At the June 1983 General Election Tony Benn was defeated in his Bristol East seat. There had been boundary changes and Benn was not selected for a more winnable Bristol seat. He declined to move to a more winnable Constituency and duly lost. When the first post General Election By-Election in a Labour seat came […]
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At the June 1983 General Election Tony Benn was defeated in his Bristol East seat. There had been boundary changes and Benn was not selected for a more winnable Bristol seat. He declined to move to a more winnable Constituency and duly lost.
When the first post General Election By-Election in a Labour seat came around, at Chesterfield in March 1984, far from being blocked as a left-winger Benn was selected as the candidate. Prominent Labour right-wingers such as Denis Healey spoke up for Benn at pre-election meetings. He duly won and served several terms as the MP.
There is a strong contrast with the Labour NEC’s decision to block Andy Burnham from putting his name forward for possible selection as a Labour candidate at the Gorton By-Election. Labour subsequently lost to a Green candidate whose politics probably weren’t that different from Burnhams.
Burnham is not Bennite and indeed has recently styled himself as an exponent of Manchesterism (something Engels was critical of in 1890, although Burnham uses the term differently!). In short he is personable but after a long political career also comes with a lot of baggage, some of it good, some of it not so much.
He is a well-known figure in Labour who it might be thought would at least give Labour a good chance of winning what might well be a difficult election at Makerfield, now that NEC objections have ceased.
It might be argued with some truth that Labour in the 2020s is more authoritarian than it was in the 1980s (when nevertheless it was still expelling socialists) but perhaps a bigger point is the left does not have the weight within Labour to stop attempts at Head Office control freakery.
It will be interesting to see how engaged senior figures from Starmer’s Labour are in Burnham’s campaign, if indeed he thinks that will be a good idea…
While Wes Streeting looks to be the standard bearer of the Labour right in a leadership election, as my Guardian Fletter below points out he faces a battle to hold his Ilford North seat. While the Guardian reported from the Constituency that he is known and liked in the area (by some no doubt, particularly […]
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While Wes Streeting looks to be the standard bearer of the Labour right in a leadership election, as my Guardian Fletter below points out he faces a battle to hold his Ilford North seat.
While the Guardian reported from the Constituency that he is known and liked in the area (by some no doubt, particularly due to his high profile perhaps) it did not engage with the community based Redbridge Independents who have particularly focused on Labour’s record on Gaza.
At the May 7th local elections they won some seats on Redbridge Council in the areas covered by Streeting’s Constituency but Labour held the majority. In the context of the London wide elections on that day, that probably wasnt a bad result. Streeting currently free of Ministerial responsibility may be happy that he now actually has time to campaign in his local area….
Beard Liberation Front 18th May Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social HIRSUTE WELCOME RETURN OF GNOME POWER AT CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW The Beard Liberation Front, the network of beard wearers that campaigns against beardism, has welcomed the news that the Royal Horticultural Society, the organisers of the Chelsea Flower Show, has again lifted its long running […]
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Beard Liberation Front
18th May
Contact BLF Organiser Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social
HIRSUTE WELCOME RETURN OF GNOME POWER AT CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW
The Beard Liberation Front, the network of beard wearers that campaigns against beardism, has welcomed the news that the Royal Horticultural Society, the organisers of the Chelsea Flower Show, has again lifted its long running ban on gnomes for 2026.
Gnomes were banned for 100 years to 2013 when they made an appearance before again being vetoed.
In 2026 gnomes, mostly with beards, will be on display again at Chelsea.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said Gnomes and beards go together. They are often organised and militant and it is excellent news that after a thirteen year gap Gnome Power will be at the Chelsea Flower Show again in 2026
The above is The Times lead Editorial on 18th May. It is unusually vitriolic even for the Editor Tony Gallagher. Clearly teachers should put up with poor working conditions and while there may be a theoretical right to strike actually exercising it is not something that can be countenanced.
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The above is The Times lead Editorial on 18th May. It is unusually vitriolic even for the Editor Tony Gallagher.
Clearly teachers should put up with poor working conditions and while there may be a theoretical right to strike actually exercising it is not something that can be countenanced.
