Poetry

Eating pomegranates

He told me

she hung herself

he didn’t say how

he didn’t say where.

My mind spluttered,

gagged around

the image.

I did mundane

tasks around

the house

not with any

renewed vigour

or love.

But I did them.

She was in her 30s,

I was thirty

when I flew to Greece,

whirled out of the office.

with a  knapsacks of books,

lay on the beach, reading,

eating pomegranates from the

nearby tree, swimming

endlessly

problem-free.

Joselyn Duffy Morton ©

Claudia Ward cartoon

Environmental

Concerns over the parliamentary evidence given to the inquiry by Lord De Mauley, Prof Ian Boyd and David Bench

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT COMMITTEE - INQUIRY INTO BEE DEATHS AND PESTICIDES

Dear Joan Walley and Colleagues,
I watched the last evidence session of your Parliamentary Inquiry into 'Bees and Pesticides' with growing disbelief, which I suspect was echoed by many of the members of the committee.

I found Professor Boyd's evidence, together with that of David Bench disingenuous. to say the least.

Professor Boyd gave the committee the clear impression if I may paraphrase him, that:  'Imidacloprid is hardly used in the UK anymore - and is fast declining'

According to the DEFRA/ Fera website, Imidacloprid was used on over 426,000 acres of UK crops in 2011.
Moreover, wherever its use seems to be 'declining' - it has merely been replaced with Clothianidin - which was used on 1,798,000 acres of UK crops in 2011.

Taken together, neonicotinoids are used on well over 2.3 million  acres of UK crops currently.

In short, most of the arable crops grown in this country are acutely poisonous to all bees, pollinators and wildlife, whether below or above the ground.

The complacency and evasiveness of Messrs De Mauley, Boyd and Bench will serve as a model of 'denial' to Parliamentary Inquiries for years to come.

Sincerely
Graham White
Coldstream
TD12 4EY

Photo: Roger Morton

Written on our table tennis table.

Editorial

Contents

Cartoon: Claudia Ward

Getting through the winter: Joselyn Duffy Morton

Cover pic: Roger Morton

Editorial 13 February 2013

For the last few days, the news has been full of the horsemeat scandal. I should say the British news because in France, horsemeat is still for sale in the butcher or the supermarket. It is the British that are more fond of horses than they are of cows, sheep or pigs. It is horses they put their legs astride, that they gently stroke, that they feel deep affection for. Cows, sheep, pigs - not so much.

Vegetarians of course are not affected; they are once again squeaky clean. They don’t chew on the flesh of any of these big beasts.

The main worry of course is not the duplicity or disguising of one animal for another, the main worry is that horses often get administered powerful drugs, the most common seems to be Phenylbutazone, usually known as Bute.  This is an inexpensive anti-inflammatory drug which can cause nasty side-effects in humans.

So this horsemeat scandal is not just your run-of-the-mill bad taste scandal, it could be more serious than that. Then there’s the question of dosh because the Findus beef lasagne packets should have actually cost less as they were not beef but horse. It’s a shonky world all right.

Pope Benedict XV1 has resigned. I am trying to feel the shock-waves of this but the Pope’s doings don’t actually impinge upon my life. Though, given what has gone down already, I would not be surprised if David Cameron were to use him as an example of why the pension age should be raised to 85.

I continue to be sad for all the lousy stories and accounts that I read about the NHS – what a horror story it is becoming. I think nowadays none of us want to inherit the earth, we just want to die peacefully in our own beds Not however, starved to death and neglected as a pensioner in her 80s did recently in England, after 9 days on her own. This was because there was a raid on her care agency which was then closed down because illegal refugees were working in it. I hope, since then, someone has gone through the agency’s books to ascertain that there are no other clients to whom this could happen.

Meanwhile, I am hoping to rouse my lazy, latent inner self and go and see a few more movies before the Oscars.

I also know I desperately need to earn some money and yet the inner workings of the details of how this is possible, continue to elude me.

Hoping you are all keeping cheerful and warm. Best wishes, Joselyn Morton

Claudia Ward Cartoon

Poetry

Getting through winter

My face has finally fallen

from grace, hamster cheeks around

my chin. Too cold to hang about outside

we watch the TV screen,

my husband explains (again)

the snooker rules. Murphy looks grim,

Wu brings balletic moves

with leg on table, back arched,

head down, bites tongue, smacks ball,

next shot lined up, mirror

mathematical precision,

sombre dress belies the red, blue,

green, pink, yellow of the balls.

Less flesh than rugby

(with that I can get excited

even scream at the screen).

Too cold in the kitchen

I chop garlic as I watch – carefully

I hate the pain of a cut.

(Already whacked my head 

stacking wood, home 

is where accidents happen.)

Unfinished tasks everywhere

the roaring fire warms 

my flagging spirits

I love the luxury of its heat

scrimping and saving is crippling

can’t afford to buy more books

must brave the ice and snow to drive

20k return to the library.

Watch more snooker

blue, pink, brown – have I got it down?

subtle dress code of waistcoats, bow ties,

shade range of greys and blacks.

Escapism gets us through the long days

disengages the mind from Kafkaesque

trials besetting our kneecapped lives.

Joselyn Duffy Morton ©

Cover caption

Roger Morton
Our nearest stream is roaring at the moment.