Category: The use of Language
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Cage Alight
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We in Britain are groping about in a strange country, which just happens to be our own. What next ? Where next ? And what has just occured ? Two days ago, May’s deal was voted down by an enormous margin. Yesterday, she survived (not by that much) a vote of no confidence. Has anything…
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Maybot’s Standing
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This stanza was written on a Monday morning, after “The Guardian” quoted a speech Theresa May is due to make today. It includes this sentence : “I ask MPs to consider the consequences of their actions on the faith of the British people in our democracy.” Tomorrow her “deal” is expected to be voted down in…
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Parrot at the Breach
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The first line is a direct quote from Skelton’s poem “Speak, Parrot”… continue reading
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The Parrot, the Maybot and No Deal
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Will our troops be allowed to fraternise with the “enemy” over Christmas ? The content management of my blog has been “updated” by remote. I still haven’t got the hang of most of the changes. One of them is that every time I make a small editorial alteration, those people who are notified of a…
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Parrot Peers at Democracy
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Michael Heseltine for Prime Minister – and Leader of the Opposition at the same time – https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/dec/08/britains-youth-will-never-forgive-us-for-brexit-says-lord-heseltine… continue reading
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The Bird of Paradise Danced Last Night
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The poet John Skelton lived in the reign of Henry 8th. He apparently wrote his satirical poem “Speak, Parrot” in the precincts of Westminster, from the sanctuary still precariously available in the minster there. In the poem, Galathea is a lady in waiting who plies the parrot with almonds and dates, as she tries to…