Condescending Mogg at his condescending best Says leg before wicket is the best test Of whether Spaffer’s lying He’s on the offensive no forward defensive stroke this He’s taking the piss And not even trying
The Minister for Lack of Opportunity for Our Community Is here to spar with Marr It’s infuriating so far His relying on denying Crying speculation And irrespective of the effect of his words Encourages perspective About Marr’s father dying And Partygate
For Mogg it’s just a game These people have no shame
Canterbury’s putting up resistance To the ungodly policy of offshore asylum Love thy neighbour but only from a distance Sounding Johnson’s Operation Red Meat siren
But Castle’s voice from the pews cried we tithed for our views And we don’t like change around here You shouldn’t get to choose your country of refuge And Rwanda’s very nice this time of year we hear
So Secretary Patel issued ministerial direction To whistle up the dog a fascist bone Of immigration by racial selection A one-way ticket or a middle-class home
More folk will die of Covid in 2022 Than seek asylum in this green and pleasant land Swiftly and humanely removed is the clue To the Easter politics of the damned
Canterbury’s putting up resistance But Johnson and Patel just say screw ya We’re loving our neighbours but only at a distance And Mogg tweeted Alleluia
Did you ever while away a childhood hour Imagining your very own superpower? But never able to scratch that itch ‘Cos superpower’s reserved for the super-rich
Batman’s a toff, the stuff he’s got Bet he don’t pay tax on half that lot But if the city upped the ante And binned the vigilante They could fund the GCPD Properly (Commissioner Gordon would be proud)
Superheroes, supervillains, they’re just products of the system Superheroes, supervillains, they’re just products of the system
Ironman’s a toff, the stuff he’s got Bet he don’t pay tax on half that lot ‘Cos Stark Industries’ A monopoly With sights on the whole defence Industry (He’s got a military industrial complex)
Superheroes, supervillains, they’re just products of the system Superheroes, supervillains, they’re just products of the system
Andrew’s a toff, the stuff he’s got Livin’ off tax paid by you lot Touches who he wants With impunity ‘Cos his superpower’s unaccountability (On account of his mum being Queen)
Superheroes, supervillains, they’re just products of the system Superheroes, supervillains, they’re just products of the system
Our superpower’s sharing, our superpower’s caring Our superpower’s looking out for one another Our superpower’s sharing, our superpower’s caring Our superpower’s looking out for one another
Jacob’s a toff, the stuff he’s got Bet he don’t pay tax on half that lot His hedge fund’s laughin’ While other folk are starvin’ His superpower’s alarming, while his wealth he’s guarding (He just doesn’t see poor people)
Superheroes, supervillains, they’re just products of the system Superheroes, supervillains, they’re just products of the system
Hand over the keys to the Batmobile Built by our labour of hand and brain And hand over the iron suit too We don’t want to see your superhero arses round here again
Superheroes, supervillains, they’re just products of the system Superheroes, supervillains, they’re just products of the system
Born in Hammersmith Went to school at Eton Then Trinity College Oxford Presided over the Tory Association Went into the City Started a hedge fund Amassed what they call A significant fortune Estimated worth 150 million Married into money Helen The Chair A mate of his sister’s Who was always there
Jacob’s fish are happy fish Jacob’s fish are happy fish Jacob’s fish are happy fish Jacob’s fish are happy fish
Moved into politics In ‘97 Didn’t get elected then Or even at the next ‘un In Scotland they though he was Too posh Canvassing with nanny Got a resounding 9% Fuck off, toff Complained to Piggy Cameron That his quotas weren’t right Said parliament oughta be 95% white Nicked a speech off Trevor Kavanagh Faked an interview and then Got a seat in North East Somerset In 2010
Jacob’s fish are happy fish Jacob’s fish are happy fish Jacob’s fish are happy fish Jacob’s fish are happy fish
In parliament he became King of the filibuster Thought he was funny With his history and verse Holding the record in the Commons For the longest word spoken But spoke other words That were even worse Addressing members of the far-right Traditional Britain society Who would have some of us Made deportees And said quarter of a million quid Spent on MPs portraits Was just chicken feed
Jacob’s fish are happy fish Jacob’s fish are happy fish Jacob’s fish are happy fish Jacob’s fish are happy fish
He got a hand up into government From a fellow Old Etonian Leader of the House of Commons, no less Then was kept away from the mics and the cameras After he said the Grenfell victims Lacked common sense Now , chief Eurosceptic Out of all the Eurosceptics Said Trump will be our best ally After Brexit He likes Brits to be Brits And the poor to be poor And says gay marriage Still breaks the church’s law
Jacob’s fish are happy fish Jacob’s fish are happy fish Jacob’s fish are happy fish Jacob’s fish are happy fish
He broke the lockdown rules ‘Cos he prefers a Latin mass His relationship with god Is more important, more pious Than your relationship With coronavirus He wasn’t born to follow He was born to lead And his vicious defence of the status quo Is just born of greed
Jacob’s fish are happy fish Jacob’s fish are happy fish Jacob’s fish are happy fish Jacob’s fish are happy fish But Jacob can just fuck off
You can’t trust Bozo to squash a sombrero
You can’t trust Matt with an app
You can’t trust Dominic to take a knee
Or any of the three with PPE
You can’t trust Bozo to squash a sombrero
You can’t trust Matt with an app
You can’t trust Jacob not to take a nap
Or any of that world beating crap
You can’t trust anything they do or say
I never trusted Tories anyway
You can’t trust Bozo to squash a sombrero
You can’t trust Matt with an app
You can’t trust Dominic with an eyetest
You can’t trust Priti in the slightest
You can’t trust Bozo to squash a sombrero
You can’t trust Matt with an app
You can’t trust Rishi with the dinero
Or any of that world-beating crap
Ideology or incompetence, you choose
Whichever way your coin toss lands
It’s heads they win and tails you lose
You can’t trust Bozo to squash a sombrero
You can’t trust Matt with an app
You can’t trust Michael with anything vital
Or any of that world-beating crap
You can’t trust Bozo to squash a sombrero
You can’t trust Matt with an app
You can’t trust Gavin with your schools
You can’t trust this cabinet of fools
You can’t trust Bozo to squash a sombrero
You can’t trust Matt with an app
You can’t trust Grant, you just can’t
And none of that world-beating crap
You can’t trust anything they do or say
I never trusted Tories anyway
You can’t trust Bozo to squash a sombrero
You can’t trust Matt with an app
You can’t trust Michael with anything vital
Or any of that world-beating crap
Outside a crowd is shouting about what it really means to be black.
