Kmflett's Blog

I spent a good deal of Tuesday at the opening sessions of the Great British Beer Festival organised by the Campaign for Real Ale at Olympia.

Its a vast and very well organised event but that doesnt mean it can just go on in perpetuity. Times change.

I was at the Covent Garden Beer Exhibition in 1975 as a young beard wearer delighted to try beers that you didnt see in London then like Ruddles County (at OG 1050) Courage Directors and so on. I also recall eating Stilton cheese and bread, again, not something much seen in London then.

Ive been at every GBBF (bar one) since and aged 62 I have memories. My late father used to attend and my partner Megan attended first with me in 1995.

But it cant just be about past glories. The pressure for the GBBF to change from presenting lots of perfectly drinkable but rather dull cask beers of a golden or brown type has been there for a bit. The transformation project which aimed to bring CAMRA firmly into 2019 rather than 1975 has done its work.

This year there is an extensive keykeg offering in the smaller hall. There are bars from Tiny Rebel, Siren and Magic Rock and a separate bar adjacent which has a further range of keykeg offerings.

There are also lots of empty keykegs around some forming a barrier around seating areas. CAMRA members some even older than me were to be seen prodding them and I heard one or two muttering ‘its not real ale’. Perhaps just try drinking some and worry less about the doctrinal issues…

Cask too I’m pleased to report has kept up and there are plenty of excellent, what might be described as, modern cask beer styles on offer. I enjoyed a Belgian Pale from Anspach and Hobday and a DDH pale from Beatznik Republic for example.

Myself and a few other grumpy old gits aside it also seemed younger and more gender balanced. Work in progress but it is occurring.

The very best bit of the visit? The marmite pickled egg from the Purely Pickled Egg stand. It was superbly marmitey….

Anyway hats off to the organisers and its best to keep in mind that while things have changed paying a visit to Olympia underlines that its worth keeping on with it.

Once Again on the Assize of Ale & the appropriate price for beer

CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival starts at Olympia on Tuesday 6^th August.

Be prepared for a significant amount of sneering but once you’ve got past that reflect that it will be by far the largest beer festival held in the UK this year and in 2019 it is at last starting to embrace the world of keykeg and beer that may not be, for good rather than bad reasons, entirely clear.

A discussion which sparks up quite regularly will no doubt go on about what the appropriate price for a glass of beer should be.

Below is an edited piece that appeared on the Culture Matters site which argues that some form of an Assize of Ale might be a democratic way forward:

The price of beer has been a significant issue in the history of Britain. Until the beginning of the 1800s the cost of a pint of beer was set by law and governed by an Assize of Ale. The law took account of the price of raw materials such as malted barley and allowed different prices for beers of superior quality. It was enforced by ale tasters or ale conners who had the difficult task of tasting beer from brewers. They checked particularly for beer quality and price.

Brewers who transgressed were subject to fines and ultimately if probably rather rarely to physical punishment. The holding of Assizes of Ale was patchy but the principle was underwritten by the idea of what E.P. Thompson called a moral economy. Beer was a staple of the poor person’s diet in pre-industrial England along with bread, which was also subject to price control by an Assize. Water was not safe to drink and lower strength or table beer was the standard liquid consumption.

In the two hundred years or so since the rise of market capitalism and the decline of the Assize of Ale the price of a pint has continued to be a key issue. The State has occasionally intervened directly but more frequently consumer pressure was the important thing. Beer in the public bar, frequented by working people, was less expensive and working men’s clubs (women were allowed in at weekends as guests) also sold beer cheaply.

After World War One the Government did set up a State brewery in Carlisle with associated pubs that sold beer at a regulated price and strength. It was eventually sold to Theakstons. It was though a successful experiment that might be a template for a time when the untrammelled market does not rule all.

Obviously for those on a limited income, pensioners, those in low paid jobs or unemployed a cheap pint is important. The alternative is to suggest that only the well to do should drink beer. This important point is far too easily overlooked. Wetherspoons can be criticised for squeezing brewers profit margins to the bone but if it means someone with little money can afford a pint it is not wholly bad, at least for the drinker.

