There is no doubt that Brexit, among other policies brought in by Boris et alia who have followed has caused the situation we are now in.
Comment is about THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Fine work, JD. As she has given you this poem, you should give the poem to her.
Comment is about The Hairdressers Tale (blog)
Original item by JD Russell
The time-honoured practice of making money out of promises.
Comment is about Their Favourite Things (blog)
A somewhat unique take on the country’s economics, MC.
Comment is about THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Sat 26th Nov 2022 05:11
A truly beautiful, profound poem, Hélène! 🌷
Comment is about Keep Trying (blog)
Original item by Hélène
Thanks for the likes Aisha and Holden 😀
Comment is about History is Bunk (blog)
Original item by John Botterill
If the contemporary Conservative and Unionist Party was still
the Party of long ago (national interest and famous financial
probity), it is doubtful the this financial situation would exist.
Budgeting scores of billions on an unnecessary rail link to save
the time it takes to drink a Martini when locking the country
down is hardly fiscal probity. As for Hunt, he is the elephant
in the room, a "placed man" for wider global interests that saw
no profit for its aims with the Truss plan for national financial
growth over a longer term. Note Hunt's observation that we need more immigrant labour - to do what in an increasingly
automated workplace, except undercut what is being paid to
our own workforce and increase the profit margins of global
interests in business that see purely national concerns as
obstacles.
Comment is about THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
I like the poem and your commentary upon it, Russell.
The style is open and left for the reader to interpret. A story for our times.
Comment is about The Hairdressers Tale (blog)
Original item by JD Russell
The answer to Rose's question is a definite NO!
Another stunning light sabre, Helene
Comment is about Live in the Light (blog)
Original item by Hélène
Pithy and witty.
You are right on the money, Uilleam. 👍
Comment is about Their Favourite Things (blog)
Excellent John. I hardly ever get involved in analysis like that, but it is I think a good use of the site when inspiration hits! Glad you approved.
Ray
Comment is about History is Bunk (blog)
Original item by John Botterill
<Deleted User> (9882)
Fri 25th Nov 2022 18:48
Apart from the fact that he looks the spit of Toad from Wind in the Willows I LOVE scare mongering Nige 👍
as to the lazy sods-give em a bleeding brush n binbags and get em to clean the fast food crap wrappers that those who don't have that shite delivered have left there in the first place dump on our streets along with syringes, laughing gas canisters, beer cans. bottles etc etc etc-after they've finished anti-socialising that is-GRRRRRR!!!!
Rose 👎👎👎
Comment is about THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
<Deleted User> (9882)
Fri 25th Nov 2022 18:23
Helene, are you capable of writing a bad poem? 😉
I definitely don't think you are!
Rose 💋
Comment is about Live in the Light (blog)
Original item by Hélène
<Deleted User> (9882)
Fri 25th Nov 2022 18:21
Deeper and deeper you go the more I like it H! 👍
Rose 💋
Comment is about Freedom (blog)
Original item by Hélène
<Deleted User> (9882)
Fri 25th Nov 2022 18:19
The global tale of slavery is a hugely diverse subject over
many centuries, mostly but not totally consigned to history.
The worrying aspect of modern life in that neck of the woods is
the apparent disregard for the safety and the lives of those
imported to provide the labour. The reported numbers alone
indicate something badly wrong with attitudes there, akin to
those existing in other less aware or caring times when the
value of life was measured in purely financial worth, with
any conciences assuaged by differences in religious beliefs.
Heresy anyone?
Comment is about The Ghosts of Qatar (blog)
Original item by Mike Bartram
Thanks for your comments, guys.
You don’t think Brexit (whisper it soft) contributes, Graham? Certainly Jeremy Hunt said as much, the OBR thinks so as does the IFS. And it’s worth noting that both you and I are recipients of state benefits, as are my in-laws, aged 91 and 90. The idle bastards.
I was indeed, Telboy. Never forget the old socialist maxim - “ by hand and brain”. And I used my brain to pinch money.
And thanks for the Like, Aisha.
Comment is about THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
And too many people doing well paid non-jobs.
John, by your own admission, you were one of these methinks?
Comment is about THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Like the poem Russell, and also your comment about the scissor-wielding hairdresser.
Comment is about The Hairdressers Tale (blog)
Original item by JD Russell
Sooner or later the people of the UK will have to come to terms with the fact that there are just too many lazy sods in this country who can't be asked to work for a living. Is the a big enough elephant for you?
Comment is about THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Quite right, John. We should take Nigel to tusk..... (Perhaps Donald - remember him?)
Comment is about THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
Stop making me laugh, Uilleam. I’ve got a cracked lip.
And thanks for the Likes, Frederick and Greg.
Comment is about THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
No no no, you just don't understand.
That's PROJECT FEAR!
It's at the root of the UK's troubles.
That elephant's in the room because the UK is full up and it has nowhere else to go!
If only old people would just do away and die and stop being a burden on the NHS, then elephants would have somewhere else to go, and they could graze the sunlit uplands along with the Unicorns!
PROJECT FEAR!
PROJECT FEAR!
PROJECT FEAR!
Say it often enough and it will become true, I promise..........
Comment is about THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM (blog)
Original item by John Coopey
<Deleted User> (33540)
Fri 25th Nov 2022 12:00
Normally when I get my hair cut the conversation turns to football or holidays, mundane stuff, this time I had full on meltdown as my lady told me of her marriage break up and all the details,
When a distraught women has scissors in her hands you must sympathise profusely.
