Kmflett's Blog

Beard Liberation Front

24th January

contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Beard Friendly Pub of the Year marks success with badge to raise money for Trussell Trust

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that it is pleased that the Bumble Inn in Peterborough, which won the annual vote for Beard Friendly Pub of the Year, has marked its victory by producing a badge to mark the victory.

The badge will be sold for a minimum £1 donation to the Trussell Trust which provides Food Banks across the UK.

It was the initiative of Peterborough resident and beard wearer Toby Wood and given the nod by both the pub itself and the Beard Liberation Front

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, This is an excellent initiative by the Bumble Inn and Toby Wood and fully in keeping with its status as the Beard Friendly Pub of the Year

Details of the Beard Friendly Pub of the Year

Britain’s pubs more beard friendly then ever as Peterborough Micro-Pub voted Beard Friendly Pub of the Year

Thanks to all those who have signed the petition to Save the Bull Ambridge & stop the name change. It would be the beginning of the end for the pub.

Burns Night is a big one at The Bull and we aim to be there to publicise the petition and gather support. If we can get 250 signatures by then it will underline that we are serious about this

https://www.change.org/p/residents-of-ambridge-and-listeners-to-the-archers-save-the-bull-ambridge?recruiter=45817997&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&recruited_by_id=c320f9e0-7d09-0130-ecdf-00221964dac8

Beard Liberation Front

press release 21st January

Contact Keith flett @keithbeard.bsky.social

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THE CUT THROAT RAZOR MEANT ROBBIE BURNS WAS AT CUTTING EDGE OF DESIGNER FACIAL HAIR

Burns cut throat razor

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that portraits of Robbie Burns as clean shaven represent an idealised perspective of what he was likely to have looked like on a day to day basis.

By the late eighteenth-century the cut-throat razor was widely available and hence regular shaving was a possibility. Indeed some of Burns shaving implements have survived.

In his job as an Exciseman and in order to secure patronage for his poetry Burns would almost certainly have had to appear as respectably clean shaven. However a lack of light and the complexity of using a cut throat razor to shave means that Burns probably did not do so on a particularly regular basis.

Rather the poet was much more likely to have worn stubble and from time to time a beard.

In this, although for strictly practical rather than reasons of fashion, Burns resembled nothing less than the facial hair trends of the designer beards of 2025

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said we think that Burns may well have facial hair from time to time but he did not feel able to come out as fully hirsute in late eighteenth century Scottish society. Nowadays his occasionally hirsute or semi-bearded appearance would be the height of male facial fashion.

London Socialist Historians

Media Release

23^rd January

Contact Dr Keith Flett 07803 167266

Socialist Historians say Durham Tory MP who wants to attend Miners Gala is ‘ignorant’ of labour history

2008 Durham Miners Gala

The London Socialist Historians Group that organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, London University School of Advanced Studies, has said that the Tory MP who wants to attend the 2020 Durham Miners Gala in July appears ignorant of labour history.

Richard Holden beat Labour’s Laura Pidcock by a narrow margin in the December 2019 Election for the North-West Durham seat. Labour’s Mary Foy retained the Durham City seat.

The Durham Miners Gala was first held in 1871 and has continued as an annual community and labour movement festival despite the demise of coal mining in the area after Mrs Thatcher’s Government forced the wholesale closure of mines following the 1984/5 strike.

Historic Banners on the annual parade through Durham City feature historic figures of the left from the first Labour leader Keir Hardie on and some religious imagery reflecting the mix of Marx and Methodism common in Victorian working-class communities.

The Liberal Party might historically have some justification for attending since they mainly held the seat after 1871 to the end of the First World War. The first Labour MP for the comparable seat as it then was, was elected in 1918 reflecting the transition of mining trade unionism from ‘Lib-Lab’ to independent labour politics.

LSHG Convenor Dr Keith Flett said, once upon a time the Tories claimed to be the party that upheld British traditions. They should respect this one and stay away, at least in a representative capacity. In the meantime Mr Holden who does not appear to have studied any labour history might usefully do so.

France, pensions, protests and when I’m 64

I’m 64 at the end of October 2020 and I have no immediate plans to retire.

Perhaps that is just as well since after 10 years of Tory (& LibDem) Government my State Pension Age is now 66. Fortunately I do have a workplace final salary pension.

The Beatles wrote a song about it, but the matter has been placed in perspective by the year long ‘yellow vest’ protests in France and the more recent and continuing partial General Strike.

A central feature of the protests was around Government plans to raise the retirement age to 64. That has now been withdrawn and the age is currently set at 62.

The matter remains little reported in the UK but an extract from an FT report is below. Why the matter is so little reported is a puzzle given how keen a significant number to remain in the EU and argue that it is the best economic and political arrangement available, while an equally significant number think its not as good. The story perhaps works better for leavers than remainers (perhaps) but given the absolute fixation the media have had with the EU the lack (not btw complete absence, the BBC does cover it occasionally for example and the left media obviously do) of reports is interesting

There is food for thought about how to protect things like pension rights here anyway

 Victor Mallet in Paris JANUARY 11 2020 (Financial Times)

Edouard Philippe, France’s prime minister, has withdrawn a plan to raise the official retirement age from 62 to 64 in a bid to break a deadlock with trade unions over pension reform that has crippled public transport in Paris for more than a month.

 “I am ready to withdraw from the draft law the short-term measure I proposed that consisted of moving progressively after 2022 towards a balanced retirement age of 64 in 2027,” Mr Philippe wrote in a letter to unions.

He nevertheless insisted that a conference on financing France’s costly pensions system — a negotiation proposed by the CFDT — would have to agree before the end of April on a way to eliminate the deficit in the pension system by 2027. Failing that, the government would take the necessary measures by decree to ensure the system was in balance by then, he said.