Jonathan Agnew will be forever associated with cricket and Test Match Special. The first men’s Test of the summer starts in June. However he has now become a euphonium player in the Melton brass band in Leicestershire. The Today Programme (18th May) interviewed Aggers about it and to close the programme out he played a […]
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Jonathan Agnew will be forever associated with cricket and Test Match Special. The first men’s Test of the summer starts in June.
However he has now become a euphonium player in the Melton brass band in Leicestershire.
The Today Programme (18th May) interviewed Aggers about it and to close the programme out he played a few bars of Jerusalem.
While it may not have been quite pitch perfect as it were, the tune was recognisable. From 2.55 at the link below
Peter Mandelson received a fine for urinating in a public place but I doubt those in the picture above (picture Stand Up To Racism) will feel the full force of the law. In fact such scenes are common place when the far right and fascists descend on Central London. Of course there is an important […]
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Peter Mandelson received a fine for urinating in a public place but I doubt those in the picture above (picture Stand Up To Racism) will feel the full force of the law. In fact such scenes are common place when the far right and fascists descend on Central London.
Of course there is an important point here. There are far too few public toilets in Central London. The ones in Trafalgar Square are still 20p a pee as it were but have gone cashless. Card only relief.
At the same time if a significant element of those attending such events did not turn up for a piss up and a punch up the problem would not exist.
On Saturday 16th May Yaxley Lennon held another ‘event’ in central London. At the centre of it were far right and fascist politics but elements of it, borrowed from US far right political culture, appeared quite idiosyncratic at best. The Met Police claimed 60,000 attended ( a Palestinian and anti-racist march elsewhere in central London […]
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On Saturday 16th May Yaxley Lennon held another ‘event’ in central London. At the centre of it were far right and fascist politics but elements of it, borrowed from US far right political culture, appeared quite idiosyncratic at best.
The Met Police claimed 60,000 attended ( a Palestinian and anti-racist march elsewhere in central London was far larger) but the Met has trouble telling the truth and has long been unable to count. More seasoned and rational demonstration watchers estimated 35,000, well down from Yaxley Lennon’s last central London effort.
One welcome feature was the presence of a Led By Donkeys truck on the route of the event displaying pro-immigration words and images. Agitprop at its effective best.
The Sunday Times Rich List 2020-2026. So, Farewell then ex-Brewdog founders Martin Dickie & James Watt The media is very bad at history so while the Sunday Times 2026 rich list looks back to 2025 further historical comparison is mostly absent. I’ve had a look at 2020, just as the pandemic hit Brewdog’s Martin Dickie […]
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The Sunday Times Rich List 2020-2026. So, Farewell then ex-Brewdog founders Martin Dickie & James Watt
The media is very bad at history so while the Sunday Times 2026 rich list looks back to 2025 further historical comparison is mostly absent.
I’ve had a look at 2020, just as the pandemic hit
Brewdog’s Martin Dickie was worth £228m and was 537th and James Watt by contrast had £262m and was at 495th on the list.
The Times list in 2020 was more extensive and is now capped at the top 350. Neither Dickie or Watt would have made the 2025 list based on their 2020 performance.
In 2025 James Watt with partner Georgina Toffolo re-entered the list at 304 with an estimated wealth of £425m
Martin Dickie is a re-entry at 317 with an estimated wealth of £398m
Neither appear in the 2026 list. The Sunday Times does not comment on most deletions (some very rich people who previously appeared now live abroad, while Nigel Farage’s benefactor Christopher Harborne, who also appears to live abroad, is a new entry at No.6)
Why Dickie and Watt have disappeared is not clear but it may be that following the sale of Brewdog to Tilray the theoretical value of their stake in the brewer, which was wiped out, has also caused a recalculation of their wealth..
The Sunday Times Rich List for 2026 which estimates the personal wealth of the richest at least notionally UK based people suggests that in global Big Beer the personal fortunes of the owner of Heineken and the part owners of ABInBev are doing very nicely. Of course both are public companies so the personal wealth […]
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The Sunday Times Rich List for 2026 which estimates the personal wealth of the richest at least notionally UK based people suggests that in global Big Beer the personal fortunes of the owner of Heineken and the part owners of ABInBev are doing very nicely.
