Tag Archives: UK Government

Betrayal

Windsurfer
balances
breeze and
sail

Stands
confident in
position
of authority

Refreshed
by spray
on tanned
gym-monkey torso
vanity
justified

Evacuation
of Kabul
stutters
pending
Minister's
approval

Afghan allies
require
visas to
escape
Taliban's
vengeful advance

Windsurfer
gybes
cock-sure
of judgement
power

Calls from
ministry
officials
can wait
their papers
will be read
later

Aircraft
depart
half-empty
such precious
equipment
cannot
be lost

Loyality
to the
democratic
creed
only flows
one-way
and can
cost you
everything

~

n.b. NaPoWriMo 2023. Day 20 prompt take an abstract noun from the list and write in short lines and brief stanzas.

News events here, the resignation of a bully from HM Government, brings to mind his appalling neglect of duty when the USA and British forces were told to flee from Afghanistan, as Taliban forces descended on Kabul.

The man, who was British Foreign Minister at the time of the crisis, refused to return from his holiday in Crete, so he might work closely with officials trying to evacuate translators and other Afghani people, who had worked closely with the UK military forces there.

It is known that the lack of leadership and subsequently poor coordination of resources within the Foreign Office led to the abandonment of men and women, who were later imprisoned, tortured and killed for having worked with the British, who had tried to support USA efforts to bring democracy to the war ravished country.

CLP 21/04/2023

Desert Dust

Shifted from south of the Sahel
Disarmed by Sahara's unruly winds
Riding out the arid rolling waves
Heading north on the Scirocco
Slipping through the wires at Ceuta
Negotiating the Med, island by island
Crossing France, fence by fence
Sleeping by day in shallow ditches
Embarking from Blériot Plage to Blighty
Where your humble lives are valued
As grains of sand

~

n.b. NaPoWriMo 2022 Day Sixteen prompt: write a curtal sonnet. Ten lines tied up by a shorter eleventh, rather than a more conventional fourteen line sonnet.

Here, my curtal sonnet touches on the UK Government announcing a policy to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda where they will be placed in holding centres, rather than working with them on these shores to provide a safe haven. The UK was ranked the 5th wealthiest country in the world in 2020, according to Credit Suisse S.A.

The photograph shows the remains of a rubber dinghy washed up on the coast, the sort of fragile craft smugglers use to get people to England regardless of risk.

CLP 18/04/2020