3272 - In cold flat

Woke up real late, about ten, but since then
I've done quite a lot, and brain's sleepy now
Finished 'In Cold Blood' started end of June
My progress through it has been rather slow
But it was a good read. Long tome ago
Before I was born, a terrible crime
Was done in Kansas, people said, 'Oh no!
The poor Clutters!' They met their hanging time
After 5 years on Death Row, pantomime
Of appeals exhausted, as despised men
But Capote had interviewed them so
Extensively, this book really does chime
With crime fans and more serious readers when
He probes and seems to take us there somehow

3242 - Poor young soul

Straight after work I went to Home, the new
Trendy cinema, the new Cornerhouse
In Tony Wilson Place (ha ha!), and you
Know it's near the 'Hacienda' flats that house
The spawn of the rich, beards and lower face
With hairy covering, and the men too
Why did I go to Tony Wilson Place?
To see the film 'bout Amy You-Know-Who
It was fun watching clips when she would do
Her fun teenage stuff, but it seemed although
She was a top singer from those young years
With good friends, she needed weed and booze too
Everything else was bound to happen to
Her, talent notwithstanding, poor lil mouse

3236 - Is it safe?

Been to see Josie, and her mum with her
Broken back in a brace, recovering
Or trying to, while perched on the sofa
Didn't go to Manchester, worrying
About terrorist attacks is spreading
Her mum and her were worried of the threat
Especially in Ramadan, with frightening
Reports on the news of some beheaded
Victim, or a mosque bombed, or beach of death
So went to Heaton Chapel, big dinner
(Lunch) and cheesecake, my stomach was hurting
Couldn't finish my Coke. Then to Stockport
Wandered round the shops and sat in Costa
Pleased that tonight, from drink I'm abstaining

3219 - Through the media darkly

Very tired, often am in midsummer
When those light mornings get inside my mind
Spent what seemed like hours listening to the
Night-time radio, hearing horror of blind
Hate and sexism in Middle East land
I think that made it hard for me to drop
Off for a while, so hard to understand
But how much do we really know from top
To bottom, is it all bad or to stop
Believing what you hear and see, media
Bias towards the west we understand
Can prevent the whole truth being served up
Life is chaos, it's very rarely fair
All we can do is work hard til the end

3144 - Deep dive

Off out shortly, but what to say just now
In my attempt to get this written quick?
What's in the news? That sad story of how
The German pilot took his plane down with
Passengers, into the French Alps, quite sick
In the head to take so many others'
Lives. Why not just take his own? A cynic
Might say he was vain, tried to make the news
Be remembered for something. No excuse
Can justify that evil action, though.
But sometimes sickness wins over logic
And right and wrong, causes us to abuse
Others who are innocent, make them bow
Their heads, randomly chosen for the stick

3116 - Cell bent

Jihadi John's identity revealed
He's now a halal butcher, human meat
Meanwhile Gary Glitter is once more jailed
Do you wanna be in my cell, eh mate?
Ed Gastricband's sloganeering now starts
In earnest, how long's he waited to come
Up with eye-catching ideas for your vote?
Meanwhile the incumbent, Dave Cameron
Is willing to debate with Gastricband
But not Farage, his fear barely concealed
Of being made to look a fool, being beat
By the UKIP man. Oh dear - Spock has gone
Where's Spock, indeed, Spizz Energi! He's keeled
Over, his ears have curled, his voyage complete

3114 - Bloody hell

I've been out twice today, first time with work
After a planning meeting, then a meal
Followed by drinks combined with lots of talk
A few drinks in me but tried to conceal
Any desire for more, back home to 'heal'
Then out again, met Helen down the road
She drove me into town, the plan was we'll
Watch 'Bad Language' which we did til she goed
But gave me a lift back, which worked out good
Caught the end of Wolf Hall, and saw the hack
Of the sword on Anne Boleyn, it felt real
And strangely topical, barbaric blood-
shed on some powerful man's whim who stalked
The land dealing death, smiles as blood congealed

3092 - Uncaged comedy

A terrible news story with ISIS
Also known as Islamic State, burning
A Jordanian pilot in a cage. It's
Hard to believe these days it's happening
Although it's not easy simply turning
One's mind away from that and going to
A comedy night, that's what I'm planning
It should be good though - Dave is 52
Well maybe not that old, but looks it though
Tonight I'll once more be taking the piss
Out of ebola, and news predicting
Its global spread, threatening me and you
Its naughty but that's comedy, I guess
You have to do some envelope pushing

3079 - The so-called so-called

I haven't written much so far about
The 'so-called Islamic' threat to our lives
I must admit there's danger all about
From Muslims as from ebola and hives
And suddenly getting a bunch of fives
Or is there? No, probably not. But they sneered
At Churchill as he warned, like nagging wives
They said, 'Let's be nice' and the noise of jeers
Was deafening, until the Panzers steered
Across the border into Poland. Flout
The lessons of history, stay not alive!
Or stay not free! These worries now appear
I think things may eventually work out
But to be destructive, so many strive!

3066 - Poor people of Paris

Sad news about the killings in Paris
Religion strikes again, closed mind syndrome
A schizophrenic world-view, a virus
Which glorifies death and thy kingdom come
Let's not say that this is only Islam
There's been enough crusading previously
And it's not limited to religion
There's political ideology
That divides and rules with philosophy
No matter what we believe, seems we must
Resign ourselves to conflict both at home
And abroad. Education is a key
But what philosophy lies behind this
And must it always be liberalism?

