Gary From Leeds: “Tyger, Tyger, burning bright, in the forests of the night…”
Well, summer is over and it’s Politics Season. First, the party conferences. Clegg’s speech. The announcement of the new Labour leader (fortunately it went to the Good twin, not the Evil one) – is it really a new day for Labour? Here in Baroque Mansions we refuse to get excited until we have seen the results. First, rout the Coalition. But we’ve also just had confirmation that Oona King is OUT in her bid to run for Labour, and Ken is back in on the Labour side, running against Boris. Who should get it? Well, I know what I think, but I’ve given up talking about politics unless it’s absolutely necessary. Suzanne Moore has the best take on this that I’ve seen so far, down at the bottom here.
(And we’re still waiting with baited breath for the results of the Evil Coalition’s Public Spending Review, on October 20th. Don;t tell me that closing all those quangos is going to save any significant amount of money. I don’t believe it: the work still has to be done, etc etc, and all those leases paid off and staff made redundant and consultants paid, etc. Waste, pride, blinkers.
Anyway! In the midst of all this, the good old Londonist has published what I think may well be the first poem about Boris’ bike hire scheme – also popularly known as the Barclays Bikes, for those of you who are out of town & have missed the fracas. (Oh yes: frissons! London has been very excited, with much talk of gears and docking stations.) I am very pleased to say that it has been written by someone who sits at the very next desk (not counting a row of cupboards) from me at work, a performance poet on the rise, called Gary From Leeds. (Gary’s performance collaborator has apparently since written a poem hypothesising about the first death on a Barclays Bike, but we won’t dwell on that.)
Harry Beck, for those who may be unfamiliar with this iconic name, designed the original tube map.
