Facebook Twitter Instagram
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Arts Hub
    • Architecture
    • Fiction
    • Films
    • Life Writing
    • Music
    • Poetry
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
  • Culture Hub
    • Clothing & Fashion
    • Cultural Commentary
    • Eating & Drinking
    • Education
    • Festivals/ Events
    • Religion
    • Science & Technology
    • Sport
    • TV, internet and other media
  • Contributors
  • Books
  • E-books
  • Support Us
0 0
Shopping cart (0)
Subtotal: £0.00

Checkout

Free delivery in the UK.

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Arts Hub
    • Architecture
    • Fiction
    • Films
    • Life Writing
    • Music
    • Poetry
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
  • Culture Hub
    • Clothing & Fashion
    • Cultural Commentary
    • Eating & Drinking
    • Education
    • Festivals/ Events
    • Religion
    • Science & Technology
    • Sport
    • TV, internet and other media
  • Contributors
  • Books
  • E-books
  • Support Us
Facebook Twitter Instagram
0 0
0 Shopping Cart
Shopping cart (0)
Subtotal: £0.00

Checkout

Free delivery in the UK.

Return to previous page
Home Blog Arts Hub

Here to Stay

Here to Stay

11 May 2026 /Posted byPaul Francis
Post Views: 268

Free ebook available here

By Paul Francis

Has Labour blown it? Sold their souls?
It’s Armageddon at the polls.
Remember twenty twenty-four,
that talk of Change? Not any more.

A fall is coming, when not if,
as Starmer tumbles off the cliff
arms flailing, grabbing at thin air
refusing to admit despair.
Surely it’s over, with this vote?
His fingers clutch around the throat
of Labour; he is hanging on
though all those councillors have gone.
His minders nod, they know the score;
they chant the mantra, like before:

Maybe we’re crap, maybe we’re shit
but we must never, ever split.
The Left stays strong, we must unite
behind our leader, who is right.
Given the crises at this time
to question leadership’s a crime.
Though Starmer’s rule may be a curse
all the alternatives are worse.

Collaboration’s Burnham’s game.
He talks, without a trace of shame,
to different parties, other groups.
In Manchester a range of troops
are mobilised by shared ideals.
That’s not a prospect that appeals
to Starmer’s Labour; their control
means domination is their goal.
Outside the camp? Nothing to see.
Everyone else is enemy.

Patrol the compound, keep them out;
no room for innovation, doubt.
Don’t crack the mould; the pattern’s set
just tinker with the cabinet.
Tick over. Stay at Number Ten.
Rinse and repeat. Again. Again.
Spell out what everybody knows:
nothing will change until he goes.

Tags: Andy Burnham, Keir Starmer
Share Post
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Mail to friend
  • Linkedin
  • Whatsapp
We Are Church International: t...
The ascent of man

About author

Avatar photo

About Author

Paul Francis

Paul Francis is a retired teacher, living in Much Wenlock, who'sactive in the West Midlands poetry scene. His website iswww.paulfranciswrites.co.uk

Other posts by Paul Francis

Related posts

Arts Hub
Read more

If…..

Posted byMartin Rowson
Post Views: 182 Poem – and sculpture carved from Ye Old Oak ham – by Martin Rowson If… If you could keep your head when... Continue reading
Arts Hub
Read more

Eve of June 13th 2026, Brighton

Posted byPauline Sewards
Post Views: 494 By Pauline Sewards The city has one more uneasy sleep to go some businesses have capitulated, planning closureothers quietly assert their right... Continue reading
Arts Hub
Read more

A wall

Posted byRoger Cornish
Post Views: 100 By Roger Cornish They pulled a wallDown – a while agoThe times they were aChanging The provident manStopped coming onFridaysYou didn’t need... Continue reading
Arts Hub
Read more

FORECAST

Posted bySteven Taylor
Post Views: 88 By Steven Taylor the weather will kill people this weekbut many of them would have died anywayand we need weather more than... Continue reading
Arts Hub
Read more

Kevin is taking his country back

Posted bySteve Pottinger
Post Views: 92 By Steve Pottinger Monday: scrolls ragebait from dawn Tuesday: doctors, teachers, experts, who needs em? Wednesday: crows that his mob is a... Continue reading

Categories

  • About us
  • Architecture
  • Arts Hub
  • Clothing & Fashion
  • Cultural Commentary
  • Culture Hub
  • Eating & Drinking
  • Education
  • Festivals/ Events
  • Fiction
  • Films
  • Life Writing
  • Life Writing
  • Music
  • Poetry
  • Religion
  • Round-up
  • Science & Technology
  • Sport
  • The 1917 Russian Revolution
  • Theatre
  • TV, internet and other media
  • Visual Arts
Recent Popular

If…..

28 June 2026 Comments Off on If…..

Eve of June 13th 2026, Brighton

23 June 2026 Comments Off on Eve of June 13th 2026, Brighton

A wall

23 June 2026 Comments Off on A wall

FORECAST

23 June 2026 Comments Off on FORECAST

Contributors to Culture Matters

17 October 2017 Comments Off on Contributors to Culture Matters

The radical imagery of William Blake

2 March 2021 Comments Off on The radical imagery of William Blake

Music and Marxism

7 June 2016 Comments Off on Music and Marxism

About Us

23 December 2015 Comments Off on About Us

Tags Cloud

bbc Black Lives Matter Boris Johnson Brecht communism Covid19 Cultural democracy cultural struggle Donald Trump English Revolution Gaza Gaza genocide Genocide in Gaza George Orwell Hitler IDF Illegal war on Iran Iran Israeli bombing Israeli war crimes jeremy corbyn Jesus Karl Marx Keir Starmer Marx marxism Miners' Strike Miners' Strike 1984 Netanyahu Netflix Palestine Palestine Action poetry Raymond Williams Reform UK refugees Rishi Sunak Russian Revolution Shakespeare Spanish Civil War Starmer Starvation in Gaza by Israel Trump Ukraine william morris

Search

Print

follow us on our Social Networks

Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

Copyright © 2016 - 2024 Culture Matters Co-operative Ltd; FCA Registration No: 4347; Registered office: 30 Glenbrooke Terrace, Gateshead, NE9 6AJ. All rights reserved.

Home
Support Us
Books