Kmflett's Blog

England v West Indies, Cricket World Cup Final Saturday 23^rd June 1979. A world we have lost

I was reminded today by a union colleague of the cricket world cup final that took place at Lords 40 years ago on Saturday 23^rd June 1979.

It is a world we have lost.

At the time games were played over 60 overs a side not 50. England won the toss and put West Indies in. They scored what today would be regarded as a very modest 286 for 9 in their 60 overs with Viv Richards making 138 not out.

Mike Brearley and Geoff Boycott opened the batting for England. They put together a very decent opening stand of 129 runs. The problem was that it took them 38 overs to do it. They were still batting as if a one-day game was a Test match. By the time Brearley and Boycott were out in successive over the runs per over target was in double figures and England collapsed to 194 all out in 51 overs. Joel Garner took 5 for 38.

Such collapses and one-sided results are hardly unknown in one-day cricket 40 years on. The slow scoring rate of Brearley and Boycott does belong to another era. Commenting in the Observer on 24^th June Sir Len Hutton noted that Boycott had scored more quickly than Brearley. Then again Sir Len was a Yorkshireman so he might well say that.

Scorecard

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8039/scorecard/65063/england-vs-west-indies-final-prudential-world-cup-1979

The Sunday Times Rich List 2019: The Beerage

I don’t think the Sunday Times Rich List published on 12^th May would pass the test of robust and rigorous research. Its probably better described as a bit of journalistic fun that gets a good deal of media attention.

In 2019 there was a focus on donations to political parties from the wealthy (unsurprisingly none to Labour) and the gap it underlines between rich and poor in society.

I had a look through for members of the ‘Beerage’ (wealthy people associated with beer). I don’t reference below the several that have attained wealth through gin and whisky.

There aren’t that many but given my first para this isn’t hugely surprising. This isn’t an attempt to find out how many people have got seriously rich through beer. Rather it is a list of the seriously rich who are in the public eye who have got seriously rich through beer which is not quite the same thing.

This means that the list is idiosyncratic

Charlene De Carvalho-Heineken is at the top. She is 7^th on the rich list with a wealth of £12bn up from £11.1bn in 2018. So, er, cheers.

Next at 55 are Alejandro Santo Domingo and Lady Charlotte Wellesley.  The latter is a descendant of Queen Victoria which may interest Perry Anderson and Marxists reading this. The former however was instrumental in selling SAB Miller to ABInBev. He still has 1.7% holding which is worth £1.63bn and their overall wealth is valued at £2.835bn.

Others are well down the list

Brewdog’s Martin Dickie is worth £228m and is 529^th though the ST believe the current valuation of Brewdog is over the top. James Watt by contrast has £262m and is at 475 on the list

Tim Martin of Spoons is at 310 on the list and is worth £437m which is £11m down on 2018. Perhaps collecting tins on the bar then?

David McMullen and family, the Hertford brewers are at 694 and worth £173m which does beg the question why at least some other regional brewers don’t feature.

Meanwhile the Earl of Iveagh (Ned to you) and the Guinness Family are 152^nd on the list with a wealth of £973m

It appears from this that there is money in beer, brewing and pub ownership at least for some seriously wealthy individuals

The Ambridge Socialist

All the news of the class struggle in Borsetshire

12^th May

Brexart triumph for Russell Jones at Lower Loxley

The Ambridge Socialist has made no secret of our view that Call Me Russ, Russell Jones, is a fundamentally dodgy character. However his Brexart Exhibition at Lower Loxley was a triumph. Not only did it annoy leading Ambridge philistine Kenton, it raised through abstract art (strategically placed gaffer tape) the issue of borders and Brexit. From that might come an anti-racist message

The Church Art Club: People’s Vote?

Saint Shula has convened another meeting of the Church Art Club. Following a suggestion by the Professor that there should be a People’s Vote on what art work might appear suitable there is yet to be agreement on the form of the vote and the questions on the ballot…

Jazzer pushes for lack of severance pay

It appears that Jazzer has ditched thoughts of pursuing Tom for constructive dismissal (prudently). He is now arguing that he should be given severance pay after he was sacked as a pig man. Possibly but it depends what his contract, if he had one, says. The Professor is apparently his representative though what he knows about employment law is unclear

So. Farewell then Natasha??

It seems that Natasha has finally had enough of Tom and the stifling world that is the Archers Ambridge. She has managed to stay away for two weeks so far. Impressive

Is Russ still alive?

Each week we check to see if Call Me Russ has survived another week of living at Lower Loxley with Freddie back in situ:

Week 7: yes

In other news

Jolene has had her photograph taken

Forelock tugger Will has been exposed as a useless parent. In fact delete the last word….

A new batch of Borsetshire Blue has been produced…..

Tony Benn on the deaths of John Smith and Ralph Miliband, 25 years ago this month.

John Smith MP the Labour leader died 25 years ago on 12^th May 1994. I remember the occasion well because in this period, before I descended in trade union officialdom, and indeed before the interwebs, I was a manager, with staff to manage. One of my junior operatives appeared in my 17^th floor office at Vauxhall, which overlooked the Thames towards Parliament, to inform me that Smith had died. That’s how news got around in those days.

