The Mourning After...

Well, I knew the odds were in favour of a Tory majority but I didn’t see this landslide coming at all. Whatever residual slim hopes I had for a hung parliament pretty much perished with the exit poll at 10.00pm and, after that, the horrors just kept piling on.

I kept the radio on throughout the night – and I reckon I managed about 3 hours sleep, dozing sporadically as I listened to the results coming in.

Today I’m tired, tearful, baffled, befuddled, angry and angst-ridden. I find it astonishing that the nation would willingly vote to inflict harm on itself in this way. I fear the pain is only just beginning.

The mood at work was pretty sombre but my excellent colleague Natalie raised everyone’s spirits with her fabulous choice of headgear, pictured above. Thanks to her for managing to put a smile on my face!

So now I suppose we need to take a deep breath, regroup, and carry on with the job of defending all the things I mentioned in yesterday’s journal entry; all the things I cherish about this country – and the very things that my fellow electors (at least the ones in England...) have seen fit to put at even greater risk. The NHS, social care, education, decent affordable housing, the environment, equality and human rights, freedom of movement... truth, honesty and decency. 

I’ve got 3 tunes to share with you today because… why not?!

I know I’ve linked to this before but it definitely bears a repeat listen today. It’s ‘Vote for Me’ by The Specials, from the comeback album of the year, ‘Encore’… www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC212Dm-gFU

“You're all so drunk on money and power,
Inside your ivory tower,
Teaching us not to be smart.
Making laws that serve to protect you,
But we will never forget you
Tore our families apart…”

The song I (quite literally) found myself singing as I lay in bed this morning, reluctant to drag myself to work, dates from the 1640s (the English Civil War years…) and was written by Gerrard Winstanley of the proto-anarcho-socialist-hippie dissenters known as The Diggers. It’s been recorded by various people, including Chumbawamba, but the first version I ever heard was by Leon Rosselson and Roy Bailey, so here it is! www.youtube.com/watch?v=414FNKlrrbE

“...the gentry must come down and the poor shall wear the crown,
Stand up now Diggers all!”

And the song I (again, quite literally) sang to myself as I got dressed was ‘Man in Black’ by Johnny Cash https://youtube.com/watch?v=t51MHUENlAQ

“Well, there's things that never will be right I know,
And things need changin' everywhere you go,
But 'til we start to make a move to make a few things right,
You'll never see me wear a suit of white.
I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything's OK,
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
‘Til things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black.”