Well I wove the rope and I picked the spot
Well I struck out my neck and I tightened the knot
O stranger, stranger, Im near out of time

Richard Thompson

 

This is no country for young men

Men who will not bend to every fashion and whim

Men who cannot abide the gig economy, zero hours contracts

All Thatcher's legacy, a poisoned chalice.

Men do not like being lectured to, hectored at

Spat at: despised. And so our young men

Are killing themselves in record numbers - three 

Times as many men as women, more and more

Each year. The biggest cause of death amongst men

Between 20 and 49. Is it my son or yours who's next

In the line?  These deserters from the battlefield of life

Not cushioned by money, not cushioned by care, 

Bereft of reassurance, the help of a true friend

Men with a crushing inner pain, men who never complain

Never go to the docs, terrified of weakness. Images

Of the non-existent macho muscle man  were crammed into Jimmy's

Head. And now the lad's dead. And what do we do?

Nothing. Absolutelyfucking nothing at all. Nada. No.

For Jimmy knew to use the knife to cut along the vein 

Not cut across the wrist like the amateurs usually do.  

And, unlike most things in Jimmy's life, the cut worked.