In short the price of a pint is a matter of as much complexity as it was when the Assizes of Ale sat in judgement on such matters. An attempt to impose a moral economy of beer as opposed to a political economy where profit dominates all is surely in tune with the mood of the times. Profit should not dominate the quality of the beer produced and the price people have to pay for it, even if we accept that if brewers don’t make money they certainly won’t produce beer until we manage to move to a socialist economic order.

With the Assize of Ale if the quality and price of beer were not to the standard expected, remedial action followed. It was a way of controlling the market that took account of the market but didn’t allow brewers to take advantage of it or drinkers to suffer because of it. Putting people before profit when it comes to a staple like beer is as important to the daily lives of many as making sure companies pay their taxes.

Perhaps it is time to bring back the Assize of Ale.

Beard Liberation Front

Media Release

6th August

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

London Beard Week 2019 marks the growth of hirsute London

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that London Beard Week which begins on 6th August is set to mark the continued growth of beards in the Capital.

The campaigners that aside from the many more beards seen in workplaces, shops and pubs, there is also a growth of specialist beard care shops and hairdressers offering beard trims and treatments.

London Beard Week is a celebration of London, now one of the most beard friendly Capital cities in the world, and of London’s great hirsute heritage from Charles Dickens to Karl Marx through to modern day beards such as England football captain Harry Kane.

The week also coincides with CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival at Olympia as the campaigners say that a rise in the interest of craft beer in London, there are now over 100 breweries within the M25, has also helped the massive increase in beard wearing.

As part of the week the BLF is running a poll to find the most impactful and impressive figure with a beard who is associated with London.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, London is striking a decisive blow against pogonophobia, the irrational dislike of facial hair. It’s now respectable to wear a beard in London even in the previously clean-shaven City and it’s also becoming for some a profitable business opportunity

London Beard Week poll to find London’s Best Ever Beard. 

Sigmund Freud, d Hampstead

Darcus Howe, anti-racist campaigner

Bernie Grant, Tottenham MP

Charles Dickens, author

Karl Marx, philosopher and activist

WG Grace, cricketer d Mottingham

Michael Rosen, broadcaster

William Morris, socialist & designer

Harry Kane, footballer b Walthamstow

William Cuffay, Leader of London Chartism

Keir Hardie, London Labour MP

Richard Thompson, singer & composer

Charles Darwin, naturalist, buried Westminster Abbey

Jeremy Corbyn, London Labour MP

The Times (Editorial 3^rd August) has opined that Peterloo has ‘no wider historical significance’ as events to mark the 200^th anniversary of the massacre on 16^th August are held.

One possible reason why The Times is so keen to forget about Peterloo could be the figure or William Hulton (1787-1864), the Magistrate who gave the order to send the Yeomanry into the crowd on that August day.

On the 150^th anniversary of Peterloo in 1969 Robert Walmsley published Peterloo: the case reopened. The book was largely a defence of the role of Hulton.

The anonymous review in the Times Literary Supplement (as when the custom) concluded by noting that in 1832 as a consequence of the Reform Act, itself a result of Peterloo in 1819, the Tories lost the new constituency of South Lancashire to the Whigs.

William Hulton was one of those who met in a beer house to form the South Lancashire Conservative Association dedicated to defending, like the name of the family horse, Church and King.

The Conservatives have never apologised for Peterloo and one senses 200 years on that the Times remains very twitchy about the matter

Beard Liberation Front

Press release August 5th contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Beard of the Ashes 2019 poll launches with some good news for England

The Beard Liberation Front has said that the Beard of the 2019 Ashes is on-line after an initial assessment of the teams at Edgbaston.

While England haven’t bearded the Australians at Edgbaston there is some good news as England players are currently shaving the Aussies for the Beard of the Ashes title

The campaigners say that things have moved on significantly since the last Home Beard of the Ashes poll in 2015.

