Paul Dacre, longtime editor of the Daily Mail, a frantic and irresponsible source of Brexit propaganda, who used his right to free speech and his platform for delivering it, much less for the truth and the public good than for a chance just to bully and abuse and sell a demagogic line, will be stepping down in November. The Mail’s owner is Lord Rothermere.
Elsewhere on this site, is a modern version of a poem called “Speak, Parrot” by John Skelton, who lived during the reign of Henry 8th. The poem attacks various evils which Skelton perceived around him. But a central theme and question throughout the poem is free speech and what is truth. The parrot has imbibed every language under the sun, but is he free to speak the heart’s truth ? “I pray you, let parrot have liberty to speak.” Why is the parrot caged ? Is his cage his prison, or his castle ? What will be the repercussions if the parrot comes out with the truth ?
The short poem above is in the form of a single rhyme royal stanza. This was a medieval verse form which Chaucer made popular. Most of “Speak, Parrot” is written in rhyme royal.