2919 - Goodbyeeeee

Oh well, here we are, one more day is gone
Everyone's agonising over the
Death of Robin Williams, yes, he was one
Of a kind, stand-up genius, what can you
Say? Apart from that, life goes on, oh yeah
What is there to say? Nothing, I would say
So let's carry on, try not to despair
No, let's instead try hard to say hurray
Why, I'm not sure, but we are here today
So while we're here, we must just carry on
Of course, there have been great people, no more
With us, but there are new people always
Let's look forward, let's not worry, move on
And so a day ends, does anyone care?

2852 - Peril on TV

It's the 70th anniversary
Of D-Day, and the hymns are being sung
While veterans all now aged around 90
Stand in the Arromanches afternoon sun
That last hymn was 'for those in peril on
The sea' - a hymn we often sang at school
Little knowing this was advance training
For a time when (maybe they thought) our rule
Would be under threat in war, and we'd all
Yet again have to board the warships, be
In 'peril' ourselves, dying protecting
Someone else's property, made to kill
Or be killed. I hope the schools of today
Don't still sing that psycho-warmongering

2787 - Tickly cough

Do aliens live out there in Saturn's rings
Or on its moons where oceans lie beneath
Or how 'bout one of those disks orbiting
The giant red-eyed Jupiter, it's breath
Perhaps warming those icy spheres where death
Is larger than life, as it mostly is
Apart from here on this blue planet Earth
Where every nook, every peak's touched by us
Directly with grubby greedy fingers
Or indirectly by the poisoning
Half-human wind that's now polluting both
The thing we don't value, the wilderness
And the thing we do, ourselves, and as spring
Heats up the sour air, we gasp for breath

2785 - The game of life

I'm going to miss the Man United game
Or most of it, at any rate, due to
A regular fun night, that's what's to blame
Worst Comedy Night in Salford, I'm due
At in a few minutes. Must find my shoe
And my other one, too, and put them on
Walk down Oldfield Road, Chapel Street, then go
Left up Bloom Street, get one or two pints in
At the King's Arms, then with Dermot, make an
Arse of myself. And why not? There's no shame
In it, it's fun, usually, except a few
Times when we die, but the resurrection
Can sometimes happen to us mere humanes
That was a crap rhyme, so what, hey, fuck you!

2472 - Chop phooey

Trial spotlight on a 'Soldier of Allah'
Father of six who chopped a man to death
His youngest had been born four days before
But still he did that, and hoped police would get
Him and kill him too, martyr him, he said
This is how crazy religion can be
A substitute for fascism, a dread
Manipulator of soul and memory
A perverter of our identity
Licence to become executioner
Validator of voices in the head
How violence gains respectability
A myth that the poor are rich, rich are poor
A promise of wealth - after you are dead

2469 - Three types of death

Last night I turned on the TV at ten
To watch the news just before Question Time
After a long play on my guitar, when
I saw that Nelson Mandela, that fine
Leader of South Africa, had declined
And died that evening, tributes flowed freely
This evening the World Cup draw almost signed
England's death warrant. They play Italy
In Manaus, Brazil's hot jungle city
Then down to Sao Paulo, struggle again
Against seeds Uruguay, and then more flying
To Belo Horizonte, bit more easy
This time, Costa Rica they're up against
Feedback not good for act on 29th

2456 - Thoughts Direct

After I've done this, it's time then to play
My harmonica on its brand new stand
Having read more of 'Tom Jones' as each day
I race towards the not-so-far-off end
Also bought new clothes with minimum spend
At Sports Direct, where I just bought a coat
For winter, only twenty quid, oh, and
Five pairs of dark blue socks. Derby have beat
Bournemouth away, and are now just one point
From the Championship play-off. Please don't send
Rain to Rams' matches though, Steve won't get soaked
He'll stand under a brolly (the wally!)
Tonight there's a film about JFK
(His death, of course, which we don't understand...)

2455 - Brain Dallas Surgery

It's 50 years since JFK was shot
A programme's on at 9 with George Clooney
(No doubt, a fan who liked old Jack a lot)
Lee Harvey Oswald was a red loony
So they say, with a Russian wife in the
Old Cold War, for God's sake, with a good aim
Hit JFK once, but not lethally
But who was it that shot him in the brain?
One theory is a Secret Service man
In the car behind ballsed-up big time, popped
A dum-dum bullet accidentally
Into the president's head. In no time
The Secret Service covered up the lot
Beginning with the vital autopsy

2445 - News of the whirlwind

The massive typhoon hit the Philippines
The island of Leyte lies to the east
Taking the full force of Pacific winds
Leaving little of houses on the coast
Roofs ripped off, removed by the roaring blast
Families torn apart between live and dead
Sadly the aid can't get through very fast
But at least today the death toll has had
A reduction from around ten thousand
To two thousand five hundred, which has been
A relief. Other news being discussed
The Egyptian night-time curfew lifted
High energy prices, one of the themes
I also see there's discontent in France

2406 - The slick and the dead

News round-up - two separate kids killed by their
Evil mothers, heartbreaking to look at
The newspaper pictures as the kids stare
At us, making us feel guilt. Did we let
This happen? Are we to blame for that shit?
Also, we've recently had the party
Conferences, trotting out policies that
Are designed to win votes. Take the Tories
Who met in Manchester, and think that we
Will all support benefit cuts. But there
Are so many on various benefits
All of whom won't vote for that - no turkey
Votes for Christmas. The Tories maybe fear
Annihilation at the polls. Too right!