The perpetually clean shaven Allister Heath (Editor Sunday Telegraph) is not impressed with Nick Timothy MP’s beard in the New World random headline generator.
Nick Timothy has made Islamophobic comments about Muslim prayers in Trafalgar Square. Keir Starmer has called on Kemi Badenoch to sack him as a Shadow Minister. So far she hasn’t
Nick Timothy has been barred from the Parliamentary Beard of the Year contest for bringing the hirsute into disrepute
King Charles has hosted the President and First Lady of Nigeria for a banquet at Windsor Castle.
With Andrew Mountbatten Windsor out of the way it might be argued that these occasions are good for business, at least judging by the Nigeria supplement that fell out of my Financial Times today.
As ever however one place where there is never a cost of living crisis is a State Banquet. The menu is below.
There was also a special non alcoholic cocktail consisting of the Nigerian drink Zobo combined with English rose soda, hibiscus and ginger syrup. There was of course also plenty of wine and whisky.
Beard Liberation Front
18th March
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that Tory MP and Shadow Minister Nick Timothy has brought the hirsute into disrepute with his comments about a Muslim prayer gathering in Trafalgar Square.
The gathering in question was lawful and just one of many varied events that take place in Trafalgar Square. Timothy who has recently been defending football hooligans, claimed that the prayer gathering amounted to ‘domination’
The campaigners say that in reality Timothy was expressing a deep seated Islamophobia quite contrary to the traditions of the Beard Liberation Front which believes in religious toleration, as part of a society that respects how people dress, appear and think.
Nick Timothy, a former advisor to Theresa May, is one of the best known Parliamentary Beard Wearers and has featured in Parliamentary Beard of the Year votes. He will now be excluded from any future votes for the foreseeable future.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, we don’t often find ourselves agreeing with the perpetually clean shaven Keir Starmer but he is right to call on Kemi Badenoch to sack Nick Timothy as a Shadow Minister.
In 2013 Zack Polanski told a reported from the S*n that he believed hypnosis could increase a woman’s breast size. Clearly it can’t but 13 years ago Polanski was not the leader of the Green Party or even its leader. However the story has been covered by the Mail and the BBC in the last week.
Meanwhile the Guardian has researched short Cameo videos that Nigel Farage makes upon request and for payment. In fact he has made hundreds of thousands of pounds over several years doing so. The Guardian investigation found that in some videos Farage appeared to encourage far right and fascist sentiment and echo racist views on immigration.
Farage is still making the Cameos now but aside from the Guardian no other mainstream media outlet has as yet covered it.
In a sense its hardly news that the media is biased against left of centre politicians. Studies have been underlining it since the 1970s. Perhaps of more interest is that it continues and reasserts itself in each new generation of journalists. Those who vilified Tony Benn in the 1970s are like the man himself mostly gone, but their 2020s successors are still at it.
From John Major to Ed Miliband: the politics of warm beer
Ed Miliband has opined that pubs could save on energy bills by serving beer warmer and turning off fridges overnight. Understandably this has not gone down well in the pub trade which has been implementing ways to cut bills for quite a while.
It does however return us to the question which occasionally arises about how warm or otherwise should be
It is important to recall that the defining perspective on the matter comes from John Major:
“Fifty years on from now, Britain will still be the country of long shadows on cricket grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs”.
This was from a speech made in 1993 and my research suggests possibly not written by Major.
In case you can’t recall Major was a Tory Prime Minister responsible for privatising the railways. He was depicted by the cartoonist Steve Bell has someone who wore his underpants outside of his trousers and enjoyed eating green peas.
Major’s words were designed of course to appeal to an idyllic English tradition.
The beer in question, invariably cask, was meant to be at 12C, that is tepid. More or less the same temperature as a well stewed cup of tea. Historically that is about right give or take a degree but there has I think been a drift to cooler beer commensurate with the rise of technology that can make this happen.
Certainly the expectation is that lager will be served much cooler than 12C (and Miliband is a lager drinker) but serving very cold Guinness is not traditional. Stouts and Porters generally were not served chilled and even now would (or should) be likely a bit warmer than bitter.
So perhaps the way forward for Ed Miliband’s warmer beer strategy is for pubs to serve more imperial stout.
Surprisingly this is not a New World Allister Heath (editor Sunday Telegraph) generated headline.
Leaving aside Trump’s legal action against the BBC & the fact that Trump is currently in orbit, it might be questioned why he would bother what the BBC had to say on his Iran War debacle. Perhaps because of the state of the US media the BBC is one of the top news sites in, er, the US….
