28th June 2026 - Paul Harrison's V

At a poet’s memorial, I saw how Andy Burnham could be a different kind of prime minister | Blake Morrison | The Guardian

Talking about poetry, a form of words in which we express our thoughts. 

 I came across the above article this morning it is about Andy Burnham and the fact that he took an English degree at Cambridge.  What first drew my eye is that he had attended a memorial service for the poet Tony Harrison.  The service had been held at Salt Mills, somehow, Salt Mills figures strongly in my mind it is like an enormous cathedral of learning with its books, paintings and quiet roughness.

Blake Morrison predicted that we might have a different angle on what this country needed when, and if, Burnham takes the leadership.  As someone who has been round words and poetry for a greater part of my life but does not have an English degree, a smidgeon of hope sprang in my optimistic soul.

I have collected poetry for many years, Paul also collected, you can see it on my side bar - Megalithic Poems.  also for 'The Modern Antiquarian' he had an enormous amount of poems on a thread which ran for years.

Let us take a few quotes from the article, firstly starting with Scargill, a good name to groan about I think;) I can already hear them!

"My father still reads the dictionary every day, He says your life depends on how you master words" 

Morrison"That an English degree would foster broad-mindedness and empathy"

Benjamin Disraeli - "When I want to read a novel, I write one"  Ouch, a bit to over-confident there.

"The unending violence of THEM and US"

I would put the point that people who read poetry know  more about the society around them and it is in their writing of the poem which teaches us about the social mores that society throws up.

My probable most favourite poem is one by Edward Thomas - It begins with At Hawthorn Time.  It brings tears to my eyes of that mythical, beautiful countryside we live in.  Thomas wrote in the time when war  changed everything.  We are in the middle of change at the moment, battling against ignorance and greed and that is what Burnham faces.  Keeping up all those balls in the air won't be easy.

So what was the poem that somehow shaped the trajectory of history and Paul Harrison wrote, it is called 'V' and is almost a book in itself.  Also, lots of swearwords, so don't read it if easily offended.   V 

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