Then former England captain Sir Alastair Cook and fast bowler Mark Wood tied for the coveted accolade of Beard of the Ashes 2015.

The highest ranked Australian player in 2015 was Nathan Lyon. His beard while adequate was inconsistent in terms of impact and delivery over the Five Match series.

In general the Australian team in 2015 made the serious error of becoming more clean shaven with each match, with David Warner shaving his moustache before the Oval game.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, unlike in 2015 Australia are now at the Beard of the Ashes poll in 2019 with batsmen David Warner and Matthew Wade contenders while neither of the two England winners in 2015 will feature in 2019

The poll is open now and the winner will be announced on the Sunday of the final Oval Test in September

Beard of the Ashes 2019

Ben Stokes, England

David Warner, Australia

Rory Burns, England

Matthew Wade, Australia

Jonny Bairstow, England

Moeen Ali, England

What we did on our holidays: the August Bank Holiday before and after 1965

The August Bank Holiday was set as the first Monday of the month by the 1871 Bank Holidays Act and only changed for an experimental period to the last Monday in 1965. The change was made permanent in 1971 in the Banking and Financial Dealings Act but does not apply to Scotland. It was primarily a result of pressure from the holiday industry who felt that a later holiday would extend the season.

Before legislation in 1938 Bank Holidays were the only official paid holidays available to workers and were seen as a significant advance in working class leisure time.

The August Bank Holiday was the most popular of those agreed by the 1871 Act precisely because it was in summer and the weather was likely to be better for a trip out than the Easter holiday.

Railway companies ran excursions and extra trains to seaside destinations.

The nature of holidays, although still strongly influenced by school terms, has changed considerably in the last 40 years with short breaks at home and abroad more popular.

However the weather and certainly the available sunlight hours are potentially better earlier in August.

Recent discussion of bank holidays has focused on whether the UK should have more, if May Day should be maintained and if there should be an autumn bank holiday. Yet there is something of an historical case now for moving the August Bank Holiday in England and Wales back to its original early August date.

The nature of work and of holidays has changed considerably since 1971 and I suspect that while the period around the current Bank Holiday remains a popular time to take a break, peak holiday time remains in the two weeks after schools break up (in many areas) in late July.

The Debate about the August Bank Holiday (House of Commons March 1964)

In March 1964 Edward Heath, Tory Secretary of State for Industry proposed a temporary change to the date of the August Bank Holiday in England and Wales (not Scotland) from the first Monday of the month to the last.

The change was made permanent in 1971.

Ray Gunter Labour spokesman in response to Heath revealed some of the underlying reasons for the change. There had clearly been pressure both from the TUC and industry to change the focus of holidays from being the first two weeks of August. Presumably the idea was to extend the holiday season to the benefit of the leisure industry (itself relatively young at this point) and also allow for cheaper holidays outside of the early August period

The Holidays With Pay Act (1938) had allowed for one week’s paid holiday by law in some areas of industry. After the war the holiday issue became the subject of political discussion. The responsible Labour Minister Harold Wilson rejected plans for a new seaside holiday town. However a confidential TUC report argued that the reason why there was so much focus on the early August period for holidays was that the statutory week could become ten days with the addition of the Bank Holiday. It felt that the staggering of holidays across July to September was preferable.

Hansard 4^th March 1964: The August Bank Holiday

Mr. Gunter

Is the Minister aware that industry, in particular, will welcome his announcement? I am very glad that he is catching up with events, because it is more than a decade since the Trades Union Congress asked the Government to consider this very question.

The alteration in the date of August Bank Holiday will not of itself alter the habits of industry. Quite a section of industry, as the right hon. Gentleman knows, is already conditioned to regarding the first fortnight in August as the most desirable time for its holidays.

The Secretary of State said that the Minister of Labour will continue to explore the possibilities of spreading the ​ holiday season. What consultations have already taken place, and what form will future consultations take, to persuade industry to break, to a great extent at least, from its idea that August is the only month possible?

