Tuesday, March 22, 2016

“CARING, COMPASSIONATE, CONSERVATISM.” (weekly poem)

 “CARING, COMPASSIONATE, CONSERVATISM.”

A political row has blown up following the the Chancellor,
George Osborne’s Budget proposals to fund tax cuts
for the wealthy by cutting Benefits for the Disabled.

That macho man, the Chancellor,
Delights in being cruel;
One more dose of austerity,
Delivered with asperity,
And we’ll be supping gruel. 
His moves to cut the deficit,
Become that more obsessed;
He kicks the poor but even more,  
(As per the usual Tory lore)                               
He cuts tax for the blessed.

The IFS and OBR, (1)
Have both expressed some doubt;
That Osborne will achieve his goal,
Of getting Britain out its hole,
Before he is kicked out.
It’s been too much for IDS, (2)
Who’s found his long-lost heart;
His conscience has now cried enough,
He no more wants to play the tough,
Hard-hearted Tory part.

Word has it now that Cameron,
Is sick with IDS(3)
And blames the bum for highlighting,
With all the current infighting,
The latest Tory mess! 
Meanwhile the homeless and the poor,
Get deeper into debt;
And crawl back into Gin Lane’s grime, (4)
That’s come around a second time,
In order to forget.

(1) Institute of Fiscal Studies & Office of Budget Responsibility.

(2) Iain Duncan Smith, has resigned at having to
defend cuts that he, himself, helped to formulate.

(3) Irritating Duncan Smith. IDS’s resignation may not be
unconnected with Brexit.

(4) In 1751, the artist, William Hogarth, depicted the poor
drowning their sorrows in drink in his engraving,‘Gin Lane’.

© Richard Layton    

No comments: