In all our sanctuaries we sit at risk

Month: September 2019

  • The Parrot Still in London

    Posted:

    This is one of a rapid succession of these rhyming commentaries, written during a sequence of events even more furious, momentous and disturbing than usual. I composed it quite early on Thursday 26th September. The previous night., in the House of Commons, only just back from America, following the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling, Mr Toad…

  • Mr Toad Falls Foul of the Law (Again)

    Posted:

    On September 24th, the UK Supreme Court ruled against our Prime Minister’s prorogation of Parliament, finding unanimously that the prorogation was unlawful and that Johnson had misled the Queens on his reasons for implementing it. Effectively, Johnson was being named a plain liar by the highest court in the country and Parliament’s position in the…

  • The Parrot in the Ring of Chaos

    Posted:

    This stanza was written just one day after the event it describes – the Labour Conference vote on campaigning for Remain. That event seemed significant for at least a few hours. But the following day’s judgement by the Supreme Court was so much more significant and – still finishing this stanza – I felt that…

  • The Parrot Reflects on Whether Jez has Worth

    Posted:

    This stanza was written on September 22nd, near the beginning of this year’s Labour Party Conference. We had heard a bit more by now about the party leadership’s attempt at short notice to dispense with Tom Watson’s services as Deputy Leader of the Party. The judgement seemed to be that Corbyn must have been in…

  • The Parrot is Witness to an Attempted Stabbing

    Posted:

    “The Stabbing” in the title above is of course a reference to Jon Lansman’s (mostly unsuccessful) attempt to render the Labour Party’s Deputy Leader Tom Watson null and void. Jon Lansman founded the “Momentum” organisation. He is on the Labour Party Executive Committee and a Corbyn supporter. He made his move without warning and as…

  • The Toad Speak of Truth as a Cage

    Posted:

    Further thoughts on the felon’s need to lie, to keep something hidden, or maybe just to replace boring old reality with the comfort and excitement of one’s own creation.… continue reading

  • Mr Toad Makes a Furtive Connection

    Posted:

    The reference here, of course, is to the announced intention of Mr Johnsons’s government to increase the number of the country’s jails, already very high and yet short staffed, so that even more people can be imprisoned and people jailed for certain crimes can serve their full sentences. This despite finding after finding that jail…

  • The Toad Falls Foul of the Law

    Posted:

    The UK’s Supreme Court has just finished hearing the Government’s appeal against the Scottish High Court’s finding that Johnson misled the Queen as to his reasons for closing down the Parliament. It was not a matter of creating more time to prepare the Queen’s Speech. Instead it was to stop parliamentary scrutiny of his Brexit…