25th March is the Feast of the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel visits the Virgin Mary to inform her that she will bear Jesus Christ who will be born in exactly nine months time, Christmas Day.
Of course it is Lent in the Church of England calendar but Lent has its feasts. Consistency is not the Church’s strong point.
From 1155 to 1752 March 25th was also the start of the New Year. While it moved to January 1st, with a slight tweak- to April 5th- it remains the start of the financial year.
Lady Day is also the start of the contractual year for tenant farmers and a quarter day on which rents etc are due to be paid. It will be celebrated on the Archers on Wednesday evening…
Finally don’t expect to hear much if anything about all this from those who go on and on about British history and traditions even though this is one of the more significant ones.
The need to fight anti-Semitism (and all forms of division and hate) in North London is not new and its still essential
There is a large and varied Jewish population in North and North-West London, and there has been for a very long time. It’s an important part of what the area is.
In the period when I was President and then Secretary of Haringey Trades Union Council (I’m now just a humble delegate) there were instances of anti-Semitic attacks. Without fail we called protests but it must be said that opinion on whether to protest or keep quiet to avoid encouraging further outrages was sometimes an issue. It’s good to see an understanding in the current moment that anti-Semitic attacks must ALWAYS be called out.
Of course others joined in protests, trade unions, community organisations, anti-racist campaigns like Stand Up to Racism and its predecessors.
The Golders Green attack has provoked some ‘false flag’ commentary a product more than anything of social media. When ambulances next to a Synagogue are set on fire its best to regard it as instance of anti-Semitism unless and until its proven otherwise.
Looking back social media had less or no influence but similar sentiments used to circulate. Jewish people might have been attacked but it was probably just a coincidence they were Jewish. It wasn’t of course.
Care also needs to be taken not to conflate anti-Semitism with the actions of the Israeli Government (a political not a religious issue) and Haringey TUC has for many decades stood in solidarity with the Palestinians
It’s a reminder about why Saturday’s central London march Together against racism is so important. Hate and division should have no place in British society but they will have unless actively opposed. See you there.
Matthew Goodwin was Professor of Politics at Kent University but took a pay off in 2024.
Since then he has become a presenter on GB News and was the losing Reform candidate in the recent Gorton and Denton By-Election.
Goodwin is the author of several best selling books and he did have a contract with Penguin. However his most volume is self-published. It has been criticised for a number of inaccuracies including misleading quotations which appear to have been picked up from ChatGPT but not properly checked.
Perhaps at the root of the issue is whether Goodwin should still be regarded as an academic or if he is now a polemicist, a rather different thing.
As the long time convenor of the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, I try to keep a firm hold on academic rigour. The seminar is mostly focused on new research and we are interested in the research process.
One key indicator here is that when questions are asked they should not be ones to which the answer is already known (this works well in union negotiations but not in research). The research process may discover expected answers of course, but equally and more importantly it may discover unexpected results. These may well suggest a rethink to the premises of the research.
Matt Goodwin in 2026 seems to be in the game of knowing the answers first and then providing the research to prove it. There is nothing wrong with this as such but its polemic, stating an opinion, rather than something based on facts, however awkward the facts may on occasion be.
I’m a fan of polemics and sharp arguments and they can have their place in the seminar room provided its clear that is what they are and not original research. Sometimes of course the two can co-exist but I’m not sure Matt Goodwin is in that place currently.
The fall out from the sale of Brewdog to Tilray, the US medicinal cannabis and craft beer outlet on March 2nd.
It has been revealed that Brewdog had debts of over £550m when it went into administration
In an interview with the Morning Advertiser Tilray CEO Dwight Simon has revealed that he had talks with Martin Dickie and James Watt (instigated by them) in 2020 about forming a partnership. Simon notes that the global scale of Brewdog’s operations meant it wasnt a runner for Tilray at that point.
Simon also reveals that Tilray made a bid for Brewdog before Christmas 2025 (at a much higher price than the £33m they eventually paid) but it was rejected.
Italian PM Meloni was trying to push through changes that would have given the Government more control over the judicial process. This may sound familiar. Anyway in Italy at least it has ended well
She lost heavily in Italy’s three biggest cities: In the provinces of Rome, the “no” vote was 57 percent, Milan 54 percent and Naples 71 percent.
In Naples, about 50 prosecutors and judges gathered to open champagne and sing Bella Ciao, the World War II anti-fascist partisan anthem. Activists, students and trade unionists spontaneously marched to Rome’s Piazza del Popolo chanting “resign, resign.”
Donald Trump says many things, often contradicting himself, one feels usually without being aware he has done. He has claimed on 23rd March that there was a deal to be done between the US and Iran. Tehran which obviously follows TruthSocial closely (while restricting the interwebs in Iran itself) have said this is ‘fake news’. On 26th March Trump claimed that Iran was ‘begging’ for a deal, which raises the question of who is actually doing the begging here..
Donald Trump’s image is all about being successful in business (quite the reverse as the record shows) and being a brilliant deal maker.
Indeed Donald Trump wrote the Art of the Deal, or rather he didn’t. It was in fact written by Tony Schwarz who suggested the idea so Trump could fulfil a contact he had signed. As Daniel Finkelstein noted in the Times (October 25), Trump couldn’t write a book, he didn’t even read them.
For Trump the art of the deal is about the process of doing the deal. How it works out is not so important. There’s always another deal to be done.
When Brewdog was sold to US outfit Tilray on March 2nd 484 workers were sacked on the spot, almost certainly illegally. Outstanding pay etc and statutory redundancy (for those with over two years service) is picked up by the Government.
In an even less good position are Brewdog’s creditors. Brewdog had debts of £553.8m when it was wound up. After the sale reports suggest there was a £480m hole in the accounts.
Brewdog’s banker HSBC had secured £85m of debt against the brewery so (I’m not expert in insolvency!) may well get some back.
Other unsecured creditors will get next to nothing. The media has already covered the impact on the Equity for Punks ‘shareholders’ but this will also impact companies that supplied materials to Brewdog- malt and hops for example- and brewers whose beers appeared as guests in Brewdog bars. There may well be a wider economic impact on parts of the UK ‘craft beer’ economy.
In fact unremarked in media reports the figures do raise the issue of whether Brewdog is currently really a going concern at all.
English & Welsh cricket. Key & McCullum stay. The old is dying but the new cannot be born
The quote of course is from the Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci who died in a fascist jail. The next line refers to monsters or morbid symptoms but let’s not get carried away. It’s only a game we’re talking about.
The upshot of the review into England’s dire Winter Ashes series is that while it would apparently have been ‘easy’ to sack Rob Key and Brendan McCullum the difficult thing has been done and they have been left to clear up their own mess.
Most of the actions to be taken are already well known. There will be some actual coaches employed for things like fielding. Staying out after midnight at least during matches is not encouraged. Drinking is apparently more difficult to sort out. I like a beer of course but for top class professional athletes in 2026 it is perhaps something that requires at best moderation.
There remain therefore issues
Is McCullum going to play less golf and focus on more bowling and batting practice.
Is McCullum going to stop picking players on a hunch after he has watched a video and actually engage with the Counties who are the bedrock of the game
How is the Ben Stokes situation going to be managed. A brilliant cricketer and often a great captain, when the team under performs too much often falls on Stokes and that leads to injuries and time out of the game. He like us all is not getting any younger.
Until recent times English cricket was regarded as and often was the most conservative of institutions and recent events have left it looking rather like its being run like the Conservative Party is.
Leaving Gramsci and looking to Lenin: What is to be done? Burning questions….
