In all our sanctuaries we sit at risk

Category: abuse of free speech

  • The Parrot Has Another Say

    Posted:

    This stanza was written during the week-end preceding what seemed to be Parliament’s last and only chance to block Mr Johnson’s stated option of a “No Deal” Brexit. The Executive vs the Legislature. Mr Johnson and “The People” (or enough of them, he hoped) vs parliamentary scrutiny, or – as he might put it –…

  • Mr Toad and Dr Doomboyd

    Posted:

    The phrase “Shock and Awe” came into our reckoning as a description of America’s opening attack against Iraq in their war (beginning March, 2003) to overthrow Saddam Hussein and his regime. Supported by the British, the Americans went in search of Saddam Hussein’s non-existent weaponry. A short while later, Mr Bush stood alone on one…

  • Mr Toad Goes Bombing

    Posted:

    This was written on Wedesday August 28th, 2019. Worth noting that date. During this morning, we’ve learned that Mr Johnson intends to stop parliament meeting through most of September. It is on public record that Mr Johnson has been sacked twice for lying. No rational employer would consider even short-listing him for a job. Yet…

  • Dust

    Posted:

    Lost in the chaos of present events, we – or something in us – look to leadership for orientation, guidance and comfort. And the same something perhaps assumes that, the worse the crisis, the better that leadership must be and rescue is on the way. And assumes as well that, in this chaos, our own…

  • The Parrot Notes a Toad on the Hop

    Posted:

    This stanza was written last night after I read that Mr Toad was about to head off to meet Mrs Merkel and Mr Macron, etc. And Mr Toad is going to tell them that the Irish back stop was “undemocratic” etc. But today it turns out that there has also been an exchange of letters…

  • The Parrot Notes Mr Toad Grown Larger

    Posted:

    Today, UK Law seems to have decided that it is not a penal offence for an accountable holder of public office, such as a member of parliament, to lie to or otherwise seek to mislead, a sovereign people. This despite the fact that all members of parliament have sworn an oath to tell the truth,…

  • The Parrot on Sanctuary

    Posted:

    This piece looks back to when John Skelton wrote his poem “Speak, Parrot” in the sixteenth century. All these rhyme royal stanzas about Brexit I’m writing, refer to that poem, in one way or another. It is supposed that Skelton wrote it in the precincts of Westminster, where the medieval laws of sanctuary were still…