Saturday, October 13, 2012
Paternity leave
I was interested in the front page picture on today's DT, there because the lady television presenter - of whom I had not previously heard - thought that paternity leave was a waste of time. Interested that is in why the DT thought that either the picture or the opinion that came with it were the sort of stuff from which front pages were wrought.
To the right of this picture the DT started the day's coverage of the wretched Saville business, which got me wondering about the course that the various enquiries might take. Will all kinds of women, once disturbed young women in care, be bribed by the promise of compensation to come forward with all kinds of allegations which it will be impossible to verify? I had always assumed that the industry as a whole was awash with rather tacky - if not illegal - behaviour, so will there now be allegations about lots of other personalities? What about all the groupies milling around, a proportion of which are going to be both forward and under-age? But I am sorry that our very own Beeb appears to have been so slack about it all: it is not as if they are some grubby production company operating on sofas in some back offices in Soho.
But inside I was cheered up by a sensible article about the impending badger wars (see September 21st). DT right on message on this one. But disturbed to read that that other national treasure, the RSPCA, has been the victim of animal righty entryism, which, as some of my older readers might remember was the favoured tactic of the reds in the early seventies. Cuddly old ladies and their bequests for cats and dogs pushed aside by badger hugging long hairs.
DT dealt with, I started to turn the pages of the catalog for the 39th Camra Beer Festival at Cambridge, Camra being a gang for which I used to have some time as the rescuers of warm flat beer from the dearth of the early seventies, at which time about the only brewer which could be relied on to sell the stuff was Charringtons with their entirely decent IPA. Not sure if the stuff is still for sale; their sober and sensible pubs seem to have been long gone.
However, I got less keen on them after the battle was won, the great majority of pubs started to carry warm beer again and Camra moved onto to fringe beer. A battle which remains won because, while I imagine that the volume of warm beer sold is falling and younger people are mostly on the lager, most pubs still carry the stuff and it is usually entirely drinkable. With the exception of Wetherspoons which used to sell regular warm beer but now seems mainly to sell the rather fringe beers which featured at this Beer Festival. Beers which make me think that they come from a very small brewery for the good reason that the demand for the stuff is very small. Plus I find the penchant of small breweries for names like 'A Limp Pig Gold' and 'Muck Cart Mild' rather tiresome, much preferring more neutral names like 'London Pride' and 'IPA' - empty vessels as the advertising folk would say. Names without baggage.
As far as I could see, this Beer Festival attracted few main line brewers. No Greene King, no Fullers, although we did get Harvey's and Otter, both of whom I regard as respectable, if not main line; branch line rather. But I expect it did attract plenty of people who can get just as silly about their beer ('beautiful citrus and pine notes. Smooth and velvety, a medium ...') as some wine people can get about their wine - while the point of the stuff is to drink it, not do a Guardian on it! And when you had had enough of minority taste beer, you could also have tried ranges of cider, perry, mead and cheese. But there was a disconnect in that I imagine that very few of the entirely decent pubs (from what I remember of them) advertising in the catalog sold any of the stuff on offer at the festival. Warm beer maybe, but fringe beer probably not and mead certainly not.
There was also some sob stuff in the margins of the catalog about the demise of the Great British Pub and how the government ought to do something about it. Stuff which annoys in just the same way as heritage folk who do not seem to recognize that times change and that people who own old buildings have to make a living out of them. Which they can't do selling a couple of pounds of home made toffees every week while all the real shopping is done at the proper shop down the road, if not at Amazon. So Camra will not be joining that select band of good causes to which I direct my odd coppers.
The last Camra Beer Festival that I went was a huge affair in Alexandra Palace before it burnt down. In those days you still got proper brewers at such events and I am fairly sure, for example, that Arkell were there. But even then, after trying two or three bitters, I settled down with a beer I liked. Not really into this changing flavour every half; it puts one off one's stroke. Similar to the problem I have in changing gear if I try, for example, to watch Miss Marple immediately after watching Poirot. Or even watching a telly version of Hedda Gabler too soon after watching a stage version.
