The UK’s Brexit government have been showing us their true mettle in recent weeks. Following their disastrous response to the Covid-19 virus, they are itching to move on to enterprises more to their liking, but equally vulnerable to their incompetence. It has been said that “The Sleep of Reason Brings Forth Monsters” (it’s the title of an etching by Goya). But it is that arbitrary and binary division which is the problem, opposing “Reason” to all else and seeing the latter as “Monsters,” to be fought, denied or discounted. Things like empathy, feeling, truth. Often, it is those who worship “Reason” most ardently, associating it with “Control,” who are our greatest threat. Behind a mask of Reason, Control, Order, their own real chaos is what they bring to the world. Chaos is all they can ever bring and is what they will leave behind.
And the Toad’s a liar
a “world beating” liar.
On our country’s bowed shoulders
he stands tall.
And let’s be fair,
it’s not every nation
that adopts from choice
a known liar and wastrel
for leader.
It’s not every nation that opts
freely for its own disgrace.
He’s the One, we said.
He’ll “get it done”,
he said he would.
We liked the sound of that man’s voice,
that air of certainty
and his hair all tousled
with studious care
and that manicured smirk.
He makes his lies
sound like Etonian gold-dust.
They’ve much more sex appeal
than reality.
He’ll work it with slogan
he’ll work it with lie
just as he worked it with us.
My grandson woke me
the other afternoon and asked me,
is it true, grandad,
that if I lie from this day forward,
I too could be prime minister ?
Ah yes, I said. But you be sure, my boy,
to practice night and day
up and down the lie scales.
Persevere and when you’ve grown up
and got a job and then the sack
for lying, you’ll know you’re on your way.
But still there’s more to do.
Before you qualify
for Toad’s high office,
he insists you match
his two previous dismissals for lying.
And even then
it’s not quite done.
Our Toad went on
to lie to his queen,
high treason
being yet another feat
in which our Toad takes pride.
Arise, Sir Toad,
Her Majesty intoned.
As Lord of Number Ten,
our near neighbour in Westminster,
you’ve taken first prize
for your treachery and lies
and led our nation
to world class disaster
and disgrace.
And as you so rightly say,
my Lord of the Lie,
our Lying Toad of Number Ten,
a lie today
keeps reality at bay –
until tomorrow.
Rogan Wolf June 14th 2020