Budget Day, July 8th, 2015
Chris Norris

Elsewhere the last few life-hopes fade and die.
  It’s all there in your red attaché-case.
For now’s your glory-day, so hold it high.

Just please the fat cats and the CBI
  And you’ll have no more conscience-calls to face.
Elsewhere the last few life-hopes fade and die.

That lot, who once just managed to get by
  Won’t now, but that’s their own, not your disgrace
For now’s your glory-day, so hold it high.

Just get the Mail to stop them asking why
  They always lose, or if you’ve fixed the race.
Elsewhere the last few life-hopes fade and die.

What dies in them is all that goes awry
  When they’re routinely caught out at first base.
But now’s your glory-day so hold it high.

Just get the Sun to say they’re all work-shy
  And then get all the loan-sharks on their case.
Elsewhere the last few life-hopes fade and die.

If that lot cut up rough, you can rely
  On Channel Four to keep them in their place
After your glory-day, so hold it high.

And if some others say you’re a bad guy,
  Trust Murdoch to ensure they get no space.
Elsewhere the last few life-hopes fade and die.

So long as there’s no lie-machine to vie
  With his, your lies are those that set the pace.
But now’s your glory-day so hold it high,

That red attaché-case, lest any try
  To question plans your banker-friends embrace.
Elsewhere the last few life-hopes fade and die.

Should there be hold-out hopers who decry
  Those policies, just sink them without trace
For now’s your glory-day, so lift it high.

Maybe some few on your own side will shy
  From deeper cuts, but still you hold the ace.
Elsewhere the last few life-hopes fade and die.

If they protest, then do it on the sly:
  You’re Oxford-bred, just smooth-talk them by grace
Of this your glory-day, and lift it high.

No matter if you don’t see eye-to-eye
  With some soft-hearted wielder of the mace:
Elsewhere the last few life-hopes fade and die.

Truth is, your current budget’s just a dry-
  Run raid on nine tenths of the populace
For this your glory-day, so hold it high.

Neat trick, the one that lets you re-apply
  ‘Austerity’ to have the term erase
Those last few life-hopes that now fade and die.

Just tell the plebs they’re welcome to defy
  Your new poor-laws but it’s the poor you’ll chase
On this your glory-day. So hold it high:
  Elsewhere the last few life-hopes fade and die.

Christopher Norris is Professor in Philosophy at the University of Cardiff, Wales. His writings include poetry and more than thirty books on aspects of philosophy, politics, and literary theory. He has sung for thirty years with Cor Cochion Caerdydd, the Cardiff-based socialist campaigning street-choir.

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