Down to Earth

The dream is over. In 2011, 2014 and 2015 i went to Guernsey, to collect poetry prizes won in their competition Poems on the Move. that means the lucky poem goes on a bus, but also gets displayed in the ariport, to greet you as you get off the plane. It has been a lovely ride, and I can't complain, but it's finally over. Ian MacMillan has looked at this year's entry, awareded three prizes and three commendations, with a total of thirty poems being displayed on various buses around the island - and I am nowhere. This is, of course, the defauit position for poetic competitors all over the country. I've been there before, and now i'm back again I dare say I shall survive. I feel slightly more resilient and detached, having had another taste of the process from the other side, shortlisting poems for the Wenlock Poetry Festival so that Don Paterson can decide the winners. three of us looked at 560 poems, and ended up sending DP a batch of twenty. Really pleasant, interesting and time-consuming, but nothing like an exact science. Three other poets might well have come to very different conclusions. We know that before we start, but it does no harm to rediscover it. The competitive icing is tasty and  - in brief doses - a boost for the ego, but its still icing. Back to the cake.  

Poems at the Asylum

It didn't sound promising. Come and do a few poems at a reading in an art gallery. They don't normally do readings. There aren't any chairs. they don't know if there'll be an audience, but they want to try it to see...The invitation came from Emma Purshouse, and that's a good start. she's a terrific performing poet in her own right, but also a warm and generous encourager of other talents. So, i thought, why not? It was cold and draughty, and the weather was foul, but who cares? An amazing mixture, in age, background, style and anything else you care to name, but there was some really good stuff in there, and a positive, supportive atmosphere throughout. Arty experiments can misfire, but this was a fabulous initiative I'd have been desolate to miss. 

This Changes Everything

And it does. That's an outrageously arrogant title for a book, but in the case of Naomi Klein's comprehensive, devastating argument about the conflict between capitalism and the climate, to me it seems entirely justified. as a writer and a person I think she's seriously impressive - always clear and logical, marshalling huge amounts of material, but also with personal touches of activists she's met, experts who've explained things, developments she's witnessed at first hand. she's always positive, looking for the response that will make things better, the tactics that might make a difference, where in many cases my instinctive reaction is to head towards despair. Not because I want to, but because the opposing forces are so powerfully entrenched. Yet again, she has found a way of presenting important arguments that makes them urgent and easy to grasp, without simplifying the issues or taking cheap shots. We're lucky to have her.  

Comprehensives, anyone?

Fascinating article by Kate Pickett in today's Education section of The Guardian, making the case for comprehensive education. Remember that? Everyone's kids get a decent education, and it isn't all about competition or selection.  Treated in the UK as a kind of wild dream, there are places which actually manage this quite efficiently (Finland, for instance) and the long-term gains are substantial - some can even be measured in test scores, though they don't go in for the luidicrous kind of testing we currently inflict on our kids. Pcikett's point is that there's good evidence for this substantial change. But she's only raising the possibility because Jeremy Corbyn sees this as a crucial part of social justice - and that hasn't been true of any Labour leader for more than 20 years. I remember. I saw it happen. And this is so exciting, even as a remote possibility. (No, I don't underestimate the massive forces of privilege and self-interest standing in the way, but it's still good to see the case made.)

Free at Last!

I thought I might never get to write this. Shaker Aamer is going to be freed from Guantanamo. that shouldn't be a surprise, since the Americans decided he wasn't any kind of terrorist threat nine years ago. They've just been hanging on to him because he's a troublesome organiser of prisoners, and might give very embarrassing testimony to UK investigations into our agents' involvement in torture. But it is great news, and a tribute to his enormous courage and willpower, refusing offers to spy for the secret services, and standing up for the rights of prisoners in Guantanamo. Neither of which earn you any rewards in the evil lottery that is the war on terror. Finally, Shaker gets to see his 13 year old son for the first time. Imagine that.

(If you want to do a quick-read revision of what happened to Shaker, the main events are covered in my poem The Ballad of Shaker Aamer, in the poems section of this website.)  

Terrace Cafe, Guernsey

This is me, sitting in the sunshine in Guernsey, having my last meal before returning to the mainland and normal life. Despite gloomy forecasts, we've had the same bright weather that I've experienced both times I've come to Guernsey before. I've heard Neil Innes, Will smith and A.L.Kennedy. I've read poems, written poems and sold poems, i've talked to other poets, local writers, and enthusiastic readers. and I've sat here munching a toasted chicken teryaki sandwich while gazing around at the harbour and the sea. This may well be as good as it gets.   

Media Cynicism

A good example of how the media operate. This is The Guardian guide, previewing a programme about Corbyn's candidacy:
" Something amazing happened after veteran backbencher Jeremy Corbyn entered Labour's leadership race to "broaden the debate." The debate did not broaden. Instead, it narrowed like a halo- or a noose, depending on your position."