Comment is about The Hairdressers Tale (blog)
Original item by JD Russell
There is a real sense of sinister mystery here, Ray.. Your poem is very clever in its own 'world of complexity' and its unerring balance. Bravo!
Comment is about FALSE WIDOW - THE SEQUEL (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Thanks Ray. You are quite right. It's what I intended. It's a slip of the word processor. No, honestly it is! As you can see I have changed it. 😀
Comment is about History is Bunk (blog)
Original item by John Botterill
Thank you, Stephen, for your comment.
And thanks to Ray, Brenda and Aisha.
Comment is about The Lowest of the Low (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Powerfully understated
Comment is about The Lowest of the Low (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
A good grumpy write. Brain defrosted 👍
Comment is about Brain Freeze (blog)
Original item by julie callaghan
Hi Frederick. Thanks so much for joining in the fun, it seems to be quite a cherished pursuit after all. I agree with the consensus but my wife was very relieved when it gained control again!
Ray
Comment is about WORKING AS ONE (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Thanks all for your likes , much appreciated!
Ray
Comment is about WAR CHANT (blog)
Original item by ray pool
A nice robust pace and no nonsense feel mark this out as a good poem John, and I do like the last line. May I be cheeky and suggest a tiny change to it though. Just a thought - "when then" seems like a sort of stumble to me. "A day in Malton when the sun had shone" I fancy. Choose to ignore if you wish of course.
Ray
Comment is about History is Bunk (blog)
Original item by John Botterill
This reminds me of the photography of Ansel Adams who captured the landscape with such clarity Mike and Yosemite in particular. A nicely expressed piece.
Ray
Comment is about Early Morning in Yosemite (blog)
Original item by Mike McPeek
Thanks Stephen. A typically generous comment! 👍
Comment is about Write Out Loud regular John Botterill airs collection on radio (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Well done, John. The book is very entertaining and I think you have beaten me in the pseudonym department.
Comment is about Write Out Loud regular John Botterill airs collection on radio (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman
Indeed, MC. And thanks to Frederick.
Comment is about The Lowest of the Low (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Thanks K. Lynn and Frederick 😀
Comment is about History is Bunk (blog)
Original item by John Botterill
I do not intend this as a criticism of your poem Mike-I agree with you wholeheartedly.
However, before we start pointing fingers at Muslim /Arabic people in general about slavery and human rights issues......
the Daily Mail has claimed that Liberals-whoever they are- have “mislaid their morals over Qatar”. Tell me, where did the Daily Mail events business DMG open an office in 2017? oh yes, in Doha!
The same year Qatar won the right to host the cup, around £3.4bn of arms were licensed by the UK to Qatar since the Conservatives came to power in 2010-what a coincidence.
Remember the Romans who brought “civilisation” to Britain? Well Roman slaves were actual property under Roman law, had no legal personhood, and were subjected to corporal punishment, sexual exploitation torture and summary execution.
In “civilised” ancient Greece, slavery was an accepted practice, applauded by Aristotle as natural and necessary.
A fundamental part of Viking life was the sale and taking of Franks, Anglo-Saxons, and Celts as slaves in Western Europe.
The Christian Order of the Knights of Malta attacked pirates and Muslim shipping, their base becoming a centre for slave trading, until well into the late 18th century, at the same time as Christian law mandated that Christians could not enslave other Christians yet allowing the enslavement non-Christians!
Hypocrisy anyone?
Comment is about The Ghosts of Qatar (blog)
Original item by Mike Bartram
Thanks for the kind comment in your reply. If that ever happens,
I will do my level best to make sure I'm still around to read it!! 😊 But like your
good self, I've penned some lines, to sum up my thoughts on "eulogies" > attached to a recent WOL item about funerals minus mourners under the "News
and features" byline. If i were to give them a title, I'd choose "Gone but Misbegotten".... ho-ho.
Comment is about Anxiety (blog)
Original item by JD Russell
Good and evil existing (I shrink from the word "living") side by
side. It has been so since time immemorial and it is invariably
the innocent who pay the price for the deeds of evil-doers.
Comment is about The Lowest of the Low (blog)
Original item by Stephen Gospage
Voltaire would certainly agree! The pen is an extension of the
workings of the mind - to express what the voice sometimes feels
at a loss to say.
Comment is about My Pen doesn't Flutter (blog)
Original item by Clare
Nice one! Positiivity doesn't recognise passitivity!!
Comment is about Opening (blog)
Original item by Hélène
Really?
On your poetic flow the circumstances don't seem to impinge;
Could it be a chance to see how poetry can whinge? 😊
(tapping this out minus heating but comforted by a warm woolly
sweater and dressing down!)
Comment is about Brain Freeze (blog)
Original item by julie callaghan
Today is but a button press away and yet as aptly observed we have in each instance been put in our place, neither here and no longer there. We no longer dance the same way either, like the sudsy dance of hands 🙌🏻 🧼 finger scrolling and pinching 📱 🤏 and poking are quite an established thing. Working together as one and ow working as one alone. Good stuff here 👍🏻 🌷
Comment is about WORKING AS ONE (blog)
Original item by ray pool
Your poetic flow seems to be alive and kicking, Julie!
Comment is about Brain Freeze (blog)
Original item by julie callaghan
This is inspiring and uplifting, Helène. A terrific narrative.
Comment is about Opening (blog)
Original item by Hélène
Andy N
Sat 26th Nov 2022 08:58
Great stuff guys (:
Comment is about Warm words as Stockport poets add voices to national initiative (article)
Original item by Greg Freeman