The Times Obituary of Jurgen Habermas who has died at 95 is notable for several reason.
Habermas over the decades had a number of pieces in New Left Review and was the leading figure in the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, associated with Adorno, Marcuse and others. Normally The Times adds a line or two of snark to figures of the left but it doesn’t do that here.
Its view that Habermas stands comparison with Hegel seems questionable if only because it might be queried how such a comparison could be made. It is also noticeably silent about Habermas’s enthusiasm for the Israeli Government, although that is not an issue for The Times
Habermas is known for a range of theories and expositions some of which are covered in the obit. His work on the eighteenth century public sphere, where democratic discussion, as he saw it flourished, and its absence in recent times remains in my view of interest.
E P Thompson who saw the Frankfurt School as one with a broader Western Marxism and even Althusser was critical.
He noted in the Poverty of Theory an emphasis on ideological domination ‘which destroys every space for the initiative or creativity of the mass of the people- a domination from which only the enlightened minority of intellectuals can struggle free.
Thompson argued this led to the ‘intellectual’s disinclination to extend himself in practical political activity’
Habermas did make political interventions mostly until recent times on the left but was not associated with political organisation
Beard Liberation Front
17th March
Contact Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social
Maynooth academic Peter Coles shaves Colum Eastwood to win 2026 Beard of Ireland vote
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that competition for the Irish Beard of the Year 2026 bristled and an on-line vote saw Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Ireland, Maynooth, Peter Coles reclaim the title he first won in 2020
Professor Coles won 49.2% of the vote with Colum Eastwood second on 20.3%
The 2017 winner was politician Colum Eastwood who bearded broadcaster William Crawley for the annual Award.
In 2018 the DUP’s Lee Reynolds shaved writer Dominic O’Reilly for the honour with Colum Eastwood in a steady third place.
In 2019 Lee Reynolds retained the title
The 2020 winner was Maynooth academic Peter Coles
In 2021 Aodhan Connolly shaved opponents to win the coveted title and he retained it in 2022 2023 and 2024
In 2025 politician Gerry Carroll won the vote
The BLF says that while traditionally a land of predominantly clean-shaven cultures, Ireland has in recent times become something of a centre for stylish and trendy beards.
Contenders for the title in 2026 include a diverse range of the hirsute- an academic, political activist, a broadcaster, a TV pundit
The campaigners say the poll is specifically about the impact the beard of an individual has made in Irish public life and no other factor.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, we congratulate Peter Coles on regaining the title he first won in 2020. Clearly his beard has staying power.
Beard of Ireland 2026 Shortlist
William Crawley, broadcaster
Roy Keane, football pundit
Peter Coles, academic, Maynooth
Colum Eastwood, politician
When Tilray the US medical cannabis outfit brought Brewdog on March 2nd, Lords Cricket Ground exercised a clause in their contract that allowed them to exit if there was a change of ownership.
That left Lords with a tight timescale to find a new beer provider for the 20,000 plus seater cricket ground with the first County Championship games due to start at Easter.
Thanks to George Mann @sfgmann.bsky.social (who it appears may still have to suffer Brewdog at the London Stadium) I note from a report in the Daily Mail that the contract for a new beer provider is now out. I think we may take it, unsurprisingly, that the Mail has a contact at Lords…
The three named contenders are Carlsberg-Britvic, Heineken and Hawkstone.
Of three Carlsberg do brew cask beer (although they seem to have little interest in doing so) and it might well be that is successful bid would see Lords revert to selling Marstons. Heineken are not really in the beer market except they do own Beavertown, whose brewery at Ponders End could no doubt easily supply Lords. Even in their independent days Beavertown didn’t do cask although their long gone smoked porter Smog Rocket did occasionally make unannounced cask appearances.
Hawkstone is also a lager brewery although they do produce a 3.8% IPA. They are mainly known due to their link with Jeremy Clarkson but fortunately he has absolutely nothing to do with the brewing. In fact they produce decent beers.
After Brewdog, Lords might want to consider the issue of reputational damage. Both Carlsberg-Britvic and Heineken do this as BAU, closing breweries, reducing the strength of beer, hiking prices etc etc. However with Corporate Big Beer its factored in, no one expects any different.
The issue with Hawkstone is not the brewery but Clarkson and his speak first think afterwards policy. The first ever women’s Test Match at Lords is scheduled for the summer. Lords would be well advised to hire a minder for Clarkson for this period.
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