Of course both are public companies so the personal wealth of the owners, while interesting, and concerning to many, does not particularly reflect how Heineken and ABInBev are doing
Charlene De Carvalho-Heineken and Michel De Carvalho is fifteenth in the Top 350 with a personal wealth of £10.09bn in 2025 estimated to be £10.215bn in 2026
Meanwhile Alejandro Santiago Domingo and Lady Charlotte Welleseley who are associated with ABInBev have risen from 61st place to 58th place with a personal wealth of £2.661bn in 2025 now standing at £2.74bn
The Earl of Iveagh and the Guinness Family is at 190 down from 186 with wealth of £856m in 2025 down to £807m in 2026. The Earl also owns the Norfolk Estate that supplies the King’s Christmas tree at Sandringham. Guinness itself of course is owned by Diageo but its falling shareprice has impacted the Earl’s fortune.
Big Beer is still very good business, for the owners anyway
The Ambridge Socialist 17th May Is there too much real life in Ambridge? This week the Archers has focused on the BRCA gene, the WI and Amber has schooled George on feminism and sexual politics amongst other things. Some have posed the question as to whether there is too much real life in Ambridge? A […]
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The Ambridge Socialist
17th May
Is there too much real life in Ambridge?
This week the Archers has focused on the BRCA gene, the WI and Amber has schooled George on feminism and sexual politics amongst other things. Some have posed the question as to whether there is too much real life in Ambridge? A question perhaps for the Archers Anarchists.
Brian Crisis continues
Adam is continuing to pursue efforts to get control of Home Farm. Now that Ruari has departed elsewhere Brian is home alone. Adam is calling a special family meeting with a view to purging Brian. There is speculation that Adam may grass Brian to the police for attacking George (even though he didn’t)
Pip & testing times
The moral maze of Ambridge continues as Pip continues to ponder getting a private test for a possible genetic condition. It’s a serious matter of course and its good to see the Archers taking it seriously.
Sport in Ambridge
The BBC is again covering the Sunday cricket in Ambridge. Last Sunday Den Horrobin appeared but his son Brad was too ‘busy’ being the scorer. Erik also put in an appearance and subsequently asked Kirsty to marry him. Clearly she is aware of Leon Rosselson’s Don’t Get Married Girls
In Other News
Carol Tregorran likes marmite toast
Iain has taken over as stand in manager at Grey Gables as Dane has apparently departed (possibly to Coronation St…)
George is flying his drone… & trying to understand what feminism is….
The photo one of several posted by Stand Up To Racism from the assembly point of Yaxley Lennon’s march. There is a connection between these marches, consumption of alcohol and other substances, street urination and general yobbish and worse behaviour. I like a drink (mostly not those that Yaxley Lennon fans seem to like) but […]
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The photo one of several posted by Stand Up To Racism from the assembly point of Yaxley Lennon’s march.
There is a connection between these marches, consumption of alcohol and other substances, street urination and general yobbish and worse behaviour.
I like a drink (mostly not those that Yaxley Lennon fans seem to like) but the labour movement has long taken a stand on drinking and politics. After the march or meeting is fine, Not before it or during it.
A day at the women’s cricket A women’s T20 World Cup will be underway in England (but not in Wales) from mid-June. It may not get the media headlines it deserves. The quality of the cricket played is likely to be excellent and as with football the women’s game comes with more game and less […]
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A day at the women’s cricket
A women’s T20 World Cup will be underway in England (but not in Wales) from mid-June. It may not get the media headlines it deserves. The quality of the cricket played is likely to be excellent and as with football the women’s game comes with more game and less histrionics.
I wasn’t at the 78th anniversary of the Nakba march in London on 16th May where I might ordinarily have been found because I was attending a one day cricket international between England and New Zealand in Cardiff.
