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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My mother had a habit, when times were bad, for example when dad had lost his job, of uttering the phrase: “God is good!”, an expression of her Christian faith and hope. The expression: “Thank God for that!”, is an everyday one of gratitude, as of course is “goodbye”, derived from “God be with you”; a similarly used Arabic phrase forms the title of my sonnet.

My republican instincts lead me to ...

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