The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has paid tribute to William Morris, the great Victorian beard wearer, who was born on 24th March 1834.
The campaigners say Morris is the hirsute link between the beards of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and that the great twentieth century socialist beard wearers such as Lenin and Trotsky.
Morris grew his beard in 1856 and kept it for the last 40 years of his life. It was as much a part of the man as his fiery temper, socialist politics and love of ancient buildings.
BLF organiser Keith Flett said, when he died in 1896 his doctor said he died simply of being William Morris and his beard was an integral part of that
Campaigners pay tribute to Albert Uderzo, creator of the great comic moustache wearer Asterix
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has paid tribute to Albert Uderzo, the co-creator and artist of “Asterix,” who has died at 92. He drew the comic from 1959 to 2009.
The campaigners say that Asterix, the lead character in the comic books of the same name, has been one of the great fictional moustache wearers, promoting the cause of facial hair in popular culture.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, whatever Albert Uderzo’s original intention Asterix has become something of an anti-capitalist cult figure and no doubt his full moustache has had a role to play in that.
Brewdog, Wetherspoons & COVID-19: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
With pubs closed there still remains the issue of what those who run them do during the crisis.
As might be expected Tim Martin of Wetherspoons is leading the way with the bad behaviour.
The Bakers Union (BFAWU) which organises in the pub company has pointed out that Martin doesn’t plan to pay any Wetherspoons workers until the Government subsidy of wages starts at the end of April. He appears to have told them to see if there are jobs at Tesco (who are hiring). If they are they might well stay since Tesco recognises trade unions and is already a huge employer in the UK.
Brewdog who do pay the living wage but don’t recognise unions may or may not be treating their employees more decently (Ive seen no word on that beyond reports that those on probation had been laid off)but they have led the way on social responsibility.
Last week they publicised the production of free hand sanitiser. This week co-founder James Watt has tweeted about what their delivery vans have been up to. Of course its all good publicity but in times like these there are much worse things- see Tim Martin
@BrewDogJames
Starting today, we are using our trucks & drivers to do home deliveries of school lunches to those in isolation in our local community. For free.
Ex-Beard of the Year Rowan Williams on Coronavirus- there is such a thing as society
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has continued to show beards in a positive light. When he appeared on Newsnight on 23rd March he underlined that when it comes to COVOID-19 there is such a thing as society.
Dr Williams said:
“With an infection like this you can’t draw boundaries. Do I understand that my well-being is completely bound up in the well-being of all my fellow human beings?”
Rowan Williams was voted joint Beard of the Year 2008 with Tom Jones
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Rowan Williams personifies the wisdom of positive beard power when he comments on such a serious issue as the Coronavirus
The Ambridge Socialist has announced its plans to fill the gap as the BBC has announced that broadcasts of The Archers will now be 4 nights a week- Monday to Thursday- with a shorter Sunday Omnibus.
The reduction is due to difficulties in recording future episodes during the COVID-19 crisis:
Starting this Friday at 19.02 hours and for the duration the Ambridge Socialist will re-publish a classic issue from its archives. The Ambridge Socialist has appeared weekly on-line for 10 years now so it is not anticipated there will be a supply problem.
Ambridge Socialist Editor Keith Flett said, it may be that the late Joe Grundy will feature and of course key aspects of the class struggle in Borsetshire over the years certainly will.
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 is expected to increase significantly. It has 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 can add gravitas to the wearers on-line presence.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett, let’s face it in the current situation there are more important things to be doing than shaving. That’s why we are providing, free of charge, our expert guide on how to grow a beard.
Six Steps to growing a Working From Home beard
1 Do not shave and recycle all shaving equipment immediately
2 Allow facial hair to develop over a 7-10 day period
3 Wash the facial hair at least twice every day and purge any split ends
4 An organic beard grows naturally so do not trim at this stage
5 After 10 days judicious and occasional trimming may be employed. There is a fine balance between a beard that is stylish and one that is genuinely organic
6 Under trimming is better than over trimming. Over trimming may lead to having needlessly to repeat steps 1-5
Many have thought for a while that there was something not quite right about Philip Moss. The BBC has revealed that he appears to be a Gangmaster although the extent of his illegal operation is as yet unknown.
