And did Old England once, play by the rules,

That nation of shopkeepers, honest folk,

Who shunned smooth-talking charlatans and fools?

Once, solidarity broke the tyrants’ yolk,

When Yeomens’ sabres slashed at Peterloo,

When Murder wore the Mask of Anarchy,

When on Cable Street, at the Workers’ Waterloo,

The Blackshirts’ arrogance met with Unity.

Th...

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The 1st stanza asks a question to which the answer is, of course, “No”. John Milton wrote Areopagitica, an argument against censorship.

Sadly, in the Britain of 2025, poets, artists, journalists, religious leaders and The Man on the Clapham Omnibus now face routine harrassment by the UK Government and the police, enduring arrest and imprisonment without charge or trial: and for what? for oppos...

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Bonnie Madleen

I first had the idea for this song / poem on hearing the news about the good ship Madleen, setting out for Gaza.

Thunberg and her crewmates were not “deported” from Israel, as reported in the biased media, they were released after the Madleen and her crew were illegally abducted to Israel, and her cargo stolen.

The so-called “personalities” - several failed “comedians” amon...

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He leaves NATO, the pact undone, No ally left to block his run. Article 5 is cast aside, No aid, no help, no place to hide. Greenland waits, a prize to claim, No resistance, none to blame. Courts grow silent, power reigns, No law to stop him, no remains. Congress bows, the path is clear, No dissent, no foe is near. The Constitution torn apart, A kingdom built from iron hear...

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The UK Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, is believe it or not, a barrister; yet she is proposing to break the law with her dog-whistle of a bill.

So she has been forced to make the following admission, under section 19(1)(b) of the Human Rights Act 1998:

“I am unable to make a statement that, in my view, the provisions of the Illegal Migration Bill are compatible with the Convention rig...

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My studies have given me a legacy of interest in many and wide-ranging social, moral and ethical fields and concerns, as well as the politics of power. This piece is a manifestation of that legacy.

 

"The world is splitting open at my feet like a ripe, juicy watermelon." Sylvia Plath.

On her gravestone: “Even amidst fierce flames, the golden lotus can be planted.” Wu Ch'Eng-En.

 

He...

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We get our news in headlines and trending quotes

Despotic Tyrants hack computers to sway our votes

Egomaniacs trump their worth from their ivory towers

Politicians line their pockets with money that is ours

Whilst the fat cat bankers and the Global Corporation

Ruin our economies and sell our personal information

 

It seems the Arab Spring has sprung and broken

And Twits and...

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If you close your eyes

to the world outside,

will the fighting suddenly cease?

Will brother and sister

hold hands together

and build a new life of peace?

 

Does a person, born blind,

not hear the teeth grind

as disaster, from greed, is grown?

That because he can’t see,

thinks we're are all living free

and reaping the seeds we have sown?

*

If you block...

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