Category: The use of Language
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Dust
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Lost in the chaos of present events, we – or something in us – look to leadership for orientation, guidance and comfort. And the same something perhaps assumes that, the worse the crisis, the better that leadership must be and rescue is on the way. And assumes as well that, in this chaos, our own…
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The Parrot Notes a Toad on the Hop
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This stanza was written last night after I read that Mr Toad was about to head off to meet Mrs Merkel and Mr Macron, etc. And Mr Toad is going to tell them that the Irish back stop was “undemocratic” etc. But today it turns out that there has also been an exchange of letters…
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The Parrot Notes Mr Toad Grown Larger
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Today, UK Law seems to have decided that it is not a penal offence for an accountable holder of public office, such as a member of parliament, to lie to or otherwise seek to mislead, a sovereign people. This despite the fact that all members of parliament have sworn an oath to tell the truth,…
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The Caged Parrot Watches the Demons Dance
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This piece returns to a preoccupation of my own, concerning language. What is the point of writing, the point of taking a position and then articulating it ? And of course that leads to the question, why keep writing these stanzas, these mere words amid all the bizarre and frantic and disastrous political action going…
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The Parrot Speaks of the Democratic Covenant
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A private prosecution has been taken out against Boris Johnson MP, for claims he made during the 2016 EU referendum. After 3 years of preparation, it had its first hearing in private a few days ago. For an example of the Press coverage, see https://www.theguardian.com/…/boris-johnson-could-be-challenged-in-court… Essentially, if the judge agrees that there is a case…
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The Parrot on Fault-lines
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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…
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The Parrot Takes New Bearings
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I’m thinking here of our sleek new Foreign Secretary’s recent comment, saying – as reported in the Guardian – that “relations with the EU will be ‘poisoned for many years to come’ if Brussels fails to budge in the Brexit talks.” In other words, says Mr Hunt, he of the bell which keeps breaking in…