Category: Elections
-
The Parrot on Fault-lines
Posted:
This stanza was written on the day the Labour Party’s National Executive decided to support a second referendum on Brexit – but only in particular circumstances, all unlikely. Jez and a sufficient number of his adherents were clearly still keen on being seen to be “honouring” the result of the first referendum of 2016. That…
-
The Parrot Shakes the Bars
Posted:
Instead of “shakes the bars” the author might just as well have written “wracks his brains” – a more conventional image, though equally physical a description. But since the parrot lives in a cage, it seemed fitting that he should do some violence to that, instead of to himself.… continue reading
-
The Parrot Advises on Leadership
Posted:
This stanza offers some general thoughts on leadership and the part it plays – or fails to play. But it is also based on the specific image of the UK House of Commons, in which the Party of Government and the Party of Opposition face one another across the aisle. Neither of the present leaders…
-
The Parrot Meets the Grotesque
Posted:
This stanza was written just after Theresa May had accused the Commons of merely obstructing her and the “will of the people” and just before she headed back to the EU to beg for an extension. The thought occurred that it is possible to have no pride and no humility, both at once.… continue reading
-
The Parrot Wails
Posted:
The parrot thought he was studying the tea leaves. Instead he found himself watching in horror as the tea cup crumbled in his hand… continue reading
-
Our Sorry Brexit Twain
Posted:
The night before these two stanzas were written, it was reported that the Cabinet had told Theresa May that in the next few months, she would have to go, so that another Tory leader could be chosen, presumably to deny and face down reality even more doggedly than she had been doing. Would this make…
-
He Speaks of the Rapidity of Change
Posted:
Very soon after the Labour Group cast off, so did a slightly smaller Tory group and the two groups combined to form what may become a new political party. Tories left behind were more sorrowful than critical, at least in front of the microphones. By contrast, notable Labour figures left behind carried on snarling, shrieking…