspective may of course have been rather different.

Conspirators

The Prisoner Davidson has been in the Cabinet maker line and resided for several years in a small tenement at the back of Lord’s Cricket Ground in the new Road and appears to have been actively engaged since the Manchester Meeting in attending both at public and private meetings.

Wilson lives in a cottage near Lord’s Cricket Ground and is a Tailor

Witnesses

Pocock J, Lord’s Cricket Ground, whitesmith

Pratt, Edward, Lord’s Cricket Ground, smith

Philips, Henry, Lord’s Cricket Ground, labourer

Sallibanks, William, Lord’s Cricket Ground, carpenter

Wood, Robert, Lord’s Cricket Ground, tinman

The Tottenham riot August 6/7 2011. Mayor Johnson was on holiday in Canada

On the night of Saturday 6^th/Sunday 7^th August in Tottenham there was a riot in Tottenham following the shooting dead of Mark Duggan by police several days earlier.

At the time the Mayor of London was Boris Johnson. He was of course on holiday at the time in Canada with his then wife Marina touring the Rockies in a Winnebago. According to his biographer Sonia Purnell Johnson doesn’t like holidays in Britain.

Prime Minister Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Clegg and Home Secretary May were also on holiday abroad.

City Hall tried to contact Johnson and get him to return. As Purnell notes ‘not for the first time..the cry went up: Where is Boris’.

Johnson was not minded to break off his holiday to deal with unrest that had now hit 29 of London’s 32 Boroughs.

On the Monday May returned to take charge followed by Cameron. Eventually Johnson appeared in London on the Wednesday.

By that time Cameron and Clegg had already visited Tottenham. Johnson made it on the late Wednesday afternoon. The press release I put out as the (then) Secretary of Haringey TUC is below.

Ignoring a crisis, returning late when he realised how serious it was and making pledges about what might then happen seems to have set a template for Johnson

Press Release 10th August

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266; keith.flett@btinternet.com

BORIS JOHNSON COMMITS TO ENTEPRISE ZONE & SPURS GROUND IN TOTTENHAM

Haringey TUC has said that on a visit to Tottenham High Rd this afternoon London Mayor Boris Johnson has pledged that there will be an Enterprise Zone in the area and committed himself to supporting Spurs keeping their ground in Tottenham.

The Mayor made the comments to Haringey TUC Secretary Keith Flett, as he was robustly lobbied by a crowd of local residents, community activists and trade unionists when he visited Tottenham at 4pm today.

Haringey Trades Council Secretary Keith Flett said While its no secret that trade unionists would prefer a different Mayor, the pledges that Boris Johnson made to me this afternoon are welcome. Let’s hope that he sticks to them. Meanwhile I am considering whether or not to wash the hand which I shook his with.

Beard Liberation Front

20th April

Media Release

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Working From Home beard: Week 5. How to keep your beard in good shape

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that with many working from home, and barbers closed, the numbers of people growing beards has increased significantly. It has previously provided a 6 step guide on how to do this.

With many work meetings now taking place virtually via Skype or Zoom a working from home beard may add gravitas to the wearers on-line presence.

The campaigners say that with a Working From Home beard now at Week 5 it will be for many, a time to consider how to keep the beard of their choice in trim.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett, social media contact tells us that most who have decided to grow a working from home beard have now completed the task. The next focus is how to keep the beard in good shape for the next few weeks.

Working From Home beard. How to keep your beard in good shape.

1 Check daily for any split ends or misplaced hairs

2 Wash & comb through the beard every day at least once

3 To maintain hair quality beard oils or balms are used by some, while others marinate briefly in imperial stout

4 Occasional pruning will help to strengthen hair growth and make sure you desired style is maintained

5 With lockdown don’t forget to post the occasional picture of your beard on social media to encourage others.

Boris Johnson:  a history of absences

In the crucial weeks before March (2020) Boris Johnson did not attend any of the five virus meetings held by Cobra, the emergency committee, in January and February and spent 12 days out of the public eye while on a ‘working’ holiday at (Chevening) in Kent.

Sunday Times 19^th April

James Griffin, then Professor of Classical Literature at Balliol…was tolerant of Boris’s absences and late or non-existent work

Sonia Purnell, Just Boris

Boris’s persistent absences meant that mistakes were made that a more meticulous editor might have avoided

Sonia Purnell on Johnson’s period as Editor of the Spectator

‘not for the first time..the cry went up: Where is Boris’.

