To whom it may concern

To Whom It May Concern

A tissue, a tissue, we all fall down.....

I was run over by the truth one day.

Ever since the accident I’ve walked this way

So stick my legs in plaster

Tell me lies about Vietnam.

Heard the alarm clock screaming with pain,

Couldn’t find myself so I went back to sleep again

So fill my ears with silver

Stick my legs in plaster

Tell me lies about Vietnam.

Every time I shut my eyes all I see is flames.

Made a marble phone book and I carved all the names

So coat my eyes with butter

Fill my ears with silver

Stick my legs in plaster

Tell me lies about Vietnam.

I smell something burning, hope it’s just my brains.

They’re only dropping peppermints and daisy-chains

So stuff my nose with garlic

Coat my eyes with butter

Fill my ears with silver

Stick my legs in plaster

Tell me lies about Vietnam.

Where were you at the time of the crime?

Down by the Cenotaph drinking slime

So chain my tongue with whisky

Stuff my nose with garlic

Coat my eyes with butter

Fill my ears with silver

Stick my legs in plaster

Tell me lies about Vietnam.

You put your bombers in, you put your conscience out,

You take the human being and you twist it all about

So scrub my skin with women

Chain my tongue with whisky

Stuff my nose with garlic

Coat my eyes with butter

Fill my ears with silver

Stick my legs in plaster

Tell me lies, tell me lies about Aghanistan.

Tell me lies about Israel.

Tell me lies about Congo.

Tell me, tell me lies Mr Bush.

Tell me lies Mr B-B-Blair, Brown, Blair-Brown.

Tell me lies about Vietnam.

Adrian Mitchell

1932 - 2008

Adrian read the original draft of this poem at the International Poetry Incarnation in the Royal Albert Hall in 1965, and added to it throughout his life. He read it when I was a student at Lancaster; and he read it when he and Celia came to visit my school in Rome, (despite a warning from the then Headmaster that he shouldn't.....)

Somewhere up the creek.... without the proverbial paddle

Although the Vietnam war is history now, and generations have grown up without the pictures of American bodybags on the TV news every night; even without the daily flashes of Blair and Brown, the spectre of war has not left us, and this poem was brought to mind once more by Nick Cohen's excoriating piece, headed Lies come in all shapes and sizes. This government is familiar with them all in The Observer on February 13th this year: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/12/lies-lies-and-more-lies-a-government-built-on-lies-is-incapable-of-anything-else 

To quote but two sentences: This is a government that lies. It lies because it is a lame-duck administration of charlatans and clowns, an echoing void where the government of the country ought to be.

No tracks, no trains.....

This is a government that pretends to be working day and night to protect the people of Ukraine, but on the news this morning a British couple in Ukraine with two small babies had been told by the British Embassy that they had to drive for 14 hours across a war zone to acquire documentation that would enable them to return to the UK. Today we hear that the Foreign Secretary, Ms Truss, has enraged (Ras) Putin by her undiplomatic errors sufficiently to drive him to threaten the use of nuclear weapons.....

The people's party.....

Last weekend a Government Minister suggested that refugees from Ukraine could enter the UK with visas if they picked fruit or vegetables.  Last week the Prime Minister proposed to sanction a smattering of Russian individuals and organisations, but conveniently avoided his friendship with Baron Lebedev, of Hampton in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and of Siberia in the Russian Federation (ennobled by Johnson in 2020), perhaps because he, like the Prime Minister, has dual nationality; or perhaps even more worryingly, Lubov Chernukhin, the wife of Putin’s former deputy finance minister Vladimir Chernukhin (Pandora papers documents published in October last year suggest he was allowed to leave Russia in 2004 with assets worth about £350m and retain Russian business links). She is now a member of the Conservatives’ 14-strong "advisory board" of donors, with a habit of handing the party six-figure sums.....  For more on this, please see John Harris's article:

The fight for Ukraine is a fight for liberal ideals. So how can Boris Johnson possibly lead it? published on February 27th: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/27/ukraine-liberal-ideals-boris-johnson-tories-russian-money

Shadows in the sands....

There may well be those who won't agree with me, but Dictator Putin's vile and deranged attack on Ukraine had long been in gestation, with the West's paltry opposition to his incursions into Crimea and Georgia effectively encouraging his disregard for democratic values (not to mention his unpunished murders on the streets of the UK). But the way that the UK was bamboozled into Brexit, possibly with Russian assistance (the 'Russian report' was stifled by Johnson for nine months.....https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/21/just-what-does-the-uk-russia-report-say-key-points-explained), was another string to his bow. The weakness of the UK now, insular and no longer a part of a united Europe (despite still being part of NATO and the UN), gave succour to the megalomania of the ex-KGB officer.  Vain words from Downing Street can no longer convince anyone that Britain is a world power, although, with a little luck, they may chime with those from other sources.

So, with apologies to Adrian, 

Tell me lies, tell me lies about Afghanistan.

Tell me lies about Israel.

Tell me lies about Congo.

Tell me, tell me lies Mr Trump.

Tell me lies Mr Cameron, Mr Osborne, Mr Johnson.

Tell me lies about Ukraine.

If only you could fly.....

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I do hope that Adrian Mitchell wouldn't mind the liberties taken here....  I have tried to contact Celia just to check, but so far without success.  If by any chance any of Adrian's family should see this and have any objection please let me know directly....


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