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Who Will have Lost, Who Will Have Won?

Who Will have Lost, Who Will Have Won?

In just two days time, it will have been done
But who will have lost, and who will have won?
Will the many be starting their time in the sun?
Or will the few be preparing to ‘get brexit done’? 

The hope that I feel, thinking ’bout what could be
Gets crushed when I hear people talk on TV
The misplaced belief in the liars they see
Leaves a wave of despair hanging dark over me

Strong and stable, get brexit done
Meaningless platitudes each and every one
Shouted from redtops and broadsheets as one
Then chucked down our throats just to see if they run

For the many, not the few, actually means something here
A burning desire that so many hold dear
A genuine commitment that we must make clear
That real change could happen starting here from next year 

And just for the record, to the leavers at heart
Who trust that the Tories will deliver their part
No deal in a year is where they plan to start
As they tear the core of our economy apart

For years there was arguably little to choose
As the parties would try to wear each others shoes
There seemed to be nothing to separate their views
So you couldn’t establish just whose view was whose

They’re all the bloody same – is still a familiar sound
But this time the difference is there to be found
What each party stands for, however unsound
Is clearly displayed and discussed in the round

Even the hardest core blues ‘mongst my friends
Can’t vote for this lot – they see where it ends
But many must think that it still makes some sense
As the polls suggest it’s still paying dividends

If you think Corbyn’s not been a great leader of the opposition 
Then take time to look at the result of his mission
A tory like Johnson, by his own admission
Promising mass public investment against all tradition

That shows how the debate changed since Corbyn came along
This would never have happened were he not so strong
They’re terrified that he’ll show just how they’ve been wrong
And we’ll wonder just how they got away with it for so long

Each morning that we ponder the latest scare story
Means another day won by the lies of the tories
Avoiding policy discussion with another furore
To avoid the scrutiny getting too gory

It shouldn’t be tricky, they’ve been in for nine years
So all we should do is look back as the dust clears
Not look at the fantasies that suddenly appear
At election time when they’re concerned for their careers

The Tory economic rulebook lies abandoned in tatters
Their corporation tax plans are just mad as hatters
Their previous economic supporters have scattered
You can’t try to tell me that none of that matters

Answer this question that has no good answer!
So we can portray you as some kind of chancer
So our negative campaign can continue to advance a
Position that yours is a dishonorable stance. A.

Not answering a question, where there’s no right answer to give
Might be annoying – but count to ten – we’ll all live
But blatantly lying in the hope you’ll outlive
Your own words is something that I can’t forgive

That’s a false equivalence – It’s not the same thing
One is part of the game, the other damages everything
Yet Johnson lies and lies as if on a whim
And I can’t begin to describe just how much I hate him

I honestly believe that they are not all the fucking same
For the Tories have acted without any shame
They’ve lied and disparaged again and again
And again and again and again and again

Johnson says whatever he hopes will make the questions stop
I would not leave my kids with him, would sooner call the cops
Corbyn is a principled man, I’ll fight for him till I drop
I’d trust him with the password to my rusty old laptop

Yet he’s pilloried like some kind of racist cretin
Accusations I can’t understand, as I’ve met him
A lifelong campaigner who’s risked life and limb
Should not be subjected to this on a whim

English deference to inherited wealth is bizarre
And our misplaced trust in the printed press goes too far
Allowing scoundrels to parade like they’re some sort of star
While the rest of us look on in horror from afar

Maybe it’s needed and brings people to their senses
We let them get off after fiddling their expenses
So maybe this time it will breach their defenses
But if people vote for the liar, I can’t see where the sense is

Spin used to win, as did bending the truth
But lying’s taken over, and it’s positively uncouth
It’s there clear as day, leaving no need to sleuth
As we’re deluged each day with a wave of untruths

Labour will raise corporation tax to Europe’s high
That’s not spin.  It’s not bending the truth. It’s a lie.
It’s repeated knowingly, by a PM who thinks rules don’t apply
And by a media who know it is a lie and comply

It’s not a small lie.  It’s not inconsequential at all
Were it true it could carry significant threat to us all
But it’s not true.  It’s a lie.  And I’m genuinely appalled.
That we still trust these people and  remain in their thrall.

They won’t privatise the NHS – they respond every day
But they keep on privatising it anyway
And they’re on record saying they’re happy for it to decay
And yet we still fucking trust them and believe what they say

Promising the earth if we’ll fall for their lies
But without any plan to deliver our prize
It’s clearly a view of a sky full of pies
So power from their greedy cold hands we must prise

It’s been said that we get the media we deserve
Though that seems a bit harsh and it hits quite a nerve
As I found myself having to sit and observe
As I watched them supporting the elite they subserve

We get the politicians we deserve just the same
And they take us to war after war in our name
And the very suggesting of changing the game
Is considered a crime of which we should feel ashamed

108 months and they’ve bankrupted us more
The debt has been tripled and we’re left on the floor
Their claims of economic competence left raw
And we should all be questioning just what are they for?

