Nigel Farage said just now on LBC
He’d send his kids to school, happily.
But it’s an easy boast to make
When one of them is 28,
One’s 20 and one’s 31.
What’s the betting that the other one
Is not affected by this rule
Because she attends a private school?
The Daily Mail’s not very nice.
Their front page calls for sacrifice
As the author of this piece implies
That they require a teacher dies.
(Like Sarah Baxter in the Times
Whose journalistic crimes
Set her apart from other writers
When she accused the firefighters
At Grenfell of not acting bravely
But being obsessed with health and safety.
Her reasoning, as supplied
Was that not a single one had died).
As for the Mail’s call to glory,
Economics drives this story
And not the benefits to children
Or the risks to those who teach them,
Many of whom, despite all this,
Have been at work throughout the crisis
As there’s no ruling that forbids
The schooling of key workers’ kids.
The lesson is, as ever, clear:
Teachers, hold your union dear
And be around to tell the tale
Of how you beat the Daily Mail.
Tin foil hat, plastic union jack
Britain First want their virus back
A party in the park for the unbelievers
Some of whom will go home with fevers
Roll up, roll, up, come and see
Their latest conspiracy
Tin foil hat, plastic union jack
Britain First want their virus back
They believe in freedom and sovereignty
They believe in a world that’s vaccine-free
Roll up, roll, up, come and see
Their latest conspiracy
Tin foil hat, plastic union jack
Britain First want their virus back
Attempting poor far-right recruitment
Inventing the UK Freedom Movement
Roll up, roll, up, come and see
Their latest conspiracy
“End the lockdown” say the fash
Come to our Saturday picnic bash
Come and listen to racist speakers
But please try to stay apart two metres
Tin foil hat, plastic union jack
Britain First want their virus back
We turned on our morning radio show
To hear the traffic was running slow
We really didn’t want to go
On the day Johnson that cried “Heigh-Ho”
There’s a one-way system but the canteen’s shut
And social distancing on site’s full of “but”
Who’s ill here? We don’t want to know
On the day that Johnson cried “Heigh-Ho”
Heigh-Ho for shareholder value
Heigh-Ho the many for the few
Heigh-Ho for shareholder value
Heigh-Ho not them but me and you
You should cover your face to get the bus
But it looks like that might be just us
The tube is elbow to elbow
On the day that Johnson cried “Heigh-Ho”
The Commons floor is covered in tape
They’re dialling in to their debates
That’s not an option for many though
On the day that Johnson cried “Heigh-Ho”
Heigh-Ho for shareholder value
Heigh-Ho the many for the few
Heigh-Ho for shareholder value
Heigh-Ho not them but me and you
There’s problems at the Blackwall Tunnel
There’s problems on the A13
There’s problems at Canning Town station
We hear police are on the scene
Heigh-Ho for shareholder value
Heigh-Ho the many for the few
Heigh-Ho for shareholder value
Heigh-Ho not them but me and you
Life under the curve suggests
That we might not be halfway yet
The numbers are gonna continue grow
On the day that Johnson cried “Heigh-Ho”
Heigh-Ho for shareholder value
Heigh-Ho the many for the few
Heigh-Ho for shareholder value
Heigh-Ho not them but me and you
She just wants to know if we’re over the worst
She doesn’t really know what it means to be alert
She doesn’t understand why business comes first
And when it comes to the government’s bluff
It’s either too little, or just not enough
He was reading a story about a company
Whose sole director is the Health Secretary
Whose sole responsibility is PPE
But when it comes to the government’s bluff
It’s either too little, or just not enough
She just wants to know if it’s safe to go to work
She doesn’t really know what it means to be alert
How can you tell if there’s a virus being dispersed?