Really? Is that what happened? Not from where I sit. Without Corbyn, would the other three candidates really have given us a wider, more interesting debate? Don't think so. He's the one who's changed the atmosphere, raised questions which would otherwise have been ignored, and generated an enthusiasm we thought was confined to supporters of the SNP. He may not win, and he may be wrong on some issues, but he's done wonders for this debate.

Recording 'Canary'

No, not wild life sound effects. 'Canary' is my radio play about electro-sensitivity, and after a series of lucky contacts I went down to Reading for two days to witness it being recorded. James Jerrold got four actors and me to invade his house and traipse through two spare bedrooms (control suite and recording area) in a non-stop buzz of activity. He says he stopped for ten minutes to eat a sandwich, but without documentary proof i'm not convinced. After a massive trawl he'd got down from 700 possibles to an all-star cast of your - who were all sharp, lively and friendly. A joy to work with, and they totally got what the script was about and how it should be read - except that, being actors, they added pauses and inflexions that I hadn't dreamed of. It wasn't as good as i'd hoped - it was much better.      

Writing Heaven

We writers are, it's well documented, an anti-social bunch. Now and again we can be tempted into gatherings, fuelled by drink, where we'll make animated conversation about books which should have been published and competitions we might have won. But our natural habitat is solitude - lots of time, lots of paper, and words buzzing round in our heads. Last week Linda was on a residential singing course, taking the car with her, leaving me marooned in Much Wenlock with an idea for a play. That meant I could extend the dining room table, spread out my notes, and leave them there in state for the rest of the week.  I know there are fancy computer programmes which will do all that for you, but for me nothing beats the beauty of little piles of scribbled notes, marshalled by bright orange post-its. Every morning I woke up to the sound of voices, my imaginary characters getting more voluble by the day. Sheer bliss.  

The Unravelling

"Da'ash (ISIS) is the hideous product of a sacralised determinism born out of secular failure."

When you meet that in the preface of a book, you know you're in the hands of an intellectual. But Emma Sky is a very special kind of intellectual. A Brit civil servant, with a passion for the Middle East, she somehow ends up as the closest aide to the General Odierno, who's leading US troops in Iraq.. He's 6' 5" and she's 5' 4", so the photographs make it look even stranger, but it's actually a beautiful story of friendship, as well as a tough, sad account  of "high hopes and missed opportunities." If you wondered how we got from there to here, and got a bit confused about the various factions involved, this is the book to read. It's not short or snappy, but all the better for that.  It's detailed, intelligent and heartfelt - unforgettable.   

Blair cartoon

There's a brilliant cartoon in today's Guardian (not Steve Bell, for once) showing Tony Blair at his desk, scripting the speech warning Labour not to choose Corbyn as their leader. a message comes through from the Chilcott enquiry, but Blair waves it away "Tell him I'm busy1" Really neat combination of two current news stories, but it also encapsulates Blair's self-importance, that old confidence that he's the right man to decide what the priorities should be. Which is what got us into Iraq in the first place.  

Radio Ballads

Way back in March, I went to hear Peggy Seeger at the Flatpack Festival, talking about the radio ballads. She was wonderful, and emphatic (Peggy is very formidable when she's emphatic) that the way to listen to them was in order. Being a retired person with leisure I went home, ordered the full set, read the book about making them, and then listened to all eight CDs, in order.

She's right. It's a fascinating development, watching these three very different people (Charles Parker, Ewan Maccoll and Seeger herself) develop as individuals and as a team, finding out how they can combine actuality (tape recorded interviews with people, not actors speaking their lines - revolutionary at the time) with folksong and music ( a wide range of instruments, more jazz then folk). Sometimes, as with the ones on teenagers and polio, the actuality is brilliant and the songs don't add much; sometimes - herrign fishing,or travellers - the subject matter produces brilliant songs that sound as if they've been around for ever.

And one of the great themes through the development is Seeger herself, starting as the girl who does the orchestration, but ten getting involved in the interviewing, and the actual scripting of the programmes. I'm so glad I did this. Strongly recommended.    

Sarah Hall

There's nothing quite like the buzz of discovering a new writer. It was nearly three months ago that I read a review of The Wolf Border. I thought "this looks interesting" and ordered it from Much Wenlock library - which is brilliant. As was the book. So I thought I'd look up her back catalogue, and ordered two more. When I went to pick them up, less than a week later, they said "I think there's another one on the shelves." From the photos on the back I'd say she was a bright sixth-former - but then, I am an old retired teacher. she can do anything. Winter on the fells, growing up in a seaside town, working in Coney Island. Single women thinking about having a baby, families, sex, tattooing - you name it. totally versatile, intelligent and rivetting to read. Sadly, I've now read everything she'd done. so don't just sit there, Sarah. Get on and write another one.  

Cameron’s warm words

We’re going to have to live with it. Five more years of Tory rule. It starts, promisingly enough, with warm words from David Cameron. “Reclaim the tradition of one nation Toryism, govern with respect.” Absolutely right. That’s what’s needed, that’s what we want to hear. But five years ago, we wanted to hear that there would be no further top-down reorganisation of the NHS. so that’s what he told us. Remember this? “The test of a good society is how you look after the elderly, the frail, the vulnerable, the poorest…” Cameron again, five years ago, just before the most savage onslaught on the powerless that we’ve ever seen. The snag with Cameron is not what he says. It’s that what he says bears no relation to what he does. On past evidence, you can’t believe a single word. If you want more detail on my post-election thoughts, have a look at The Morning After.

