Democracy on the streets

Britain votes for first ever police commissioners

The Straits Times, 15 November 2012

An invitation to a polling booth

colour coded, red blue yellow green,

a little grey but mostly party boys

looking for yet another stage

to posture on. Why trust them,

these politicos, more than we did

the bureaucrats who were there before?

Will their power to back or sack

a police supremo protect the weak,

the feeble, the poor — or even the rich?

We’d all be safer on the grace

of nosy neighbours and journalists.

Surprised to see a queue at all

let alone a snaking one, I take my place.

The line slithers round the corner

and in the next street I find the queue

is not for the election after all,

but to loot a haemorrhaging

liquor store. I wade in, grab my due,

exercise my voting right at the counter.

(c) 2012 Slush Poet

In the absence of power

Legoland closes due to power failure

Slough Observer, 6 May 2012

The governments of Greece and France have fallen,

their peoples’ power finally failing them,

the aftershocks are felt far away.

In rural Berkshire, loosened foundations

send flurries of PVC masonry tumbling

from scaled-down totems of national grandeur.

A lame Eiffel Tower leans over like Pisa,

the grinning Acropolis requires a dentist.

But the malls of Paris are already braced

for an upsurge in spending, while Athens

squats and strains over Europe’s face.

Who says turkeys don’t vote for thanksgiving?

(c) 2012 Slush Poet

Ministry of Corrections

Who are the Commons moles changing Wikipedia entries?

The Independent, 9 March 2012

The Member for Shipley never told the Sun

that Muslim vandals should fuck off. His words as re-spun

are online and exhibit exemplary tact,

and no one knows who has altered the facts.

The Member for Enfield never flipped her second

home for pecuniary gain. Instead it’s reckoned

her expense claims were both ethical and exact,

and no one knows who has altered the facts.

The former Member for Birmingham Ladywood freely

admits to repaying a paltry amount mistakenly

paid her, but whose mistake is not recalled

and no one knows who has muddied the record.

Someone inside the House has been busy redacting

the past. The question is, for whom were they acting?

(c) 2012 Slush Poet

According to The Independent:

‘An analysis by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism for The Independent has found that MPs and staff working in the House of Commons have been responsible for making nearly 10,000 changes to pages of the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia.’

Six attempts have been made ‘to redact a passage detailing a comment given by the MP Philip Davies [Member for Shipley] to the Sun for a 2006 article claiming that Muslims had been responsible for an act of vandalism. Mr Davies had told the paper: “If there’s anyone who should f**k off it’s the Muslims who do this sort of thing.”’

‘One of the most persistent and successful attempts to edit information was made by Joan Ryan [Member for Enfield until 2010] ... At least 10 attempts have been made from computers in Parliament to remove information about her expenses claims...’

Clare Short, former Member for Birmingham, Ladywood, told The Independent ‘her staff were “angry and protective” about inaccurate and negative entries on her Wikipedia page and said it was quite possible that they have been responsible for the changes’.