Tag: Tanka

Lies, obfuscation and deflection

.

Some civil servants

says Attorney General

are responsible

for undermining Brexit

because they are remainers

.

by Scooj


Oh Dear, where do I start?

Our Attorney General is thick as two short planks, in that she is driven by doctrine/ideology and not truth, not a very good starting place for a lawyer really. This week, to deflect from more allegations of sleeze in the Tory party, she tried to create a dead cat story, saying:

‘Some civil servants are resisting post-Brexit reforms because they cannot imagine “life outside of the EU”.’

I’m not sure that she understands how the civil service works, but if you do not do your job as directed or do not do it well, then you are moved on or out, unlike the politicians who make the laws that civil servants deliver on. If Brexit is a complete catastrophe, pointing the finger at civil servants is utterly misguided.

Suella Benjamin’s unprovoked attack is also unbelievably cowardly as she knows Civil Servants are bound to remain silent on such matters and are unable to answer back, so the assertion is uncontested and pedalled as truth by the right wing media.

Michael Rosen’s (a British author, poet and political columnist) response to this despicable claim was:

Suella Braverman’s attack on Civil Servants: hands up who can think of any govt anywhere anytime attacking its own bureaucracy and/or professionals in order to appeal ‘over’ them in order to win allegiance from ‘the public’ or the ‘people’…

And he is right. What is happening in our country right now is madness. The current far right Tory government, propped up and facilitated by Rupert Murdoch, and Viscount Rothermere, is leading us down a very dangerous path. I only hope that the British people come to their senses and realise they have been duped and conned on a wave of false patriotism, orchestrated by a self-serving elite who care only about money and power.

History will see this period of Tory rule as one of the darkest periods of modern times, in which we have witnessed our own decline and fall.

Abuse

.

Tory government

pathological dislike

of public sector

abusive relationship

bullying, undermining

.

by Scooj

As someone who has spent most of my career working for the public, I am sick of the abuse this government hurl at public sector workers, the very people who are ‘delivering’ Brexit , who teach, who heal, who care, who got this country through the pandemic, who protect the environment and regulate those who would do harm to people and nature, those who keep our streets safe and run fair courts, local service providers… the list goes on.

How dare they?

Climate emergency

.

Governments tell us

we need time to make changes

‘people aren’t ready’

meanwhile we see Rome burning

I sense a revolution

.

by Scooj

  • I am sickened by governments around the world asserting that making rapid changes to our fossil fuel habits will not be accepted by businesses or people. Surely the point here is that they must lead us through this difficult time, making those difficult choices, and selling the long-term benefits to their citizens. Sadly they are still in the pockets of the fossil fuel industry and other big players for whom change is costly and inconvenient. History will remember them for the pathetic cowards they are. They are failing in their duty to protect citizens and our beautiful home, Planet Earth. Time to change this ‘old order’.

Parsley in my ears

.

Waiting for the boy

to watch the match together

the joy of playback

.

shut out all noises or clues

I’ll put parsley in my ears

.

by Scooj

This is a rather cryptic Tanka which I am composing while waiting for my son to get home from his late shift so that we can watch the England v Scotland match together on playback. I have to guard against hearing the neighbours shouting or turning on the radio or even using my phone in case I see or hear anything that might give away the score.

Putting parsley in my ears is an oblique reference to an Asterix cartoon book ‘Asterix the Gladiator’ in which the Roman soldiers put parsley in their ears so that they wouldn’t hear Cacofonix the bard singing, such was the dreadful noise he made.