This is not coincidence, this is not an accident
This is a conspiracy led by people hellbent
On protecting their privilege from so much as a dent
Or increasing their outlay by as much as a cent

Our system has been struggling for year after year
But it survived because rules were stretched but adhered
Well that’s gone.  And all it took was for one politician here
To unashamedly lie and disparage and smear.

Show me where Corbyn has lied.  Show me. Do.
He would have such an easier life if he were to.
If he just said yes even if it’s untrue
Staid of ‘I condemn all acts of violence on all sides’, however true.

He says what we should all say, instead of what we would say
But we don’t.  We just say yes and hope it goes away.
But he doesn’t – he takes what he considers the right pathway
Because to do otherwise wouldn’t be honest and that’s just not his way

I don’t want to deify him, because he’s just a man
And a flawed man at that, even though I’m a fan
But if you consider what has been hurled at him since all this began
I am so very proud that despite all, he still stands

It’s been called a personality cult, which is crazy
Because he’s barely got one – journalism – lazy
It’s precisely the opposite – he’s not there for his qualities
He’s lauded from the rooftops because of the policies

I’ll let you in on a secret – he’s not even that left wing.
The actual left of the party think he’s got much further to swing
We’ve just moved so far to the right as a country-thing
That nationalising utilities sounds like communisming

There’s nothing in this manifesto of labours
That would be out of place in most of our neighbours
Yet it’s presented as something from Mao’s little red book
By our scaremongering media right wing handbook

‘If [insert name here] was the leader, they’d win hands down’ 
You’re missing the point and you sound like a clown
Because if [insert name here] was the leader of this crazy playground
They wouldn’t have the same policies, and it’s them that’s the crown

He’s civil to the sort of people who we’d resist
He shares speaking platforms with those we’d prefer didn’t exist 
Believing dialogue’s the foundation and that shouldn’t be missed
Yet for that he’s routinely and roundly dismissed

I have neither the right nor the desire to question other’s experience
But I’m entitled to challenge the conclusions drawn hence
However well meaning and however intense
When they fly in the face of all other evidence

I’ve checked the manifesto and there’s nothing to see
Where it says ‘except for the jews’ and believe you me
If you were being persecuted you’d be standing with me
And right on your other side, you’d find dear JC

It’s a weapon that’s being used to maximum effect
The keep the threat of socialism in check
To portray my party as some lunatic sect
In the hope that our dreams for the many are wrecked

A compliant media, allowing itself to be used
To retain their court access, abuses excused
With no consideration for who they’ve abused
And feigning dismay when they stand there accused

Taking as gospel the lies from the right
Who rely on their willingness to share any bite
Hiding behind ‘sources’ who stay out of sight
Creating an atmosphere degraded by fright

Antisemitism is less of a problem in Labour than in society
But that’s not a story – it lacks notoriety
It doesn’t stop policy discussions – no hints of  impropriety 
And it doesn’t raises our pules and our levels of anxiety

The choice before us all is between two men my dears
One standing for everything that he’s stood for for years
The other is simply telling you what he thinks you want to hear
I know which way my vote will go (I guess that’s clear!)

I don’t think Johnson’s expecting to win as supposed
He’s expecting to be leading a coalition composed
Of the tories, the lib dems and others undisclosed
Which means he can ignore everything he’s proposed

The suggestion that a person who acts in one way ten thousand times or more
But if you look hard enough, and find an example or two in the store
That could be interpreted as being – something more
Then that becomes the truth and we’re suddenly at war

While some may be sincere in their feelings of pain
Most are just bandwagon jumping again
And looked at in context, it’s clearly insane
I call shenanigans – Again and again and again

If true, he’s the best undercover agent there’s ever been
Every thing he’s said and done makes him look clean
His past flies in the face of the accusations we’ve seen
And the manner in which they’ve been hurled is obscene

You can see it in his eyes – a look of sheer disbelief
That he’s getting away with it – you can sense his relief
Every lie that doesn’t cause uproar or grief
Emboldens him more and he lies through his teeth

The biggest problem?  This is the chance.  The one.
If we don’t seize this now, our chance will have gone
Everyone who said things can’t be differently done
Will be proved right and the voices of fear will have won

In just two days time, it will have been done
But who will have lost, and who will have won?
I’m seriously thinking that it could be fun
So let’s get out the vote and let’s ‘get Johnson done’? 

(c) Michael Gurner – 10th December 2019

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