This blog has been in place long enough now, with over 11000 subscribers, that I feel I don’t really need to explain why I am doing it. As an introduction, however, maybe I should just explain the logic of its structure.
The Poetry section is really what this blog is all about, and I include in that the Songs which are just poems set to music, of course. The Songs have become a serious – almost obsessive – challenge to me as, by definition, they take more thought, work and time to produce.
Then follows the Commentary section. Every now and then something appears in the Media which I feel I should comment on without having the luxury to wait for a poem to be excreted from my brain. I have, in the past, been asked to write poems on specific subjects, but the best I have ever done is a couple of days, by which time any “news” story may have disappeared from collective interest.
Then there are Campaigns. I have to put reform of the UK prison and “justice” systems at the top of the list, “justice” being in inverted commas because, in many cases, that is precisely the system does not produce. I am a committee Member of Progressing Prisoners Maintaining Innocence and a member of the Howard League for Prison Reform, and help out in various situations wherever and whenever I can.
There are, of course, many things I would like to see in the UK , Europe and the rest of the world improved in the world. In terms of ideas I have been a passionate supporter of the European Union for many years; indeed very much prior to the first referendum in 1975 and despite the second referendum in 2016. I am also a moderate vegan, a republican and a humanist. These are positions that I am happy to discuss with any reasonable person, whether they agree with me or not.
Glad to see you quite cheerful —– your homepage is interesting and I am agree with for changing the “home”.
Thank you…though not too sure of your identity!