It was a sort of a special day. I’ve been at many games at Sofia Gardens over the last 30 years with my late partner Megan who died at the end of October 2025 aged 67. Saturday was just two days after what would have been her 68th birthday and two weeks before the first anniversary of the last game we both attended there- England v New Zealand (men) on June 1st 2025. The memories as might be expected are fresh.
Also there on Saturday were Megan’s sister Bronwen, her partner Jon and their grown up children Menna and Stefan. Only Stefan and Jon had been at a cricket match before, so it was a new experience for some.
Football, the offside rule and VAR can be baffling but cricket has the DRS and the DL system as well as LBWs and a whole book of Laws (not rules).
It being Cardiff there was rain and it was chilly, although in recent seasons I’ve been at Sofia Gardens, where the stands have little cover, where the sun was too hot to sit in your seat for extended periods.
Fortunately despite persistent drizzle there was enough time to get an outcome in a reduced overs game with a DL result. In short New Zealand won. Megan and Bronwen’s father Owen was a New Zealander so clearly there were divided loyalties and its easier to support England on an anyone but England basis when you are in the Capital of another country altogether (as the recent Senedd election results reminded)
As above the cricket on display was excellent. It was the final ODI appearance for New Zealand legend Suzie Bates who is (allegedly) retiring although she made a modest contribution here. Lauren Bell bowled well for England but their fielding, ahem, still did not look to be at zeitgeist levels. Agreed it was a damp and slippery surface though.
In short an enjoyable day and also one to remember Megan by, who it must be said would have worked out (as I did) where the game was headed and been off to the dry and the pub a bit earlier than the family group ended up departing. They will of course learn…
Faction fights and leadership battles on the left can have the most dramatic of consequences. Read Victor Serge’s Midnight in the Century if you are not sure. Sometimes they seem more melodramatic and quirky than dramatic. The story goes that Roger Protz was dismissed as Editor of Socialist Worker in the early 1970s after a […]
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Faction fights and leadership battles on the left can have the most dramatic of consequences. Read Victor Serge’s Midnight in the Century if you are not sure.
Sometimes they seem more melodramatic and quirky than dramatic. The story goes that Roger Protz was dismissed as Editor of Socialist Worker in the early 1970s after a ‘special meeting of the Editorial Board’. Roger may have a different recollection.
Jeremy Corbyn has spoken to the Guardian, who may not be exactly a disinterested player, about the leadership coup against him in the context of current efforts to dislodge Keir Starmer from 10 Downing St.
Typically Jeremy adds an unusual angle, noting that when the attempted (and failed) coup broke on a Sunday he was to be found on his East Finchley allotment and took notes of the rebels in a very specific context
Throughout Sunday, Corbyn took calls and letters from party colleagues telling them that they were leaving his shadow team. There were an unprecedented 21 resignations. “I was sort of ticking them off,” said Corbyn with a dry laugh. “Some were blunt and rude, some pleasant. In the afternoon, I went to the allotment. I got a few resignations in the allotment. I wrote them down and made notes at home: so I could call them the potato rebel, the beetroot rebel. It was a very, very intense period.”
There have been regular London demonstrations for Palestine and Gaza and against what has become an Israeli genocide since October 2023. They have been regular not weekly and there has been very little in the way of issues. The Met Police reported 7 arrests on 16th May 2025, one for someone attacking a marcher, and […]
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There have been regular London demonstrations for Palestine and Gaza and against what has become an Israeli genocide since October 2023. They have been regular not weekly and there has been very little in the way of issues. The Met Police reported 7 arrests on 16th May 2025, one for someone attacking a marcher, and six for what appeared to be, at best, minor infractions of the very restrictive conditions the Met imposes on these occasions.
Of course the right-wing media (which is most of it) and many (but not all) politicians hate the idea of marching for Gaza and vary between ignoring a march and condemning it and trying to get it banned.
In fact the BBC completely ignored the 2025 Nakba march(they have reported at least some previous marches) as did most other print media, aside of course from Socialist Worker and the Morning Star
The 16th May 2025 demonstration marked the 77th anniversary of the 1948 Nakba, Israel’s first attempt to force Palestinians out of their own land and homes. A second Nakba is clearly underway. The marches in London have a particular importance because after the First World War Britain had the mandate for Palestine.
