Inspired by the Salvation Army I think I've given Gustav Holst and Christina Rossetti a run for their money.
In the bleak mid-winter
Doorway for a home
Cold and wet and hungry
Christmas Day alone;
Veteran of country’s wars
With PTSD
Nation of the caring
Nation of the free.
In the bleak mid-winter
Low as low can get
Simply one of many
Slipping through the net;
Life beyond our bubble
We’re too blind to see
Ne’ery thought nor thankful
It’s not you or me.
No words 😔😡😢
Thankyou for your thoughts, Patricia and Stefan Wilde and MC. And for the Like, Pete,
Holst's musical setting of this Christmas carol has remained
a favourite. JC's ascerbic adaptation underlines its worth.
The "good will" exists in most on an individual basis and it's facile to portray the people of this island nation as "uncaring".
But, on the other hand, good governance is another matter
that has been sadly lacking in recent decades. Putting one's own house in order has always been the logical resort and
that simple aphorism has been signally ignored by those
who seem to think they owe the world and its dog a
home and a living. We are being cruel to our own in the
desperate desire to be kind to the rest. Reality seems an
unattractive proposition for such as they and the most
vulnerable fo our own people suffer from their virtue-signalling vanity.
<Deleted User> (34737)
Wed 21st Dec 2022 11:10
shame on us and our blind eyes and minds
Many thanks for your thoughts, Keith, Uilleam, Flyntland, Leon and Stephen. And for the Like, Bethany.
As seems to frequently happen this post has experienced creep with the issue of immigration raising its divisive head.
My own view is that the country needs a joined-up immigration policy which it doesn’t currently have, pinning its hopes on the Rwanda option, which, I suspect, will never get off the ground despite the recent legal finding.
But that policy ought to recognise the need we currently have for immigration. “Recruiting now” signs are all over the place. Hardly objective evidence I know but this is. The ONS identified that there are 1.3m job vacancies in the UK at the minute. Now call me simple minded if you will but isn’t the problem and the solution one and the same?
And you are quite right, Stephen. In another hand God might have dealt we could just as easily by that guy in the doorway or that brown guy in the boat.
Thank you, John. I never cease to say 'there but for the grace of God go I' every Christmas.
Tue 20th Dec 2022 20:55
Thank you John, for your part in expressing an unpalatable truth about our society.
Those whose bodies and minds are broken through conflict are now, as ever, thrown on the scrap heap.
I remember the scandalous news from a few years ago, about the sub-standard, unhealthy accommodation which forces families had to endure, (and still endure?)
I understand the anger about" immigrants and the workshy".
But I beg everyone: don't distract from the government's failings by taking it out on others, many of whom are in genuine need.
💓
<Deleted User> (34685)
Tue 20th Dec 2022 20:16
John I will never ever believe that we can't treat our service personnel any better than this! Makes me so fucking livid!
surely to god we don't need to be told what these guys have been and are still going through.
And in the meantime millions of the workshy continue taking the fucking piss! The sooner they get these lazies of their doped or drunken arses and use THAT money for people who MORE than deserve it-the better! FUCKING LIVID!
LS
A bleak poem covering a bleak subject
Keith are you sure that the immigrants are illegal? crossing the Channel to seek asylam is not illegal. and the fact that they are in hotels means that they have not yet been processd so neither you nor I know if they have a right to stay or not, In the latest tradgedy most of the assylam seekers came from Afghanistan and were fleeing from terror. What would we do in their shoes?
The problem is one of processing - if it were speeded up those without good reason to be here could be sent back ASAP- and those who stay could work as they clearly want to.
The family who gave themselves up in our village (I live near one of the main entry points for small boats) were people just like us - polite and well behaved. Spite if you like -I will weep.
A Christmas poem which highlights what we would rather not see or hear. 2,500 ex servicemen sleeping rough, the elderly and unemployed going to Food Banks and Warm Banks in a country which is a member of the G7. Then we see 419 hotels requisitioned by the Government to accommodate illegal immigrants in the warmth and comfort with three meals a day and free access to all medical services. And all in the Bleak Mid Winter. I could spit blood.
Keith
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John Coopey
Wed 21st Dec 2022 23:36
Thankyou, Julie. I now wish I hadn’t made reference to PTSD. It is too specific in the type of vagrant. I was writing about any and all of them. And thanks for the Likes, Stephen A, Bethany and Holden.