Part of the openDemocracy Network

Immigration islands


The Return of Enoch: Enoch Powell's repatriation agenda must not be rehabilitated, argues Sunder Katwala.


The ugly economics of immigration: Paul Kingsnorth on why the left is out of step with working class interests.


Immigration and the Politics of Resentment: Shamser Sinha suggests the real problem is a politics that turns neighbour against neighbour.

MODERN LIBERTY



Digital Privacy Wars: Guy Aitchison flags up a debate on the threat business poses to digital privacy


The Stalker State: Phil Booth of No2ID on the proposed Comms database


Say 'No' to 42 days: Sign Amnesty's petition against extending pre-charge detention


What do we do now?: Anthony Barnett assesses the stakes for for liberals and radicals in David Davis's campaign against the erosion of rights and liberties


The Abundance of Caution: an authoritative essay by Anthony Barnett sets out the case against 42 Days

Sortition and public policy




A major new series from Imprint Academic on the use of randomisation in education, politics and other public policy areas. Special discount prices for OurKingdom and openDemocracy readers.

Labour After Brown

The next left -Life after the Labour Party: Gerry Hassan sees a historic opportunity for the emergence of a post-New Labour left.

Scottish Labour, where's the coffee?: Gerry Hassan assesses the prospects for Scottish Labour and its new leader.

Lesson for the Left from Chile to Britain: Hassan Akram offers a global perspective on Labour's malaise.

From Milibland to Johnson land?: Jeremy Gilbert argues for Labour without neo-liberalism.

Magical thinking on Britishness: Anthony Barnett critiques Liam Byrne on fraternity.

Rule of law at risk: Geoffrey Bindman calls for a turn away from the marketisation of government.

A new Bill of Rights for Britain?: Guy Aitchison analyses Parliament's proposed new Bill of Rights.

Miliband - by our rights we will know you: Claire O'Brien puts forward a new progressive vision for Labour.

Recapturing liberal Britain: David Marquand challenges Labour's constitutional orthodoxy.

Miliband and the Liberal Democrats: James Graham on the case for realignment.

What is Labour's British story?: Writing from Scotland, Gerry Hassan widens the OurKingdom debate on Labour's future.

This is not Brown's crisis but Britain's: David Marquand says social democracy is bust and Britain may be too.

The Challenges for Miliband's Progressive Fusion: Fabian Society head Sunder Katwala responds to David Miliband.

Fabian Society

America Votes, Europe Responds: Fabian Society conference on the US election result, Westminster Central Hall, 10am to 4pm, Saturday 8th November.

Visit the new Fabian Society blog: Next Left

England Awakes?

England, Britain and multiculturalism: an OurKingdom exchange

A mild awakening?, England's turn? by David Goodhart

Recent comments

Navigation

delicious | digg | reddit | newsvine | furl | google | yahoo | technorati | diigolet

Syndicate content

'An eloquent lady in Edgbaston' - OK summer competition

Anthony Barnett, 16 - 08 - 2008
delicious | digg | reddit | newsvine | furl | google | yahoo | technorati | diigolet

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Following my post about the fabulous call to modernity, fraternity and Britishness by Borders and Immigration Minister Liam Byrne, we are launching OK's summer limerick competition. The limerick must begin with:

"I met an eloquent lady in Edgbaston."

and end with:

"if we only put our minds to it."

As I report, Byrne writes about how he met "an exceptionally eloquent lady from Edgebaston" who convinced him that all we needed to to so sort out Britain for the best is to: "put our minds to it". The Minister describes how he was immediately convinced.

The winner will get a free copy of The Athenian Option. Competition closes Saturday, 30th August.

Anthony Barnett's blog | email this blogpdf version | quote
delicious | digg | reddit | newsvine | furl | google | yahoo | technorati | diigolet
 

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Not logged in (not verified) said:

Sat, 2008-08-16 11:46

A most eloquent lady of Edgebaston
Was entranced by Gordon Brown’s carry on
Inspired by his grits
She declared "All can be Brits!
If only we now put our minds to it!"

reply | email this commentquote

Guy Aitchison said:

Sat, 2008-08-16 12:50

I met an eloquent lady in Edgebaston

Who I asked what it meant to be Briton

She replied with an air

"I'm an Aussie, don't care

You can be too if you put your minds to it!"

