If you’ve been visiting this website (or following my Substack) for more than a couple of minutes, you’ll be well aware that I’m fairly engaged, politically, and not afraid of speaking out when I feel there’s something that needs saying.…
where he simply steps aside
where he finishes his phone call
where he does not have a gun
These past couple of weeks I’ve been away with work, stage-managing my final tour of the year, and I’m loving it. You’re in a little bubble when you’re on the road – as anyone who’s ever been involved will know –…
Earlier this month, far right groups held a rally outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Wolverhampton. They were opposed by a group of women. The lines in italics in this poem are all comments from the ‘Stop the Boats’…
leftwing facistspair of twatsugly marespiece of crap this patriot is angry at women who are lippythis patriot is angry at women who are smartthis patriot is angry at women who walk by himthis patriot is calling them tarts bored entitled…
A Modest Proposal for the 21st c.
It’s Monday afternoon, and I’m still buzzing about Saturday’s gig in Wolverhampton. You never really know what’s round the corner when it comes to live poetry events, and there can’t be a poet in the land who hasn’t had to…
in the film ‘The Wild One’, the character played by Marlon Brando is asked what he’s rebelling against.
His reply? “Whadda you got?”
Every now and then I’m introduced to a word or a concept which is so on point that I wonder how on earth I got by without it. There’s a lightbulb moment. It reshapes, ever so slightly, the way I…
This year, I’ve spent more time than ever in fields, earning my crust as a stage manager at music festivals large and small. I’ve watched people of all colours and creeds come together in a shared love of music in…
Yesterday, on Facebook, someone I know posted the usual nonsense about asylum seekers getting free holidays in hotels. The facts don’t back them up, of course, but facts don’t matter in this world where “right or wrong, it’s my opinion”.…
After Glastonbury, I promised myself that once I’d caught up on sleep I’d try and write some kind of analysis of the BBC’s piece about Kneecap’s set at that festival. Sleep’s been a little hard to come by, this being…