In all our sanctuaries we sit at risk

Category: Poetry

  • A Poem Exhibition in Clifton Cathedral

    Posted:

    About three months ago, I organised an exhibition of poem-posters in Clifton Cathedral. This is a bold and wonderful Roman Catholic building in Bristol, designed and built in the 1960’s and 70’s. The exhibition took place on a balcony there, built above the font and overlooking the altar. As soon as I am able, I…

  • Parrot on the Labour Die-Hards

    Posted:

    Self-evidently, these are times of national crisis from which only the best of governments can rescue us. We do not have the best of governments and one still worse is coming. So it matters that Tom Watson cuts a rather lone figure in the Labour Party just now. What he stands for, I believe, is…

  • The Parrot Glimpses Mr Toad

    Posted:

    It continues to look certain that our new Prime Minister will be a toad. In saying that, I am thinking partly of Mr Toad of “Wind in the Willows.” I am also mindful that the UK ambassador in Washington, Mr Kim Darroch, has just resigned, due to being betrayed by some colleague, and to the…

  • The Parrot Goes to Glastonbury

    Posted:

    The 2019 Glastonbury music festival is now behind us. The parrot attended, at least in spirit. Then he came home and read this article in The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/…/brexit-jeremy-corbyn-len-mc… It suggests that, out here in the present-day world, what goes on in dear old Len Mcluskey”s tent/castle/head-harbour-of-the-past seemed to be having an immoderate affect upon Corbyn’s…

  • Jez Has Trouble with Today

    Posted:

    In the press, the same phrases have kept coming up in relation to Jeremy Corbyn’s failure to take a clear position, or offer any real leadership, on Brexit. Almost on a weekly basis, there has been “new pressure” on him from one or another of his various supporter groupings, to “come off the fence.” “Crunch…

  • The Parrot Returns to Talk of False Gods

    Posted:

    When I wrote this, Boris Johnson was entertaining the nation with the question of when a certain photograph was taken. It claimed to show that the nation’s prospective Prime Minister had now made up with his girl-friend after their row. It was therefore safe to vote for him. He was accused of lying (again). The…

  • Jez in a Cage

    Posted:

    Jez remains the issue. We have just passed through the Summer Solstice and the Tories are still immersed in their leadership contest to decide the UK’s next disastrous Prime Minister. Last week was all about the Tories, fighting over their lies and fantasies and then that fight in a London flat, and so on. But…

  • Jez Holds the Bridge

    Posted:

    For days now, the Tories have been capturing the UK headlines with their exercise to find a new leader, who will also be the nation’s Prime Minister at this fraught and crucial time in our history. Today, mid-summer, with just Hunt and Johnson left in the competition, and with Johnson way ahead, we are moving…