When it comes to the government’s bluff
It’s either too little, or just not enough
He was reading a story about track and trace
About a phone app that folk were failing to embrace
That didn’t work on older phones in any case
And when it comes to the government’s bluff
It’s either too little, or just not enough
She just wants to know if it’s safe to go out
The media are calling her a lazy layabout
But Stay Alert just fills her full of doubt
‘Cos when it comes to the government’s bluff
It’s either too little, or just not enough
They sat up on Sunday to watch the TV
Looking for comfort from the man on the screen
But now they’re just more scared than they’ve ever been
‘Cos when it came to the government’s bluff
It was too little, and just not enough
Here’s a new slogan
Worse than the last one
From the Cummings Hit Factory
Here’s a miss
Stay alert, by staying at home
But if you can’t work from home
You should stay alert by going to work
But who will look after the kids?
On staying alert by going to work
There’s little advice
Trust your boss to be nice
And not one that takes the piss
On staying alert while travelling to work
Stay alert by not taking the bus to get there
Stay alert by not taking the train to get there
Stay alert by walking or cycling there
Or taking your car and polluting the air
It’s a wonderful strategy, this
A new slogan which without regrets
No longer protects the NHS
Things must be alright, I guess
Or they’re really quite remiss
A new slogan, for England alone
The Scots still get to stay at home
The Welsh and Irish too
Westminster it seems, dismissed
A new slogan, launched with a virus-o-meter
A kind of R-value barometer
Whose needle is quivering permanently
Reflecting government uncertainty
Something’s clearly amiss
So, here’s a new slogan
Worse than the last one
From the Cummings Hit Factory
Here’s a miss
A dose of the Queen or Dame Vera never disappoints
And Johnson on the telly trying to earn Churchill points
With the government and the media to guide us
We can have a day off from fighting the virus
This is England
Where every man’s castle is his home
This is England
And we’ll fight the virus on our own
You must remember when we beat Europe at the war
You must remember the freedoms that we were fighting for
The Italians have the highest European death toll
But we ain’t under EU control
This is England
Where every man’s castle is his home
This is England
And we’ll fight the virus on our own
China gave us warning, but we don’t care
The WHO gave us warning but we don’t care
The Spanish gave us warning but we don’t care
The Italians gave us warning but we don’t care
This is England
Where every man’s castle is his home
This is England
And we’ll fight the virus on our own
Two years ago we celebrated 70 years of the NHS
And where was your bunting, your trestle tables, cucumber sandwiches and the rest?
This is England
Where every man’s castle is his home
This is England
And we’ll fight the virus on our own
She remembers her grandfather’s tales
Of wartime Walthamstow
The siren sound and the queue for the chip shop
That refused to go
A time of national pulling together
The rule-breakers airbrushed from history
And she wonders in 75 years’ time
If this is how they’ll tell her story
He’s got little truck with flags and bunting
Wants his workers’ holiday back
For him it’s just another too cynical
Tory government attack
A time of national coming together
Incompetent donkeys at the helm
And he wonders in 75 years’ time
What kind of stories are they going to tell?
She says can’t you just do it for the kids
A little party we’ll have a nice time
The Europe-wide defeat of fascism
Doesn’t that at least chime?
A time of national coming together
Suffer a little red, white and blue
And I wonder in 75 years’ time
If anyone will remember us too
OK, you’ve got a point I guess
We’ll party for the partisans and the rest
Just don’t expect me to acquiesce
To the Tories setting fireworks for the NHS
And I don’t expect there to be a finale
Of Vera Lynn singing The Internationale
A time of national coming together
I’ll suffer a little red, white and blue
And I wonder in 75 years’ times
If anyone will remember us two
The people Hancock calls “Our NHS”
Are a litany of corporate interests.
For example, here’s a sample:
Deloitte, KPMG, Serco,
Palantir, Mitie, Sodhexo;
Providing PPE, testing, track and trace.
More wrong ‘uns than on Michael Gove’s bookcase.
So, heavy is the heart that understands
That we really are not safe in his hands.
Steve White & The Protest Family 