Think bailed out Banksters, corrupt MPs, double-crossing Clegg & Co. and lately Murdoch's bought Cops. Then think of the dumbed down underclass. No job. No hope. Even the youth club shut down. It's all the fault of the Man ain't it? And the Man, today's Man, the Old Etonian . . . wot's he gonna do 'bout it, eh? Sweet FA that's all. Hey, what's that noise outside. Summat's going off, or what? Pass me me Blackberry will ya?
Emergency Verse was published earlier this year by the Recusant. It's introduction written by editor Alan Morrison, is an Invitation for the Government to Join the Fair Society. It begins:
Emergency Verse is a literary campaign in defence of the Welfare State and the National Health Service and against the coalition Government's 'emergency' budget, which it perceives as a return to the draconian politics of Thatcherism. Emergency Verse is as well a petition of 112 poets calling on this government to comprehensively amend its 'emergency' Budget to lift the burden of paying back the deficit off the narrowest shoulders and onto the broadest ( . . . ) for the sake of our social democracy . . .
Caroline Lucas MP, who can see further than many of her Westminster colleagues writes:
In spite of the Chancellor's protestations, the 2010 coalition emergency budget was neither unavoidable nor fair. Instead it was a massively failed opportunity to shift the economy onto a fairer, greener pathway. Devastating public spending cuts are not an economic inevitability - they are an ideological choice. So I warmly welcome Emergency Verse and the campaign to bring together various voices in defence of our Welfare State and our public services.
I would add to that the following: It is only by building a fair and just society with equal opportunities for all, especially in the fields of education, affordable housing, job opportunities and health and leisure facilities, that we can make any real progress in society. The people at the top of our society must, like those at the bottom of the current social and economic pyramid, also be seen to be held to account.
In his first Emergency Verse poem Do you blame her Alan Corkish writes:
she fiddles the system
caught in the trap
since leaving school
with zero qualifications
discovered that a baby
was the key to
a home . . .
A second printing of the sold-out Emergency Verse is in the pipeline. If you want to really understand what's going on and why, you should buy it. Perhaps there's a copy at your local library - if you still have a local library.
Emergency Verse - the Recusant / Caparison
ISBN 978-0-9567544-0-0
- visit the Recusant website via my A-Z Links >>>
I despair of it all Gwilym. I lost my faith in this government when I saw George Osbourne in the royal box at Wimbledon on semi finals day - and on the same day the house of Commons was almost empty for the debate. I thought being an MP was a job - which meant being at one's job every weekday regardless. If during my teaching days I had gone to Wimbledon for the day just like that there would have been trouble
ReplyDeleteI think it's the same in the whole world. But we must never despair - for we can hold our heads up. I just saw Clegg walking through the ruins with his head down. The traitor. Send him to the Tower! If he had any honour he'd dissolve this unholy pact with his Eton friend before sunset and resign his post. From the Tories I expect the Bankster and Rule Brittania in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and wherever next - perhaps Syria? culture. From the Libs I expected something quite a bit better. The man should go. If we still have any free press left in England they should call for his head!
ReplyDeleteSadly, more fuel to the fires, the deaths of 3 men in Birmingham overnight.
ReplyDelete