In all our sanctuaries we sit at risk

  • Parrot on the Labour Die-Hards

    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 decency and Labour’s true values. So why the in-fighting, why is he apparently so isolated ? The context, of course, is Labour’s anti-semitism scandal, the recent Panorama programme which explored it and – following the programme – the Party’s contemptible attacks upon the “whistle-blowers” who did their duty in talking to the journalists concerned..

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  • The Parrot Glimpses Mr Toad

    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 fact that, afterwards, when Mr Trump expressed displeasure with Mr Darroch, Mr Johnson acted immediately as a Trump toady.

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  • The Parrot Goes to Glastonbury

    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 position and actions over Brexit, and hence on the present and future of very many people, above all the nation’s young.  

    Wallace Stevens is an American poet. Years ago, I read his long poem “The Man with the Blue Guitar.” It keeps returning to the phrase “things as they are” and the phrase has stayed with me ever since. The Facts of the Matter. How It Is as opposed to how I dream or want or lie it to be. The Truth. Reality. Creation. Things as they Are.

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  • Jez Has Trouble with Today

    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 meetings” have kept being arranged, but they resolve nothing and all that results is a change of adjective : “crunch” became “tense.” The day before this stanza was written, another such meeting took place. Same old result. Personally, I see no real “fence” for Jez to sit on, whatever the rationalisations. I just see his gross and unforgivable inadequacy.

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  • The Parrot Returns to Talk of False Gods

    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 photograph had almost certainly been taken  before the row took place. And people were wondering when would he ever answer the questions interviewers put of him ? In other words, when would he ever tell the truth ? And still it looked as if he was certain to be the next Prime Minister of the UK. But would he be that much worse than either of the two alternatives, the one beside him to the right, or the one opposite to the left ?

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  • Jez in a Cage

    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 the real question mark hangs over Jez. Largely inaudible. Largely invisible. Largely absent. But blocking out the glaring emptiness where present wholesome and honest leadership should be.

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  • Jez Holds the Bridge

    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 towards some kind of exquisite denouement. The lie of Brexit is most likely to be resolved, at last, by the Tory most notorious for lying – twice sacked for it, surely unemployable now in any profession requiring trust and integrity. To be our Prime Minister. And what’s Labour been up to in the meantime ? Anything useful ? Anything that will help ? Anything that will cleanse the air or restore hope ? They’ve been having a chat with dear old Jez. And Jez is still saying no.

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  • Speaking of the Worst

    The stanza above makes extensive reference to that extraordinary and justifiably famous poem by W.B. Yeats called “The Second Coming”. Yeats’ poem applies so closely to our own present time, of course. But might that be true of every present time ? Shakespeare too was gripped by the fear of breakdown in the order of things, and wrote extraordinary descriptions of upset across the natural world. Does this mean that we should perhaps not worry so much about the breakdown we are facing now ? No, it does not. But maybe those other times have something to teach us.

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