To the right of this picture the DT started the day's coverage of the wretched Saville business, which got me wondering about the course that the various enquiries might take. Will all kinds of women, once disturbed young women in care, be bribed by the promise of compensation to come forward with all kinds of allegations which it will be impossible to verify? I had always assumed that the industry as a whole was awash with rather tacky - if not illegal - behaviour, so will there now be allegations about lots of other personalities? What about all the groupies milling around, a proportion of which are going to be both forward and under-age? But I am sorry that our very own Beeb appears to have been so slack about it all: it is not as if they are some grubby production company operating on sofas in some back offices in Soho.
But inside I was cheered up by a sensible article about the impending badger wars (see September 21st). DT right on message on this one. But disturbed to read that that other national treasure, the RSPCA, has been the victim of animal righty entryism, which, as some of my older readers might remember was the favoured tactic of the reds in the early seventies. Cuddly old ladies and their bequests for cats and dogs pushed aside by badger hugging long hairs.
DT dealt with, I started to turn the pages of the catalog for the 39th Camra Beer Festival at Cambridge, Camra being a gang for which I used to have some time as the rescuers of warm flat beer from the dearth of the early seventies, at which time about the only brewer which could be relied on to sell the stuff was Charringtons with their entirely decent IPA. Not sure if the stuff is still for sale; their sober and sensible pubs seem to have been long gone.
However, I got less keen on them after the battle was won, the great majority of pubs started to carry warm beer again and Camra moved onto to fringe beer. A battle which remains won because, while I imagine that the volume of warm beer sold is falling and younger people are mostly on the lager, most pubs still carry the stuff and it is usually entirely drinkable. With the exception of Wetherspoons which used to sell regular warm beer but now seems mainly to sell the rather fringe beers which featured at this Beer Festival. Beers which make me think that they come from a very small brewery for the good reason that the demand for the stuff is very small. Plus I find the penchant of small breweries for names like 'A Limp Pig Gold' and 'Muck Cart Mild' rather tiresome, much preferring more neutral names like 'London Pride' and 'IPA' - empty vessels as the advertising folk would say. Names without baggage.
As far as I could see, this Beer Festival attracted few main line brewers. No Greene King, no Fullers, although we did get Harvey's and Otter, both of whom I regard as respectable, if not main line; branch line rather. But I expect it did attract plenty of people who can get just as silly about their beer ('beautiful citrus and pine notes. Smooth and velvety, a medium ...') as some wine people can get about their wine - while the point of the stuff is to drink it, not do a Guardian on it! And when you had had enough of minority taste beer, you could also have tried ranges of cider, perry, mead and cheese. But there was a disconnect in that I imagine that very few of the entirely decent pubs (from what I remember of them) advertising in the catalog sold any of the stuff on offer at the festival. Warm beer maybe, but fringe beer probably not and mead certainly not.
There was also some sob stuff in the margins of the catalog about the demise of the Great British Pub and how the government ought to do something about it. Stuff which annoys in just the same way as heritage folk who do not seem to recognize that times change and that people who own old buildings have to make a living out of them. Which they can't do selling a couple of pounds of home made toffees every week while all the real shopping is done at the proper shop down the road, if not at Amazon. So Camra will not be joining that select band of good causes to which I direct my odd coppers.
The last Camra Beer Festival that I went was a huge affair in Alexandra Palace before it burnt down. In those days you still got proper brewers at such events and I am fairly sure, for example, that Arkell were there. But even then, after trying two or three bitters, I settled down with a beer I liked. Not really into this changing flavour every half; it puts one off one's stroke. Similar to the problem I have in changing gear if I try, for example, to watch Miss Marple immediately after watching Poirot. Or even watching a telly version of Hedda Gabler too soon after watching a stage version.
# posted by Jim @ 6:51 AM 
