Tweet      12th of November Too many flags Too many wreaths flying and furled circles and sheaths symbols of power and Babel’s tower Too many widows Too much unsolaced grief Too many pipes Too many drums militant skirl bellicose beat marching in lines laying down mines Too wedded to war To demand that peace [...]

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Tweet                         Forget Me Not   Remembrance Day Etched in unforgiving stone The Glorious Dead implacable stands alone washed in rain and bitter tears blood red poppies do not atone across the bitter years the sadness and the loss As each November nears we mourn our honoured dead with military pomp and easy prayers power [...]

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Tweet      Birdsong – Philip Martin (BAFTA Preview 11.01.12) Back in the day when the Rolls Royce was the iconic symbol of engineering excellence and ultimate emblem of wealth, a rich customer visited the Rolls Royce factory to check on progress with his personal, hand-finished car and was shown round by the chief engineer. [...]

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Tweet    To the tune of Buffy Sainte Marie’s song – Universal Soldier   The Universal Trader   He wears pinstripe suits and shiny shiny shoes He deals in death for all and every cause He sells to everyone, there’s no one cannot buy He’s supplier to a thousand wars   He sells to Muslims [...]

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Tweet      Remembrance Day Etched in unforgiving stone The Glorious Dead implacable stands alone washed in rain and bitter tears blood red poppies do not atone across the bitter years the sadness and the loss As each November nears we mourn our honoured dead with military pomp and easy prayers power privilege and marching [...]

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Tweet    For those without religious belief who gave their lives and those who mourn them.   If There Is No Eden If there is no Eden no paradise to be where shall rest the solace that sets our grieving free No hymns of praise console us still less serried bands the pomp and circumstance [...]

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Tweet   The Messenger – Oren Moverman Army ownership is eternal. They own your body and a significant chunk of your mind in life; they own your death, from the event through to your funeral and burial; and they own your memory – the how and why you died; the what and why of your [...]

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Tweet    My Son I taught my son to walk by instinct he could cry you taught him how to march how to kill, how to die I taught my son to talk by instinct he could think you taught him to say ‘sir’ to withstand pain, not blink I taught my son to ride [...]

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Tweet The Hurt Locker – Kathryn Bigelow Maybe my last war film: willingly seen. As a reviewer I guess I may need to go to future war movies: but I am weary of them. It has all been said. War is a hell that offers the ultimate challenge to a certain concept of courage – [...]

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TweetSong of Innocence There are no bad children (Chorus) Born into the world We show them how to hate Teach them how to kill This madness has to stop Before it is too late And the best of us Are lying cold and still He swaggers, rifle at his hip Terrified, the watchers catch their [...]

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