My connection to Ralph Miliband was closer as I had been taught by one of his colleagues, Peter Smith, when doing my first degree and was familiar with his work. I’m not sure how I found about his passing but quite possibly by reading the Guardian (I’ll check this in the British Library during the week). He died on 21st May 1994.

Tony Benn Diary 12^th May 1994

John Smith died today…. It is terribly sad. I have known him for twenty-five years, worked closely with him in the Department of Energy and have been with him in the Cabinet. I liked him very much. He performed a completely different function from Neil Kinnock- he healed the wounds of the Party

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Smith_(Labour_Party_leader)

Tony Benn Diary 21^st May 1994

Edward Miliband phoned to say his father Ralph had died this afternoon. It was terribly sad. He had a by-pass operation two years ago and hadn’t been well

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Miliband

Not Spurs last match of the season: Tottenham beer 12^th May

Its not Spurs last match of the season against Everton at 3pm on Sunday. The weather forecast is decent and its an ideal moment to enjoy the last live football in N17 for several months and catch up with good beer too.

Pressure Drop and Beavertown don’t open on Sundays but Redemption, the nearest tap to the ground, is open from 11-8 and selling pizza before the game.

The Beehive will no doubt have its usual range of Redemption beers and the weather should be ok for the large garden. Just up the road The High Cross has a cask of Redemption Hopspur on gravity for hardcore real ale types (and a good range of craft keg too)

If you are keen on good cheese with your beer the cheese shop in Holcombe market is opening specially on Sunday (very close to the Beehive) https://twitter.com/winenrind

Below is a guide to some (but not all) of the best beer places in the area. The Beavertown and Pressure Drop Taps are Saturday only (2-8).

Starting at Seven Sisters tube/rail a walk towards Tottenham Hale (down Broad Lane) will take you to Markfield Rd and Five Miles which sells beer from the on-site brewery Hale as well as a varying range of other craft beers. Opposite is Craving Coffee which obviously does coffee as well as great food (regular changing pop ups at the end of each week) and good beer

Go the other way from Seven Sisters up West Green Rd and you’ll find True Craft (the old West Green Tavern) that sells a range of craft beer and fresh pizza.

Alight at Tottenham Hale for the Beavertown and Pressure Drop taps, well known enough now I suspect to need no further comment from myself. Suffice to say there is great beer at both.

Alternatively continue up the High Rd to High Cross (5 minutes) and you’ll come to the High Cross pub. Situated in a former public convenience it sells a range of locally focused craft beer and great food. It’s not spacious but not as cramped as you might think. Well worth a visit.

A few minutes further up the High Rd towards Spurs is the Beehive, again a well-known Tottenham institution. It should have Redemption beers on cask on match days and has a large garden.

Further up still is the Bluecoats Pub that sells craft and some cask beer together with burgers. A decent size and within striking distance of Spurs now.

Up towards the ground and off a little bit left is another Tottenham institution the community owned Antwerp. Again expect Redemption on cask.

Nearest to the ground though (where Beavertown have a micro brewery on site) is the Redemption brewery taproom, open again on all match days. You can hear when Spurs score from here. Redemption really started the beer revolution in Tottenham. They’re still here, still brewing great beer and still very much worth checking out.

Just up West Road from Redemption are Bohem who brew excellent European style focused beers. They have said that the brewery tap will be open on every Spurs match day

Finally Brewheadz and Ora who are around halfway between the Spurs focused locations and the Seven Sisters/Tottenham Hale ones.

http://www.redemptionbrewing.co.uk/taproom/

Homepage

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https://twitter.com/highcrosslondon?lang=en

https://www.truecraftlondon.co.uk/

https://fivemiles.london/

https://www.cravingcoffee.co.uk/

https://www.beavertownbrewery.co.uk/tap-room/

https://pressuredropbrewing.co.uk/tottenham-taproom

https://www.antwerparms.co.uk/

Contact

Beard Liberation Front

11th May

Media Release contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

2019 Beard, Shorts & Sandals Season. The Big Issue: socks

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that the 2019 Beard, Shorts and Sandals is now underway

The BLF says that it has relaxed guidelines for the 2019 season and brought in a new framework governing types of footwear, length of shorts and the controversial issue of socks:

1] Shorts may be half length (to the knee) or three-quarter length-‘culottes’. The length of shorts is particularly important as climate change may mean that unprotected legs get sunburnt.

2] Footwear should be casual. There is a considerable range of sandal type footwear now available. Some leaves parts of the feet and toes open to public view, while some does not. The BLF is not prescriptive about the matter.

3] Socks should generally not be worn. However if the beard, shorts and sandals are to be displayed in busy urban areas it is likely to be prudent to wear closed rather than open casual footwear and ankle socks, not visible to others may be worn.