Mr. Heath (Secretary of State for Industry)

There were consultations through the National Joint Advisory Committee, with the Regional Boards for Industry, and with the Trades Union Congress. I think that my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour will wish to use all the channels open to him in continuing these discussions.

The Ambridge Socialist

Reporting on the class struggle in Borsetshire

4^th August

The Grundys are still here to stay, despite Thomas Hardy

The BBC’s reports from Ambridge have focused more or less relentlessly on the struggle that Emma and Ed have had to find the money for the mortgage on their new house after Ed lost his job at Home Farm.

It is storyline with strong echoes of Thomas Hardy.

Emma has sought loans and financial help from a variety of bourgeois figures in the village but unsurprisingly has received an unsympathetic hearing and finally the whole thing has ended in much the same way as Boris Johnson’s Premiership will

What you wont hear about the Village Fete

The Ambridge Socialist has been prepared to engage with the New Village Fete and will be organising a throw rotten fruit at ‘Boris Johnson’ stall this year. The part of Johnson will be played by Tom Archer.

Johnson explains the future of agriculture

Prime Minister Johnson explained the advantages of Brexit to the farming community of Borsetshire earlier in the week when he visited Wales.

Borsetshire is of course in England but it is adjacent (note to pedants, not immediately adjacent)to areas of Wales which the Guardian (30th July) described as having ten times more sheep than people.

It is understood that Johnson gave Ambridge a swerve to avoid Johnson Out protests by the Ambridge Socialist but it is likely that Brexiteers such as Brian Aldridge and Adam Macey made the short journey to listen to what the Prime Minister had to say. Johnson did not canvass Ambridge during his recent Tory leadership campaign

According to the BBC Johnson told farmers: Once we leave the EU on 31 October, we will have a historic opportunity to introduce new schemes to support farming – and we will make sure that farmers get a better deal.”

It is unclear however how Johnson plans to replace the £300million of EU money received by Welsh farmers if a No Deal Brexit, his preferred option, occurs. A knock effect to adjacent Borsetshire would be certain.

Ambridge Socialist Editor Keith Flett said, ‘Johnson Out, General Election now, kick the Tories out of Borsetshire’

In Other News

Jazzer has spoken to Knacker Burns about Jayston, As soon as he’s sorted out the bunting case he’ll be on to the matter

London Socialist Historians Group

3^rd August

Media Release

Contact: Dr Keith Flett 07803 167266 Twitter @LSHGOfficial. Website: http://londonsocialisthistorians.blogspot.co.uk/

Socialist Historians say critical Times Editorial underlines why its important to remember Peterloo

The London Socialist Historians Group which organises the socialist history seminar at the Institute of Historical Research as the University of London (currently suspended in support of an IWGB boycott over outsourcing) has said that a Times Editorial (3^rd August0 critical of events to mark the 200^th anniversary of Peterloo underlines precisely why they are so important.

The Times Editorial rightly notes that one of the most important original reports of the events in Manchester on Monday 16^th August 1819 was by the paper’s own reporter John Tyas.

The historians say it is a pity that the paper sees fits to undermine its own heritage with such an Editorial.

The paper is critical of a BBC programme presented by Guardian Editor Katharine Viner on the events of Peterloo but fails to mention that the paper was founded directly as a result of the Massacre

The Times also criticises one of the most significant and influential history books of the post-1945 era, E.P Thompson’s Making of the English Working Class as ‘Marxist’. In reality it is serious piece of sustained historical research which is certainly not beyond criticism. However to describe it as ‘thrown together’ without any evidence for the statement is unwarranted.

LSHG Convenor Dr Keith Flett said, the reality is that 200 years on the Peterloo Massacre remains controversial history. In 1969 the ruling Conservatives on Manchester Council declined to mark the 150^th anniversary at all and it appears The Times would like the 200^th to be the same. The BBC deserves praise for properly marking this important moment in British history, as does the Guardian for playing its part. The Times has succeeded only in undermining its own history

The Times Editorial

The Murdoch Times rubbishes the paper’s own creditable history on Peterloo

The Murdoch Times rubbishes the paper’s own creditable history on Peterloo

An Editorial in the Murdoch Times (3^rd August) underlines exactly why 200 years on Peterloo, which took place on Monday 19^th August 1819 in Manchester, remains controversial.

