Part of the openDemocracy Network

Power2010

Breaking the monopoly of the professional politician: Guy Aitchison's idea for popular forums in Parliament
 

When you're in a hole, stop digging: Pam Giddy's advice to MPs who still don't get it
 

Ending the divine right of political parties: Steve Hawkins makes a radical suggestion
 

Les Miserables and Power 2010: John Jackson diagnoses the political class's selective crisis-mongering
 

A call to oD readers: Helena Kennedy calls on oD readers to support Power2010
 

More in this series

Submit your idea for the Power 2010 pledge.

The British Crisis

Do the public really want to change ‘the system’?: Stuart Wilks-Heeg presents polling evidence
 

Don't trust MPs' constitutional poker: Guy Aitchison supports the call for a citizens' convention
 

Brown's 'National Council for Democratic Renewal': Anthony Barnett on the Prime Minister's desperate proposal
 

More in this series

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.

This article adheres to the openDemocracy.net principles.

Comment viewing options

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

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

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.”

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!"

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!”

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.

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. 

Anthony Barnett said:

Sat, 2008-08-16 19:30

Rule 101 is fine by OK

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!)

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

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

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!"

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> <map>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • You may quote other posts using [quote] tags.
More information about formatting options

Books from Amazon

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