 

Hat-tip Guido

reply | email this commentquote

Not logged in (not verified) said:

Sat, 2008-08-16 14:38

(From the under-consciousness of G.Brown)

I met an eloquent lady from Edgbaston
Whose eyes I really got lost in
We put our minds to it
But Oh England, we blew it
And now we’re all stuck with Dave Cameron

reply | email this commentquote

Keith McBurney said:

Sat, 2008-08-16 18:51
Brown's Empire Clothing Dilemma:
 
I met an eloquent Lady in Egbaston
who asked why I had no skates on
It took me a while
Then I gave her my smile
in remembering I had nothing else on
So I asked what to do
and she gave me a clue
that naked was not going to do it
But it may take me a while
before you give me your smile
if we only put our minds to it.
 
(Rule 101: There are no rules!)
reply | email this commentquote

Anthony Barnett said:

Sat, 2008-08-16 19:30

Rule 101 is fine by OK

reply | email this commentquote

britologywatch said:

Sat, 2008-08-16 22:57

I met an eloquent lady in Edgbaston

Who like Enoch's constituent in Wolverhampton

Stirred dreams of rivers of blood,

But said you, Liam, can stop the flood,

And we'll get on fine if we only put our minds to it. 

reply | email this commentquote

Dougthedug said:

Sat, 2008-08-16 23:08

I met an eloquent lady in Edgbaston,
But her gene pool was not a deep vast one,
Her comment below,
was tabloid and slow,
"If we only put our minds to it", I hope is her last one.

reply | email this commentquote

Anthony Barnett said:

Sun, 2008-08-17 05:59

From Joan and Judith

An eloquent lady of Brum
Considered the Minister scum
“Though you put your mind to it
We all see right through it
You’re just banging the nationalist drum!”

reply | email this commentquote

Guy Aitchison said:

Mon, 2008-08-18 09:21

I vote for Dougthedug's effort so far.

Bit of a joint effort this one....

I met an eloquent lady in Edgebaston
Who said "Liam, you're puling a fast one
With this Britishness thing
It's Brown you're aping
But when we put our minds to it
Us voters see through it
And that's why you're not going to last son!"

reply | email this commentquote

Justin Pickard said:

Mon, 2008-08-18 13:13

I met an eloquent lady in Edgbaston;
The candidate, an iconoclast on
The Lords' abolition,
A return to sortition,
Her speech left us speechless in aston

ishment.  And the prevailing wind, she'd intuit;
“Hereditary peers?  Well, they blew it,
We need revolution,
A fresh constitution,
And we can win if we put our minds to it.”

reply | email this commentquote

Anoney (not verified) said:

Mon, 2008-08-18 15:37

An eloquent lady of Edgebaston
Desired the Athenian Option
So she said to Liam Byrne
Stand up and be firm
It’s the difference between spin and a hard-on

reply | email this commentquote

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd><b> <i> <br> <p> <div> <img>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • You may quote other posts using [quote] tags.
More information about formatting options

In Pictures


They say about OK

"the ever-stimulating OpenDemocracy"
Ekklesia

"See OurKingdom to keep up"
South Belfast Diary

"...an essential guide to understanding the dynamic constitutional situation..."
Peter Oborne

"...becoming a daily read for me."
Iain Dale

"To make sense of it all, check out OurKingdom..."
Matthew d'Ancona

"Worth a look...it is, however, recommended by Matthew d'Ancona."
The Wardman Wire

"Fast becoming the best political website around"
Tom Waterhouse, CEP

"...attracting energy from a range of contributors."
thenextwave

"...looks very promising..."
The England Project

"The excellent new OurKingdom blog from OpenDemocracy..."
The Green Ribbon

"On the internet, I keep in touch with openDemocracy, a website on global current affairs, and its useful offshoot, OurKingdom"
Andreas Whittam-Smith

"thanks to the fine folk at OurKingdom, (who manage to communicate a variety of perspectives in the way that only a decent group blog can)"
Nostalgia For the Future