4] There is no prescription or definition on what type of beard may be worn, or how this may match with the shorts and sandals. This is left up to the individual.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, socks are always the most controversial issue during the Beard, Socks and Sandals season. We suspect that some have an ideological position not based on actual experience so we are running a poll to check

The result of the vote will be announced on the late May Bank Holiday Monday May 27th

The British Marxist Historians, are mostly post-1945 grouping are well known figures for writing some of the best historical work of the twentieth century. Names like Dorothy Thompson, EP Thompson, Christopher Hill, John Saville and Eric Hobsbawm remain very well known.

Nearly all were members of the Communist Party and the Communist Party Historians Group and nearly all left after 1956 although remaining very much on the left. These were not ‘the god that failed’ people.

It now appears that we can add a name to the group, that of EH Carr.

Carr is well known (he died in 1982) for writing an historiographical guide What is History that remains in print and a series of volumes on the history of the Russian Revolution.

A new memoir by his great granddaugher Helen Carr, published in the New Statesman, reveals that amongst his private papers is a document outlining his political position. He describes himself as a Marxist (although certainly not a CP member). The irony is that as Carr who had been liberal warmed to the positions of Soviet or Stalinist Russia (choose your label) those historians who had supported were becoming very critical of it.

https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2019/05/eh-carr-what-is-history-truth-subjectivity-facts

Peter Linebaugh is one of the most distinguished socialist historians of the modern period. He studied under E P Thompson at  Warwick in the late 1960s and is the author of some ground breaking books including (with Marcus Rediker ) The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic. Boston: Beacon Press, 2001.

Linebaugh’s review of Mike Leigh’s Peterloo in Counterpunch generally praises the film and sees it as being very much in the tradition set out in E P Thompson’s Making of the English Working Class (1963/68):

Peterloo

He does suggest that the film has rather too much history from above (as opposed to below) but his main and most important criticism is that in depicting the Peterloo Massacre Leigh’s film is just too English (he makes and has made the same criticism of Thompson’s book) as have others including Marika Sherwood.

His point is that many of the workers in the mills were Irish and that the cotton used was produced by black slaves in the US South. The working class is not just English it is global. Linebaugh writes:

 Just look down the alley next to the factory wall, and what do you see?  Bales of cotton stacked upon one another.  It is not enough to hint at it.  There are circuits of money and circuits of labor that are global; neither’s in the film.  Capitalism is not merely an English affair.  So many of those early factory proletarians were Irish immigrants fleeing starvation. But who produced the cotton and how did it get to Manchester?

Beard Liberation Front

Media Release

9^th May

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

Beard campaigners to push for Beard Friendly Peterborough during By-Election campaign

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that despite local support it has decided not to stand a candidate in the forthcoming Peterborough By-Election.

The BLF is not party political but campaigns for a Beard Friendly Britain. The campaigners say they are concerned that standing a candidate would fragment the vote and, for example, enhance the chances of the clean shaven Brexit Party of winning the seat.

Instead there will be a campaign to get candidates to sign up to a number of principles designed to promote a Beard Friendly Peterborough.

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said, we’ve had a hard look at how we can make a positive impact during the Peterborough By-Election. Given we have long standing support in the City it was not an easy decision to opt out of standing a candidate. However we think promoting a Beard Friendly Peterborough will be a more beneficial outcome.

For a Beard Friendly Peterborough. Initial steps

Keep a close watch on the number of barber’s shops on Peterborough and act to stop any proliferation

Promote beard care facilities throughout the City, allowing beard wearers to check & prune their beards on the go

Make sure that more pubs are beard friendly following the example of finalists in the 2019 Pub of the Year poll, the Bumble Inn and the Stoneworks

As the Guardian letter below notes (9th May) I started my working life in 1979 as a sociology and politics teacher (PGCE). Unfortunately Mrs Thatcher had just been elected and these days I’m possibly better known as a socialist historian (and letter writer)

The letter ‘speaks’ for itself (or not) but in the above context a brief explanation is important.

When it comes to understanding history I’m with EP Thompson. Life is a process and a struggle not something that can be stopped at a particular moment and assessed. Thompson criticised sociologists for this method in the Making of the English Working Class. He also criticised fellow Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm for using economic statistics to understand the nature and progress of the working class, for example on their standard of living. I’m somewhere in between both valuing understanding people’s experience and trying to see how they can be summed up statistically.

• I started my working life as a sociology teacher 40 years ago in 1979. I quickly learned that it was an unpopular occupation even then and moved on. I entirely agree, however, about the importance of teaching it in schools (Letters, 7 May): it presents realities the present government would prefer not to think about. Another place that appears to be lacking sociologists is the Guardian’s editorial columns. Of course there is a divide between rich and poor in Britain, and at the top level that contrast can be seen by comparing London and the rest of the country. But that is the start of the analysis, not the end of it, since there are significant divisions in London too. Average life expectancy in Tottenham is not much over 70 years, while in the most wealthy parts of Kensington it is over 90. It is not a question of London versus the rest. As many sociologists will tell you, it is a matter of class.
Keith Flett
Tottenham, London