Our democratic politics isn’t working and, in my view, its dysfunction is one of the major causes of our present national crisis. In so many ways, our political structures and democratic processes – not just here in the UK, but manifestly in other countries too – are under attack and also in question. We have to renew them, not just… continue reading
Category Elections
A White Shirt Writ Large in the Rose Garden
Dear MP’s Office Manager,
Thank you for your earlier response and yes, please, I would like to hear the Cabinet Office’s response to your news, that by the 26th May you had already received 1500 emails concerning Mr Cummings.
I need to report that the responses I’ve heard so far have just left me brimming over with yet more outrage,… continue reading
Songs from our Seclusion (congratulations, Keir Starmer)
What can poetry offer our enforced Corvid-19 seclusion, this locked-in time of question, tension, upset and loss, this desert time ?
In some eras and cultures, poetry has played and still plays a major role in the community’s life. In others, barely any. And only partly does that depend on how good the poets are. In the UK, how many… continue reading
Britain’s Return to Health
I want to talk about the British Labour Party which – despite everything – still occupies the ground I look to for the beginning of this nation’s regeneration and return to health.
But “ground” is one thing ; the withered and stunted vegetation I see presently over-running and littering that ground, is another.
To understand better why the Party is… continue reading
High Noon is Nearly Upon Us. Where’s the Sheriff ?
Around the world, the hoodlums and outlaws are running amok, in their suits of armour made of lies. By contrast, the sheriffs seem downcast, overwhelmed and on the run. I feel downcast and overwhelmed, too. Might it mean that I’m a sheriff, in disguise ? But there is no star in my cupboard. The picture I have, or image I’m… continue reading
Toad and the Bong
Some of the more ardent Tory Brexiters seem very exercised that, after all, Big Ben will not be breaking into song when the UK vacates the EU and seeks alternative residence in their delinquent yet decrepit Brexit wonderland.
And the lying Mr Toad, our bouncy new Prime Minister, is coming up with ingenious plans to soothe them.
Footnote
We have… continue reading
Parrot’s in his Tower – and That’s All, Folks
This stanza was written on the day after Mr Johnson’s election victory on December 12th, 2019. It will be the last stanza of “Parrot Addenda,” rounding off this series of 164 stanzas. It does not mean the Brexit story is over, of course. There’s plenty more to come. It just means that the situation is suddenly very different. The tension… continue reading
The Casting of the Parrot’s Vote
And this piece was written on election night, a second night of pause and waiting, with the chill moon again prominent and beautiful overhead. We walked home after casting our votes, our act tiny power, our tiny power of action. We had done what we could, and put our very sceptical crosses against the name of a decent man attached… continue reading
The Parrot Looks Up at the Moon
I wrote this stanza the night before the UK General Election on December 12th. In my part of the country, the moon was very clear that cold December night, and had been for several nights. If not full, then very nearly so.
The electorate had a profoundly disheartening choice and a victory for the Progressives, or at least a position… continue reading