The Times reporter on the day, Tyas, as the Editorial notes, produced one of the best accounts of the Massacre.

200 years on the paper complains that the BBC is marking an event that was central to the development of Parliamentary Democracy in Britain and in doing so takes an entirely unwarranted pop at one of the most significant books on British history since 1945, E P Thompson’s Making of the English Working Class.

Apparently remembering Peterloo is ‘Marxist’ something that comes one strongly suspects from an Editorial writer who also thinks Parliamentary Suffrage is a bit Marxist as it sometimes delivers Labour Governments

Given that I expect many readers of this don’t feel they wish to give any money to something owned by Murdoch the Editorial is reproduced below.

__________________________________________________________________________________

The Times view on the BBC’s commemoration of the Peterloo Massacre: Horrible Histories

This was a shameful act but the broadcaster’s treatment of it is modern left-wing mythology

“Those who cannot remember the past,” wrote the philosopher George Santayana, “are condemned to repeat it.” He might have added that those who embellish it are unlikely to offer a reliable guide to the future. The BBC invites this charge with protracted coverage this month of the 200th anniversary of the “Peterloo Massacre”, a tragic event of minor historical significance that happens to accord with a Marxist version of Britain’s past. This is not solemn remembrance but modern myth.

Some 60,000 people gathered at St Peter’s Field in Manchester on August 16, 1819, to call for parliamentary reform. Cavalry acting on the order of local magistrates moved against the crowds to, as they saw it, maintain order for fear of sedition. On the standard account, their charge with sabres left in its wake 11 dead and 400 wounded. Recent historians have estimated that, along with those who died later of their wounds, the fatalities in fact numbered 17 and the casualties more than 650. In ironic allusion to the military triumph at Waterloo four years earlier, “Peterloo” was the name given by the radical press to this horror.

The BBC is broadcasting no fewer than ten radio programmes on the massacre. These include a special Sunday Worship, a choir from West Yorkshire who “sing in solidarity with the victims of the Peterloo Massacre”, and a documentary by Katharine Viner, editor of The Guardian, titled The Massacre that Changed Britain.

The massacre was committed by a Manchester yeomanry woefully ill-prepared for policing a demonstration. This was a time before any police force had been established. Having been ordered to arrest a radical orator, Henry Hunt, they forced their way forward with the flats of their swords to disperse the crowds.

It was a shameful act. Contrary to the BBC’s demonology, however, it had no wider historical significance and did not “change Britain” beyond feeding a tendentious account by left-wing historians of Britain’s traditions of radical protest. The progenitor of this was the Marxist academic EP Thompson, whose book The Making of the English Working Class (1963) threw together wholly disconnected movements, from millenarian Protestant sects to Luddite croppers, and claimed they had been ignored by mainstream historians. Politicians such as Tony Benn and Jeremy Corbyn have since, with a ropey grasp of history, added further anachronisms to the mix, such as the Levellers and the Tolpuddle Martyrs.

The problem with these accounts is that the victims at Peterloo weren’t overlooked then and haven’t been ignored since. The reason that the BBC, along with historians and pundits, have accurate information on this atrocity is that The Times carried a 10,000-word first-hand account of it by our correspondent John Tyas, who was arrested along with Hunt. It’s because of Tyas that we know of the “hideous work” of the cavalry. Our accompanying leading article of August 19, 1819 bluntly asserted that no action of the crowd had been contrary to the law or in breach of the peace.

Successive reform acts and representation of the people acts eventually established universal suffrage for both sexes by 1928. It was accomplished without recourse to the revolution that governments had feared since 1789. For all the failings and sins in Britain’s past, an account that views an isolated outrage as a prism through which to interpret current politics is bad history.