Making the Festival Work

Linda and Dave on one more little chore for WPF

It’s a strange fact about poetry festivals that the nearer you get to the centre of power the less poetry you hear. I have good friends working as dogsbody stewards at readings, getting for free an amazing taste of really good stuff. But here I am at Ground Control, the centre of this poetic universe, despatching runners, answering radios, responding to crises, and not hearing a word of the poems that it’s all about. Ah well. The real grind this year’s been done by Lisa and Jade, who are so overworked they’ve commandeered support from Lisa’s partner Dave and Jade’s mum Linda, also helping out at Ground Control. Talking to them, my five hour stint seems a drop in the ocean. They’ve had months of non-stop work, just to get ready for these two and a bit days of frantic activity. But it’s been brilliant, and even the weather goods have seen fit to defy the forecast. A reward for hours of dedicated work.

Slam Champion

I knew this year’s Wenlock Poetry Festival was going to be a bit special ever since the e-mail asking me if I fancied opening for Michael Rosen. But it just gets better. Because I wanted to publicise my new book Writing for Blockheads, I’d entered the poetry slam (despite saying in said book that I wouldn’t be doing any more slams). Also, I have a recent poem about Hank and Lucinda Williams which I wanted to perform, and that was the ideal setting. I decided to do it first, so that it got its airing even if i was knocked out in the first round. I wasn’t knocked out. There were only eight of us, so we each got two goes (unbelievably civilised for a slam, which are usually ruthless eliminators, often of serious talent). And then I was in the final – with two other guys aged around 60 – and then I’d won. Utterly unexpected, so all the more fun for that. And tomorrow, there’s Michael Rosen and me, and 200 of his fans.

Spinning for a vote

A sad little story tucked away in today’s Observer. Lord Renfrew, a Lib Dem peer, is seething that the government have suppressed and delayed the publication of a report about the EU. It’s packed with evidence provided from British firms about the economic benefits of the UK’s membership of the EU. That’s not at all what the Government wish to see debated in Parliament, or reported in any detail. We shouldn’t be surprised that this goes on, but one of the few benefits of coalition is that now and again a lib Dem is so outraged by what’s happening, that we get to know the truth.

If you’re greedy for more about the lies people will tell to get elected, there’s a poem on my website called Manifesto. You won’t believe it, but every word is true – look up the speech on Google.

Campaign in Poetry

That’s the title of an Emma Press anthology, which arrived on my doormat this morning. I’ve been waiting for this since December, when a friend passed on to me the enticing blurb – “Emma Press goes political”. They were planning two volumes, one on the history of voting, one on the current campaign. The plan was to refute Jeremy Paxman’s sense that contemporary poetry didn’t really engage with the real world.

I doubt he’ll change his mind because of this. It’s one thin volume (£7.50 for thirty pages of poems), And it only mentions three politicians – Alex Salmond, Margaret Thatcher and Barack Obama. Political parties? Oh, yes, the SNP get a mention, but nobody else. When it actually comes to the crunch, of engaging with the business of power in action, most poets don’t want to know.

Nation-building

That’s the title of a long poem, which didn’t exist before this weekend, and is now a chunky first draft of 144 lines, in octosyllabic rhymed couplets. Worse still, it’s about the way in which the West has encouraged the rise of Islamic state, and it works its way through the recent campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but for me it’s the glory of retirement – if I want to devote a whole weekend to an ambitious intellectual project that I’ve set myself, then I can do that. It’s been simmering a while, encouraged by reading Patrick Cockburn’s book, and a Guardian interview with Jon Snow, but this weekend was the moment when it seemed right to sit down and scribble flat out. I’ve had a ball.

Standing for a Seat

For over six months now, I’ve been working with a couple of friends on an election show – two poets and a singer-songwriter, putting together 45 minutes of entertainment about the past, present and possible future of our democracy. Between us, we cover a variety of moods – satirical, whimsical, reflective and sombre. We look at the history of voting, take in Emmeline Pankhurst, Clem Attlee and Tony Blair, as well as Russell Brand and Al Murray. And yes, there’s stuff on Cameron and Miliband, on the Lib Dems, UKIP and the Greens. a lot of it’s light, but it’s not cheap or stupid, and we’ve worked really hard to put it together. We have scripted links and intros, no faffing around wondering what comes next, or that’s the right way to introduce this song…and as we do it, the hours of discussion and rehearsal are definitely worth it, and the packed audience at Eat Up seem to enjoy what they’ve heard. What’s that? Oh yes, you can still catch this show, but not for long. April 17 at Priory Hall Much Wenlock, and May 1 at Victoria Hall, Broseley. 7.30 for both, admission £2.00 – including refreshments.