Inside Rees-Mogg’s campaigning to get his voting traditions back.
(It’s a matter of priorities
And MPs with propensities
For higher risk of the disease
Are not one of his).
And how many of the inside crowd
No longer say the words out loud,
The traders and the bankers
Who were “All Lives Matter” wankers.
Who’s to be shamed
Into actual change?
When the most police stops for COVID-19
To slow spread in the community
Are of people who are BAME
While Dominic Cummings gets off scot-free.
A union jack in a profile picture
Guarantees a negative response.
Who cares if the UK’s sicker?
Or the spread is quicker?
The inequality slicker?
And thicker?
If that’s what the Tommylicker thinks he wants.
They might say
That we’ve come a long way
To make society better,
To ease the virus pressure.
(While ignoring the disease unfortunately
Affects black people disproportionately).
But the people and the science both know
That we’ve still got some way to go.
While Boris is taking short walks around the ward
And the economy is frantically hurtling toward
A crisis likes of which we can ill afford
Jacob’s making money with his hedge fund
While doctors and nurses are dying for their labour
No thought for their safety as they try to save their neighbour
A crisis from the likes of which we all need a saviour
Jacob’s making money with his hedge fund
A hedge fund ain’t for the likes of you and me
A hedge fund to the key worker is still a mystery
A hedge fund makes a profit on other people’s misery
And Jacobs making money with his hedge fund
While bus drivers are dying taking key workers to work
And the death toll is rising every day just like clockwork
It’s a crisis from the likes of which no minister should shirk
And Jacobs making money with his hedge fund
A hedge fund ain’t for the likes of you and me
A hedge fund to the key worker is still a mystery
A hedge fund makes a profit on other people’s misery
And Jacobs making money with his hedge fund
If you’re having a bad day
He’s having a good day
If you’re having a bad day
He’s having a good day
If you’re having a bad day
He’s having a good day
‘Cos Jacob’s making money with his hedge fund
The Trussell Trust opened their first food bank in the UK in Salisbury in 2000, by 2004 there were two. Today, after nearly a decade of austerity, there are thousands [1], and their use, as difficult, demoralising, humiliating as it is for some, has become normal. The role of the state to protect the food security of its people has been abrogated in favour of the kindness of strangers, the rise of food banks applauded in some circles as growth in the power of community organising and on the right as demonstration of the success of a small state, Blair’s third sector, Cameron’s big society. [2]
Worse: in-work poverty. The number of people qualifying for the support of food banks who actually have jobs but are paid so poorly, often by super-rich multi-national corporations, that they’re forced to rely on charity for food, toiletries, sanitary products. You might as well pay for your basket of shopping at the checkout then put it all straight back on the shelves. This is life at the coalface of capitalism, this year’s ragged-trousered philanthropists work in call centres and supermarkets.
We Shall Overcome, now in it’s fifth year, offers a raised fist and a helping hand, and the helping hand, directed by local organisers, artists and promoters has often been held out to food banks, a direct interface with some of those hardest hit by austerity.
As for the raised fist: now’s the time. We stand on the threshold of major change if Labour are successful in next month’s general election. Joe Solo and Grace Petrie are hitting the road supporting CLPs, the Protest Family still slip from venue to picket line to fundraiser. While others pontificate about polls and parliamentary arithmetic, WSO activists are focussing their energy on the real possibility of a better world. Sociologist Janet Poppendieck warned that the institutionalisation of food banks can be difficult to resist and overturn. [3] We have a chance to prove her wrong, to consign Food Bank Britain to the dustbin of history.
Whether our next WSO gig, on 14th December, turns out to be a celebration or a show of solidarity in the face of future uncertainty is yet to be seen. What’s clear is the helping hand will still be required, so please, fill the venue, fill the bucket, fill your soul with music and common purpose, it promises to be something of an occasion whatever happens.
Here are some statistics from our local food bank, Eat or Heat, a non-political organisation keeping people alive in our small but perfectly formed piece of east London. And what they say is this: from Stellaville to Iain Duncan-Smith Land, compared to this time last year, there has been a huge increase in the number of people needing to use their food bank, referred in many cases by government agencies; agencies of a government that exists to ensure their safety and security but fails miserably to do so.
While pantomime Tories preen and keynote screech about investment and opportunity and demand double spaces after full stops, people are dying; the phenomenon of in-work poverty is disregarded.
Steve White & The Protest Family 