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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Here is my set recorded live today in memory of Peterloo at Manchester's Peterloo Soapbox (outside Manchester's Home) containing two new poems

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjruu7HGc0E&t=13s

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Hypnotic Methodist Tingling

A sea of souls awaiting slaughter for freedom

Mermaid, just say no

On a darksome day we skipped to death

Marked by a felt-tipped pen

There is sadness, but not without hope

Samuel Bamford is protesting

In Hong Kong

Filming on his smart phone, filming,

Sharing, filming, sharing. Hoping it

Won’t be edited out, won’t be his ...

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Late September, summershine,

fifty thousand pair of feet

hit the streets of Manchester;

Assembly of the People

come to call on Cameron.

Come to cry, come to shout,

from Inverness to Somerset.

Fifty thousand mouths assault

the air in Oxford Road,

to stop the cuts today, to say

We did not give permission to sell the Welfare State.

The ...

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In the end
It meant absolutely nothing
Once the killing
And the butchery started.

The collective voice of 80,000 people
Who had marched
For hours and hours
Meant absolutely nothing
When they were cut down
Like cattle by the score.

Everybody had arrived in a
Disciplined and organised contingent
Like a troop of soldiers
From the hills
And the outskirts
But ran ...

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