Sonia Purnell on attempts to contact Johnson, Mayor of London, after the start of rioting in London on 6/7^th August 2011

The Ambridge Socialist

19^th April

The Ambridge cricket team: the winning or the taking part

Down at Third Man

The cricket season is in opening weeks (in Ambridge obviously, not elsewhere)and training sessions for the perpetually hopeless Ambridge team have not started well. Considering that the captain is Sergeant Knacker Burns perhaps this is not surprising. Tracy Horrobin feels that too many of the team are past it, unfit or not bothered and the team needs to have a desire to win instilled in it. She is taking over coaching sessions forthwith. Will there still be a team of any sort left?

The Bull is saved as a community pub!

The Bull is the only pub open in the UK currently (thankfully). However the BBC has reported that on Easter Monday the final victory to keep The Bull as a community pub was achieved.

The new Bull sign was unveiled in the presence of Lynda Snell whose ReBulls were part of the campaign.

The misjudged B @ Ambridge has passed into history

Thanks to all those who supported the campaign. Let’s hope for a great future for The Bull after lockdown.

In the meantime the Ambridge Socialist will be raising a glass tonight to the pub and the campaign

Rob Titchener voted the biggest Ambridge baddie of all time

In an Ambridge Socialist poll well over half of respondents voted that Rob Titchener is the biggest Ambridge baddie of all time. Simon Pemberton was second with around a third of the votes Titchener got

Below is a list the Ambridge Socialist identified (with help from readers) of the biggest baddies in Ambridge over the years.  We didn’t cover what might be called (more or less) loveable rogues such as Nelson Gabriel or Brian Aldridge. Nor have we looked at those who might not be ‘bad’ as such but are extremely annoying or obnoxious (Peggy Woolley got one vote). We may look at both in the future.

Philip Moss– the current contender. Gangmaster

Rob Titchener– gaslighted & raped Helen Archer. She was found not guilty of wounding him

Matt Crawford-fraudster. Alleged to be currently in Costa Rica

Cameron Fraser– attempted to rape Shula Archer amongst other things

Simon Pemberton– assaulted both Shula Archer & Debbie Aldridge

Clive Horrobin– violent criminal, believed to be currently in jail

Ambridge Socialist Editor Keith Flett said, it’s difficult to get away from the fact that Rob Titchener was a deeply unpleasant individual. It’s worth reflecting that he paid no legal price for his activities and that there are numbers of men out there today carrying on in much the same way that he did.

Johnson missed meetings on COVID-19 crisis. It was deadly serious & entirely in character

Sonia Purnell’s 2012 biography of Boris Johnson which is generally sympathetic to him was no doubt not written with the reality that 7 years later he would be a Tory Prime Minister and win an Election in December 2019.

It contains some interesting extracts from his school reports at Eton which suggest that he learnt what he could get away with there and has not changed since.

His personal tutor Andrew Hobson wrote a report which says in part ‘I think he honestly believes that it is churlish of us not to regard him as an exception, one who should be free of the network of obligation which binds everyone else’.

In a report of 5th April 1981 his Master in College Martin Hammond raises concerns about ‘lateness, non-appearance of work and a lack of organisation’.

In 1982 Hobson noted ‘Boris seems affronted when confronted with what amounts to a gross failure of responsibility’.

In July 1982 Hammond wrote, ‘Boris has something of a tendency to assume that success and honours will drop into his lap’. He went on to note that ‘efficiency and organisation have been constant problems’.

The behaviour didn’t end when he left Eton. In fact it got worse. Here is a summary of what he was like when he was Editor of the Spectator (1999-2005):

He would habitually not answer his phone, commission articles, turn up to lunches, or meet dignitaries, important advertisers or even his own deadlines.

(Sonia Purnell, Just Boris 2012)

Perhaps it didn’t matter all that much. But it did when he missed key meetings in the run-up to the current COVID-19 crisis (Sunday Times 19.4.20).Then it was no longer a joke. It was deadly serious. Literally

The Financial Times on the art of craft beer cans

I’m a long term subscriber to the Financial Times and I was interested to see a piece by Alice Lascelles in the Saturday How to Spend It supplement on the art of craft beer cans. The FT more usually goes on about wine.

