In all our sanctuaries we sit at risk

Category: politics

  • Despatches to my Gazan Son

    Posted:

    At the end of last year I translated into English a long poem by the distinguished Turkish poet Cahit Koytak. In Turkish, the poem is called “Gazze Risalesi.” It was written in 2008, but could just as easily have been composed last Summer, during the Israeli bombings which took place then, too. It seems that…

  • Message to Andy

    Posted:

    After the May election, I joined the Labour Party. Since then I have been inundated by messages from an extraordinary number of Labour representatives, each passionately keen to get virtually personal with me. These include each of the present Party Leader candidates, as well as candidates for the Deputy Leader, all of whom, of course,…

  • Day Naught (Friday 8th May 2015)

    Posted:

    We wake to fangs and lowered eyes and a few new sound-bites for breakfast. Davie.orc sees true that five more years of effing tories call for a sugary word or two to sweeten the toad of his venomous victory. “Talk ‘fairness’ chaps,” he glows to his new cabinet. “Sound all nice again.” Round the corner,…

  • Re-uniting the United Kingdom

    Posted:

    My partner has begun to dread the subject of Cameron. Cameron fills our heads and house far too often. What if, after all, Cameron retains power this Thursday, or sometime thereafter ? Another five years of this, she wonders ? But what if Cameron doesn’t ? What then ? Where will all this anxiety and…

  • What does “hard-working people” mean ?

    Posted:

    There is clearly merit to be earned by any politician who uses the term “hard-working people.” It seems to be this group of people the politicians of all parties want on their side, this group they want to seem to stand for and to be talking to and to please. Perhaps the word has gone…

  • Is there a place for honour in this House ?

    Posted:

    So the UK’s Coalition Government of the last five years is now behind us and we are in the process of choosing its replacement. A frantic election campaign has begun, and in fact began ages back, much of it conducted at the lowest possible level by people trained in hitting low. There is a mix…

  • Rule by Rude Boy ?

    Posted:

    What has been the effect upon UK citizens of the behaviour we have witnessed during the past few days, as negotiations over the planned televised debates between our political leaders appear to have reached their climax ? For me, the way Cameron/his Party/his hooligan Press have conducted themselves has been utterly astonishing. Obviously the Tory…

  • Truth or Lie – which to vote for in May ?

    Posted:

    For me, one of the best news items in recent days has been Peter Oborne’s resignation from The Telegraph on a point of principle. I hadn’t even heard his name before, but suddenly here he is, more prominent and sharply focused than almost anything else in the parade of parrot heads and slogans we are…