The White Lion, Beeston - GB News & cask ale (part 2)
When Cask Ale week was promoted by GB News, apologies were expected. The opposite happened. Now it's time to follow the money...
Disclaimer: this newsletter often mentions beer and pubs. You do not have to read this if your life has been affected by substance abuse. This post references racism and has been moved forward to Wednesday again.
I’d like to thank everyone who has donated to my Ko-Fi here. If you’ve not done so already please buy Desi Pubs - A guide to British-Indian Pubs, Food & Culture here.
If you like today’s article please pledge some funds here as it took a lot of time to put together.
The other day I went there, and a teacher’s assistant shouted at me across the hall. Imagine. She was so rude. I noticed she did not shout across the hall to the other parents. So I went and told her off. These people, they make you become aggressive just to hold your dignity.
The above extract from Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie shows how people unfamiliar with inhabiting a western culture have to be grateful at all times for what they are ‘given’.
The book details the plight of Nigerian Ifemelu who battles against being bent into being Black, Black-American and non-white. The world in which she inhabits doesn’t have outright racist abuse, just low-level gaslight-y white supremacy - she should be grateful for being in America even though it’s made clear she’s inferior to the white middle-class world she inhabits. To get ahead she has to straighten her hair and soften her accent and when she questions why (white) people act like they’re insulted.
I’ve been thinking a lot this past week about how everyone is gas-lit when they seek change. Last week’s Substack spoke of how cask beer quality assessor Cask Marque sought to promote Cask Ale Week by using GB News to promote itself, and was widely shared due to the outrage of people’s favourite drink being connected with conspiracy theories, misogyny and fascism.
What happened next was abysmal. Instead of an apology and a climbdown, Cask Marque founder Paul Nunny showed the GB News video proudly at a subsequent ‘Future of Cask’ event, defended it and said it wasn’t for them to take sides by disingenuously calling the “BBC leftwing” and GB News “supposed rightwing”.
And just when this shitshow couldn’t get any worse it was revealed Cask Marque had proudly produced an anti-trans, anti-non binary T-shirt and were mocking anyone who dared to complain, even claiming they hadn’t heard of GB News before they were approached.
A lot of observers have reacted with outright outrage at both the GB News and T-shirt debacles and they have looked to writers, like me, to provide some solutions. One of which was to message Cask Marque and also the British Guild of Beer Writers to complain about Cask Marque’s connection with the organisation. The Guild is a body that represents writers and tries to improve overall standards of beer writing.
As a former director of the Guild, I believe that the members (beer writers) should hold the managers of the institution (the Guild) to account for having problematic sponsors (such as Cask Marque).
But what is exactly the role Cask Marque has with the Guild, as their involvement isn’t mentioned on the Guild’s website? I was amazed to discover by the chair of the Guild that “all incoming and outgoing finances go through Cask Marque” despite them not being a corporate sponsor.
Therefore, the writers and journalists who have (or have not) been trying to highlight the awfulness of Cask Marque pay their subscriptions (£55 a year) directly to Cask Marque.
Furthermore, Nunny as well as being founder and director of Cask Marque, has sat as treasurer of the Guild for decades and has a casting vote on all board issues.
So you may ask why am I - and others - still members of the Guild? I guess - like the character in Americanah - it’s because I have to be grateful for what I’ve been given - as the Guild has many facets that does help beer writers and life is difficult for us. And that doesn’t mean we should stop calling out injustice just because it’s inconvenient.
But one of the biggest triggers for me was Cask Marque telling people if they didn’t like the design of the T-shirt then to submit their own ideas. Basically, it’s your problem to deal with, not theirs. And this getting others to help with your problems is totally draining as someone who has done this before.
The problem is Cask Marque and, sadly, the British Guild of Beer Writers too, who have allowed themselves to be controlled by the former, an institution that is pouring scorn on matters of inclusion.
But there’s hope. Recently, I left as a director and there’s been a new intake of board members who I hope have the time, vision and energy to put in place the reforms desperately needed.
If you’re interested in hearing me speak about Desi Pubs then I’m at IndyMan in Manchester on Saturday; the Dodo, Ealing on October 12; Siren Taproom October 21 to name a few!