Petition to Save The Bull. Campaign Update: All to The Bull for Burns Night

The Ambridge Socialist

22nd January

Following the controversial decision to change the name of The Bull and potentially its entire character, on which no regular user was consulted, we have set up a petition to demand the name change be stopped and the community- people who actually drink in The Bull- are consulted fully about any future changes.

The petition is getting more signatures each day but a key task is ahead. We must not let Splitter Snell get the upper hand. If you are in the area make every effort to attend Burns Night at The Bull and make sure you tell everyone you are going because its *The Bull* & not some name made up by a consultant

Sign the real petition here. Please encourage others to do so. The Bull is one of the most iconic and well known of British pubs and its future must be protected

https://www.change.org/p/residents-of-ambridge-and-listeners-to-the-archers-save-the-bull-ambridge?recruiter=45817997&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=share_petition&recruited_by_id=c320f9e0-7d09-0130-ecdf-00221964dac8

Beard Liberation Front

22nd January

contact: Keith Flett 07803 167266

The late Terry Jones and the late Graham Chapman in Life of Brian

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has paid tribute to Terry Jones who has sadly died aged 77.

While Jones was mostly clean shaven in later life, during his Monty Python years he played some of the most iconic beard wearing roles in recent British TV and cinema.

He had a particularly dramatic beard in Life of Brian for example.

Jones was also associated with other activities related to progressive beard wearing including the Penrhos craft brewery in the 1970s. Former Editor of Tribune Mark Seddon tweeted that he had made financial contributions to the magazine.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, We have lost one of the great comic beard wearers in Terry Jones, a man that allowed people to laugh at hirsuteness in a positive and progressive way

Verdant Putty launch: results & prospects for craft beer in 2020

I was at a launch of the latest can release of Verdant Putty (8% double ipa) at their joint taproom, the Experiment, in Hackney early in January. I wasn’t particularly there for that purpose then but it was rammed mostly with men of a certain age and facial hair style (and that was just me).

Putty is current beer Zeitgeist, in the way that Cloudwater DIPAs once were (as Toby Wood noted on twitter) but rightly so. It is an excellent beer.

The keg launch saw me at the independent central Cardiff bar (Bubs) las Thursday. It is a sizeable venue so it wasn’t entirely rammed but I note they got through a keg in a few hours and another together with their can stock the following day. That’s impressive given that its not cheap and while to my taste not to everyones. Moreover most of those imbibing did not appear to be the ‘usual’ craft beer adherents and only a few had beards.

The point is that a beer like Putty finds keen drinkers across the country not just in locations where the usual suspects gather. That underlines something about the reach of craft beer in 2020.

I thought the beer was highly drinkable. Murky of course and juicy. You could go further in respect of taste description but those are the keys.

The zeitgeist will move on but I’m sure Verdant will continue to make great beer (which I expect I’ll sample mainly at the Experiment).

Whether such a beer can get beyond niche, albeit a popular one, and whether it should are perhaps a couple of the craft beer questions for 2020, but the launch of the latest iteration of Putty in the middle of Dry January suggests its possible…

Petition to Save The Bull. Campaign Update. Burns Night Crisis underlines Petitioning Power

The Ambridge Socialist

21st January

Following the controversial decision to change the name of The Bull and potentially its entire character, on which no regular user was consulted, we have set up a petition to demand the name change be stopped and the community- people who actually drink in The Bull- are consulted fully about any future changes.

The good news is the petition is working

Jolene is pressing Lillian to reconsider changing the name of The Bull. While the official reason is the alternative Grundy’s Burns Night event, backed by splitter Snell, as Bellamy noted ‘Snell hardly ever comes in The Bull’. Rather it is the pressure of the Ambridge Socialist petition that is causing doubts about the re-naming. Onward to victory. Thanks for signing and do encourage others to do so.

Sign the real petition here. Please encourage others to do so. The Bull is one of the most iconic and well known of British pubs and its future must be protected

https://www.change.org/p/residents-of-ambridge-and-listeners-to-the-archers-save-the-bull-ambridge?recruiter=45817997&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=share_petition&recruited_by_id=c320f9e0-7d09-0130-ecdf-00221964dac8

Beard Liberation Front

21st January

contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Conor McGregor dropped from Beard of Winter 2020 vote after pro-Trump comments

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said Connor McGregor has been dropped from the Beard of Winter 2020 after making pro-Donald Trump comments.

McGregor claimed that Trump has been a ‘phenomenal President’:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jan/21/conor-mcgregor-donald-trump-praise-ufc-mma?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium=&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1579622507

He joined the shortlist after his victory over Donald Cerrone in less than a minute in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

The BLF Beard of Winter panel reviewed whether McGregor should join the poll after the matter was raised on social media by fellow beard wearer Michael Rosen. It is accepted that Mr Rosen raised the matter in good faith and was unaware of McGregor’s sympathies for Trump

The vote for Beard of Winter is now open and will close at midday on 27th January with the result announced on 28th January

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, Donald Trump is one of the world’s leading beard haters and anyone supporting him is bringing the hirsute into disrepute. That includes Mr McGregor

Beard of Winter shortlist

Dominic Sibley, England cricketer

Michael Rosen, author & broadcaster

Guz Khan, comedian & actor

Paul Chowdhry, comedian & actor

Carrick McClean, beard campaigner

Mikel Arteta, football manager

Daniel Vane, brewer

Wayne Rooney, footballer

Prince Harry, ex-Royal

Justin Trudeau, politician

Nuno, football manager

Ben Bellamy, Beard Bard

Mark Wood, England cricketer