His son Gavin called Blake the worker injured in the Grey Gables explosion a ‘slave’ on Friday earning a sharp rebuke from Philip to be careful what he said. The background was that Gavin was meant to have been taking Blake something to eat but didn’t. That is only understandable in the context that Blake had little or no money to buy food himself.
It also begins to explain why Philip, apparently a local builder, could discuss with Gavin a very expensive honeymoon with his now ex-partner in Bali.
Some comment has been made that it is a surprising turn of character for Philip placed against the reality that if those who were up to no good were easily spotted there would be no need for the likes of PC Burns…
The Ambridge Socialist: Victory! The Bull is staying. Respect to Lynda Snell
Lilian Archer has relented after campaigns by the Ambridge Socialist & the ReBulls and scrapped the change of name to the B @ Ambridge.
She has acknowledged that the change of name had a best divided opinion. That is herself, Kenton and Jolene against everyone else.
It is a great shame that the tragic explosion at Grey Gables that led to Lynda Snell being so badly injured became perhaps the decisive factor in Lilian’s change of mind.
We hope Lynda makes a full recovery.
In the meantime, thanks & well done to all those who signed our petition. Organising & Campaigning can make an impact
The Ambridge Socialist poll: is the Archers anti-Welsh?
There has been comment on social media that the Archers when it features identifiably Welsh characters does not present them in the best light (assuming it is thought any inhabitants of Ambridge qualify as role models aside from the Grundys that is). At the moment Philip and Gavin appear to be actively up to no good and Natasha is not always the most pleasant of people. On the other hand long standing Ambridge Socialist favourite and former peace campaigner Pat Archer is Welsh. What do you think?
In other news
Roy may have health issues after being injured in the Grey Gables explosion
Lambing is underway but Adam is resisting Brian’s suggestion that more workers should be employed. Perhaps Philip Moss has already offered him some ‘cheap’ labour…..
22nd March is the earliest possible date for Easter Sunday. That last happened in 1818 and wont happen again until 2285. There are periodic calls for a fixed Easter but that might be giving in to the relentless work-rythyms of capital too easily…
In 1818 the Paschal Full Moon fell on Saturday, March 21 (the equinox). Therefore, the following day, March 22, was Easter. It will not fall as early again until 2285, a span of 467 years. The next earliest Easter between 1818 and 2285 (March 23) occurred in 1845, 1856, 1913 and 2008, and will occur again in 2160—an 11, 57, 95 and 152-year gap, respectively. Easter last occurred on March 24 in 1940 and will not occur on that day until 2391, a 451-year gap.
Boris Johnson’s belated advice to people not to visit their mother on Sunday is a rare accurate statement for him even if it does display a complete absence of understanding of traditional British culture.
Lent is the period in the Christian calendar before Easter when people stick to an austere diet, until very recently suitable for the current Government. In 2020 that tends to mean that people give up things that they like, cake, beer etc for the duration.
Given the movable date of Easter, Lent invariably contains within it a number of religious festivals which have to be marked and indeed celebrated. Probably the most well-known of these is Mothering Sunday which is meant to take place on the last Sunday in March but this year is on the second last Sunday…
Traditionally it is not about mothers, that was of course a twentieth century commercial invention. Rather it was about communities and families coming together during Lent . It was marked with a spicy fruit cake- simnel cake- and in some areas such as Lancashire a spiced ale- braggert. In any case drinking was ok after sunset.
So if you are feeling the privations of Lent, Sunday is a good time to relax them a little and all in the best of traditions but not of course in the current circumstances communally. Stay at home and communicate on-line (tbh that’s mainly what Ive been doing for years anyway)
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