Tag: Government

Political brutalism

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A new government

grim-faced determination

ruffling feathers

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by Scooj

I woke at ten past four when the dog started barking at something in the street. Unfortunately I didn’t get back to sleep again after that and lay awake with my mind churning. One of the outputs from the unrest was this haiku. Another, was a long rant about the state that the last government left the country in. Broke with horrific debt and with public services hanging on by their fingernails. The rich, richer and the poor, poorer. Any new government coming into power picking up that mess would struggle. The loudest voices of complaint now are from the haves, not the have nots. I’ll leave it there.

The main preoccupation in my head was composing a speech for my mother’s 90th birthday party in February… I think I made good progress.

Independence Day

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Fourteen years ago

the occupation began

voting for freedom

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by Scooj

Calling time

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Overwhelming joy

general election called

so long overdue

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by Scooj

  • I won’t go on for too long, but I have been waiting for this day for a very long time, and while the future under any new administration will be uncertain, there are truths about the past that are too much to bear. I care most about two things – public services and the biodiversity and climate crisis (that so many wedded to (funded by) the oil and gas industries have done their best to discredit) so I think you can probably guess who I won’t be voting for.
  • As someone who has spent my entire career in public service I have witnessed first-hand the jaw-dropping disregard the Tories have had for their staff in the civil service, health service, local authorities and agencies who have largely taken huge real-terms cuts in salaries over the last 14 years (in my own case about 19% cut). Cuts in staff numbers and budgets have been demoralising and to cap it all an ideology and poisonous narrative that suggests public servants are somehow ‘swinging the lead’.
  • But it is not just public service employees that have suffered, but the whole nation, particularly those who depend on or need the support public services can offer, the only people who are immune from the ferocious public sector cuts are the wealthy, many of whom do their very best to avoid paying taxes and resent paying taxes, so that they can maintain their ever more comfortable lives. I feel all of this is a sickening cliché… you know where I’m coming from.
  • I truly hope for change. I can see a much brighter future, both politically and environmentally. We do not have to succumb to the Hollywood tropes of a dystopian future, instead a green and compassionate future is something all of us can aspire to, a gentle kind world. This is my goal and my passion. It is why I am here.

Redemption

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It is a long road

those who ruined a nation

we may not forgive

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by Scooj

5148. Stokes Croft

Haka, Stokes Croft, Bristol, March 2023
Haka, Stokes Croft, Bristol, March 2023

I was walking home from town a week or two back, after a leaving do for a very dear friend and colleague who I have known for about 30 years. I took the opportunity to take a couple of snaps of this wonderful piece by Haka, which I have known about for a while, but just haven’t been able to photograph. For nighttime photographs, I think they have come out pretty well – it is amazing how good mobile phone cameras are these days (sounding like the old man I am).

Haka, Stokes Croft, Bristol, March 2023
Haka, Stokes Croft, Bristol, March 2023

The message is a great observation and commentary on the current cost of living crisis, with inflation at over 10% and pay offers typically under 5%, meaning a cut in salaries for most people (a situation I have been living with for more than 10 years, being about 20% worse off in real terms than I was before Tory austerity measures). This Government think it is fine to cut thee taxes of the richest, but restrain pay for everyone else. The sooner they go, the better.

I’m familiar with the character Haka has painted – a right old meanie – but I can’t quite place what cartoon series/book he is from. Fabulous to see a political piece from Haka.

Unthinkable

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Thoughts of fascism

are incomprehensible

nation in decline

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by Scooj

Lineker

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Defining moment

the state against the people

deflect and divide

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by Scooj

#istandwithlineker

Strike

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When there is no choice

when negotiations fail

when bills need paying

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by Scooj

Reshuffle

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You shuffle the pack

but it’s the game that’s at fault

Tory’s time is done

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by Scooj

It is time

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Ministers resign

shut the door on your way out

not long to wait now

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by Scooj