The fact that the marches continue, and May 16th 2025 was one of the biggest, reflect serious grassroots opinion and organisation across the country. They call out Israel’s genocidal actions but they are changing the face of British politics and will continue to do so, from below
History is being made on the streets but as Gil Scott-Heron sang the revolution will not be televised and as Michael Rosen wrote recently the genocide and protests against it won’t be televised in any sustained way either.
Despite an increasingly authoritarian approach to the demonstrations, and political interventions by the Metropolitan Police, the march to mark the 78th anniversary of the Nakba will go ahead on 16th March 2026 in central London.
Keir Starmer is still PM at the moment and so may add a few more days to his tenure but he is not a huge outlier looking back over the last 20 years. One focus of this is a debate about whether Britain is ‘ungovernable’. Another notes a wider crisis. France is on its 7th […]
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Keir Starmer is still PM at the moment and so may add a few more days to his tenure but he is not a huge outlier looking back over the last 20 years.
One focus of this is a debate about whether Britain is ‘ungovernable’. Another notes a wider crisis. France is on its 7th PM in 10 years, while the quite recently elected German Chancellor Metz is already very unpopular. Politicians may be more or less competent but an underlying crisis of neo-liberalism is underwriting at least some of this.
Times Editorial 15th May 2026 The Times has finally called Farage to account on his financial affairs and the question of anti-semitism. Of course it could not resist a pop at Zack Polanski, the only UK Party leader who is Jewish. It continues to be ‘unaware’ that Waltham Forest Council have posted that they are […]
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Times Editorial 15th May 2026
The Times has finally called Farage to account on his financial affairs and the question of anti-semitism.
Of course it could not resist a pop at Zack Polanski, the only UK Party leader who is Jewish. It continues to be ‘unaware’ that Waltham Forest Council have posted that they are not sure if he owes any Council Tax for a house boat moored at Springfield Marina in Clapton.
Even so Murdoch calling Farage out is a moment of note in ruling class politics…
One of Farage’s houses in Lydd-on-Sea A politician who owns lots of houses in one form or another is Nigel Farage Joint research by the Mirror and the Good Law Project in 2024 and early 2025 revealed that the Reform UK owner has four houses in the South of England as well as the one […]
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One of Farage’s houses in Lydd-on-Sea
A politician who owns lots of houses in one form or another is Nigel Farage
Joint research by the Mirror and the Good Law Project in 2024 and early 2025 revealed that the Reform UK owner has four houses in the South of England as well as the one in Clacton he eventually acquired being the local MP (which is owned by his partner, no doubt for prudent financial reasons).
Farage owns the house he shared with his ex-wife, two properties near Dungeness, one of which is reported to be rented out and another rental property in Surrey. The Dungeness houses are in fact officially owned by Farage’s Thorn in the Side company.
It appears at that after a £5m donation from Thai based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne he has now bought a further property and is renovating another
Of course it is far from unique for both Tory and Labour MPs to be involved in property but Farage styles himself as a man of the people rather than a millionaire property owner. Farage said in 2024 that Britain has a housing crisis and given how busy he clearly is managing properties being an MP must be a struggle
Its often the cover up not the original issue that causes the issue. Farage is under Parliamentary investigation over whether he should have declared a £5m donation from Thai based crypt billionaire Christopher Harborne. Farage originally said the money was for his personal security. Now he claims it was in fact a ‘reward’ for his […]
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Its often the cover up not the original issue that causes the issue.
Farage is under Parliamentary investigation over whether he should have declared a £5m donation from Thai based crypt billionaire Christopher Harborne.
Farage originally said the money was for his personal security. Now he claims it was in fact a ‘reward’ for his years of Brexit campaigning. He appears to have spent at least some of the money on buying and renovating property in Kent where he already several houses.
Why Farage pushed the original story and then changed it is unclear.
Whether there is any relation to the house in Clacton, Farage maintains was bought by and is owned by his partner, remains a matter of speculation.
Of all the political stories of 14th May this is the one that arguably has the most substance but it is not of course the one that is receiving the most coverage