I should perhaps mention that I read the FT not because I’m an ardent capitalist but because I’m a socialist and the paper (unlike pretty much all others) still mostly reports accurately on the affairs of capital. Being a trade union officer in the City of London it also helps to know what the other side are up to. That’s what the other side think too btw as the Sainsbury’s right by the Stock Exchange HQ in the City always has a pile of Morning Stars first thing in the morning.

Anyway, the beer.

Many people who drink ‘craft’ beer in cans will be well aware that image is a part of the thing and that has led in recent years to a proliferation of interesting designs on beer cans. Nick Dwyer at Beavertown built a whole brewery image largely on bottle and then can design.

Certainly with the larger 440ml cans the label usually peels off and can be displayed and there have been deliberate projects to match art designs and beers.

There are limits. The FT piece which references can designs from the likes of Lost and Grounded, Pressure Drop and Burning Sky argues that it is a new development on what used to be 12 inch vinyl record sleeves.

Indeed but I’d no more buy a can of beer for the design than I would have bought an album of shit music for the cover.

I suppose the logic is meant to be good design, good product.

I suppose too its good to see the FT encouraging readers to buy craft beer cans on-line in days like these but the thought occurs that their readership will be amongst those still able to afford them in a years time…

The Ambridge Socialist

18th April

The Archers to air classic episodes. 5 key moments we’d like to hear.

From early May, while a new socially distanced Archers format is worked it is planned themed classic episodes of the Archers for a few weeks.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3ylHgx0mKJPW13QqCW9fVvs/important-moments-from-archers-history-to-be-re-broadcast

Below are some key moments that 2020 listeners surely need to be reminded of

Five Key Moments in the Archers

Nelson Gabriel’s alleged mail van robbery

The verdict in Helen Archer’s trial for wounding Titchener

Sid & Jolene’s shower scene

David Archer pushing Nigel Pargetter off the roof of Lower Loxley

Susan Carter’s 1993 jailing for hiding her brother armed robber Clive Horrobin

Epidemics and their impact on society in the Nineteenth Century

The extract from an article Asa Briggs wrote for the historical journal Past and Present almost 60 years ago was one of the first to look at the impact epidemics, particularly cholera, had on nineteenth century societies. It is essentially a lengthy review of pioneering work by the French academic Louis Chevalier that suggests a range of issues for further research

The research subsequently took place and there is now a considerable literature on the subject. Even so Briggs initial summary (below) rings true and has relevance for 2020. Until the 1880s what gave rise to cholera was poorly understood at best, and work to remove the conditions that allowed it to thrive and spread was limited.

It was a disease of society in a more profound sense also. It hit the poor particularly ruthlessly, thriving on the kind of conditions in which they lived. Whenever it threatened European countries, it quickened social apprehensions. Wherever it appeared it tested the efficiency and resilience of local administrative structures. It exposed relentlessly political, social and moral shortcomings. It promoted rumours, suspicions and at times violent conflicts.

Asa Briggs Cholera and Society in the Nineteenth Century, Past and Present, 19, 1961

The Ambridge Socialist

17^th April

Rob Titchener voted the biggest Ambridge baddie of all time

In an Ambridge Socialist poll well over half of respondents voted that Rob Titchener is the biggest Ambridge baddie of all time. Simon Pemberton was second with around a third of the votes Titchener got

Below is a list the Ambridge Socialist identified (with help from readers) of the biggest baddies in Ambridge over the years.  We didn’t cover what might be called (more or less) loveable rogues such as Nelson Gabriel or Brian Aldridge. Nor have we looked at those who might not be ‘bad’ as such but are extremely annoying or obnoxious (Peggy Woolley got one vote). We may look at both in the future.

Philip Moss– the current contender. Gangmaster

Rob Titchener– gaslighted & raped Helen Archer. She was found not guilty of wounding him

Matt Crawford-fraudster. Alleged to be currently in Costa Rica

Cameron Fraser– attempted to rape Shula Archer amongst other things

Simon Pemberton– assaulted both Shula Archer & Debbie Aldridge

Clive Horrobin– violent criminal, believed to be currently in jail

Ambridge Socialist Editor Keith Flett said, it’s difficult to get away from the fact that Rob Titchener was a deeply unpleasant individual. Its worth reflecting that he paid no legal price for his activities and that there are numbers of men out there today carrying on in much the same way that he did.