My view on the riots Tim is that they did the Coalition a big favour in the
polls (which is what happened). Just prior recall the News International
stories, and Cameron's closeness to Murdoch's creatures, were holding the
headlines. A very dark minded friend of mine avers that the riots were
deliberately allowed to get out of control so that a draconian backlash
could be supported. I don't know about people whose views are based on media
reports, mine were derived from the fact that the admittedly smallish local
version was taking place a few hundred yards from where I live. Within
earshot. I do remember the 1981 riots vividly - I lived in Handsworth at the
time - and there was a political edge then - as well as a lot of
testosterone - but this time it was a demonstration of mash'em'up culture.
And give us yer mobile mate or else. As I've repeatedly mentioned, the
crowning achievement of the rioters here was to torch an Age Concern
minibus. Maybe there is a parallel universe in which a bus for old people's
days out is an instrument of oppression and exploitation but I don't live in
it. There was a political edge to the original protest march in London, but
that went up in smoke after the first day. As for Patrick's poem, I'm quite
aware of the irony of the govt applauding protest abroad and attacking it at
home, but the language of his poem doesn't support irony.
On 15 September 2011 18:27, Tim Allen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I disagree - the way Patrick has done it makes the irony simultaneously
> present and absent - that's why for me it is such a good, and politically
> tender, little poem - but yes, Bob with his over-the-water cosy notion of
> our Brit queen and pm probably wouldn't understand that. If someone's view
> of the riots is based solely on our mainstream media's commentary then no,
> they are not going to appreciate this poem, however mild and teasing the
> irony is.
>
> I'll go back in the cupboard now.
>
> Tim A.
>
>
> On 15 Sep 2011, at 17:05, Douglas Barbour wrote:
>
> if i take those final 2 words in each stanza as played in quotes
>> ironically then it's not so flat, Patrick. but i tend to agree with Bob
>> that being too obviously 'political' can lead to readings that simply won't
>> agree or enjoy…
>>
>> Doug
>> On 2011-09-14, at 1:48 AM, Patrick McManus wrote:
>>
>> SPRINGS
>>> 2011
>>>
>>> Arab spring
>>> Arab youth
>>> Arab uprisings
>>> applauded
>>> wonderful!
>>>
>>> British spring
>>> British youth
>>> British uprisings
>>> condemned
>>> terrible!
>>>
>>>
>>> pmcmanus
>>> q903
>>>
>>
>> Douglas Barbour
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>> http://www.ualberta.ca/~**dbarbour/ <http://www.ualberta.ca/%7Edbarbour/>
>> http://eclecticruckus.**wordpress.com/<http://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/>
>>
>> Latest books:
>> Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
>> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/**UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664<http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664>
>> Wednesdays'
>> http://abovegroundpress.**blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-**
>> aboveground-press_10.html<http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10.html>
>>
>> People say they have to express their emotions.
>> I'm sick of that. Photography doesn't teach
>> you to express your emotions;
>> it teaches you how to see.
>>
>> Berenice Abbott
>>
>
--
David Joseph Bircumshaw
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is
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