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: 432

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

“NOLI TIMERE”: Rambling thoughts on fighting fear, resisting fascism, and doing a poem

Posted byFran Lock
Post Views: 28 Commons image By Fran Lock if you google the latin phrase “noli timere” you will immediately discover that these were the last... Continue reading
Arts Hub
Read more

Cannon Fodder for Disaster Capitalists

Posted byBob Beagrie
Post Views: 74 Commons image By Bob Beagrie View the world in red, white and bluethrough the eyeholes of black balaclavas – the chalk cliffs... Continue reading
Arts Hub
Read more

DOVER/PORTSMOUTH

Posted byJim Aitken
Post Views: 27 Commons image By Jim Aitken Brexit’s broken bonesnow has these masked, marching menin balaclavas. Continue reading
Arts Hub
Read more

English Laughter by Alan Morrison

Posted byCulture Matters
Post Views: 108 Cover image is adapted from a publicity still of English music hall performer Charles Penrose posing as the eponymous ‘Laughing Policeman’ (Columbia Records,... Continue reading
Arts Hub
Read more

The Vowel Curtain: Theatre’s Accent Problem.

Posted byAdam Page
Adam Page tackles English theatres' accent addiction to Received Pronunciation and it's inability to let go. 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

“NOLI TIMERE”: Rambling thoughts on fighting fear, ...

10 September 2026 Comments Off on “NOLI TIMERE”: Rambling thoughts on fighting fear, resisting fascism, and doing a poem

Cannon Fodder for Disaster Capitalists

10 September 2026 Comments Off on Cannon Fodder for Disaster Capitalists

DOVER/PORTSMOUTH

10 September 2026 Comments Off on DOVER/PORTSMOUTH

English Laughter by Alan Morrison

6 September 2026 Comments Off on English Laughter by Alan Morrison

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 capitalism communism Covid19 Cultural democracy cultural struggle Donald Trump Gaza Gaza genocide Genocide in Gaza George Orwell IDF Illegal war on Iran Iran Israel 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

Sponsored by:

follow us on our Social Networks

Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

Copyright © 2016 - 2026 Culture Matters Co-operative Ltd; FCA Registration No: 4347; Registered office: 30 Glenbrooke Terrace, Gateshead, NE9 6AJ. All rights reserved.

Home
Support Us
Books