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Poetry
Blair's Britain
By kevinrobson73
20 April 2005

not supposed to scan, rhyme too much or make too much sense

Inspired by a half hour walk locally

Thanks Bootle

 


Blair's Britain

 
 

Breaking bottles on a Saturday night

Best fun in town if you can't get a fight

Shards of glass amongst the dog shite

 

I hear Tommy done a bus shelter

So that makes him quite a feller

Only thing is he's a bloody liar

Turns out it's only‘alf a phone box

N' then he ran cos he's yeller

 

Me an my mates

We've all shagged everybody

An' we say "fuck" a lot

 

Won't take our cash in the Paki offy

Won't sell us nuffin stronger than coffee

Says"Come back when you're all 21"

We call him a cunt

N' then off we all run

 

Wait for a drunk who looks like our dad

Who spills out t' pub n' gis us a tab

Send him in with money we've all clubbed together

N' hide round the corner while he buys us our Stella       (Artois, that is )

 

Stand about in doorways

Looking hard in the rain

Make OAP's with their dogs

Stay well out of our effin' way

 

Shops won't  sell us paint

Or eggs or flour

Seems they remember HallowEen

N' our finest hour

 

Kick a few cans into the road

Talk about what we'd do if we had a gun

Laugh about kids at school that have just gotta be gay

One by one drift off home

To watch Match of the Day

Reviews
Been there, done that ....
Written by Bagheera (680 comments posted) 21st April 2005
 
....... only I thought you were describing the Boot Estate (Norris Green ) rather than Bootle ..... :grin  
 
I got time off for good behaviour, but even so the part of town I'm living in now is only a little better ...... TB has a lot to answer for, your picture of the UK him & his mates have landed us with is frighteningly accurate (thinks: with those initials, it might have been to everyone's advantage if .... no I won't wish THAT on anybody, not even him! :p
Accurate indeed
Written by spiderbaby49 (137 comments posted) 26th April 2005
but is it only applicable to Blair's Britain? 
Answer, yes........although boys will always be boys and have ever been so, your poem hints at the newer, darker, more dangerously edgy type of youth gangs of today. 
 
spidey
Britain Full Stop
Written by Ostara (61 comments posted) 8th May 2005
Without getting too into politics (I would heartily disagree that Blair is responsible for teenage aggression - try the parents if you want to lay blame!) I think this poem does accurately represent those kids who wander aimlessly around making trouble because they have nothing better to do.  
 
I hasten to point out that this is only a very small percentage of young people though - and I live in an area of essex known for this sort of behaviour! :eek  
 
The poem itself is funny and nicely un-structured to a point. If it were too neat it would not work. The language is the same - the colloquial speech is essential, but I would be careful to be consistent with it. Some of your abbreviations change through the poem, and others stilt the flow a little. 
 
In general a good read and extremely topical - it makes me want to start debating with people but I think I am on the wrong website for that ;)

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