you do not listen

you do not listen to the radio any more
you do not listen to the radio any more
because standing in the kitchen screaming
obscenities at John Humphries at 7 o’clock
in the morning isn’t the fun it once was
because you have run out of obscenities
because the neighbours have run out of patience
and the police have given you a warning
about disturbing the peace                       again

you do not listen to the radio any more
because infotainment is not news
because you really couldn’t give a flying one
about Harry, Meghan, or Little Lord Fauntleroy
about Prince Alabaster or Lady Eugenics
(usual caveats, lovely people etc etc blah blah blah)
but you do care that we’re paying £2.4m
to refurbish their ‘cottage’ when finding resources
to replace inflammable cladding is like pulling fucking teeth
and if the royal correspondent ever took time off
from trumpeting the new feudalism
from their forelock-tugging fawning tone of voice
from being a pure embarrassment to hear
if they ever took time off to report that loud and clear
you’d give thanks for the miracle, but they don’t

you do not listen to the radio any more
because infotainment is not news
because feeding middle england
their daily frisson of fear is not news
because thought for the fucking day
because if you wanted to listen to
an audio edition of the Daily Mail
you would sign up for an audio edition
of the Daily Mail and it’ll be a cold day in hell
before that happens and even then it won’t

you do not listen to the radio any more
because infotainment is not news
because once, just once, you’d like them
to interrupt these clichés about knife crime
to head over to Laura Kuenssberg
who is reporting live from the scene of
the sharp end of austerity
the closed-down shuttered-up youth club
the just-axed bus route the zero-hours job
the food bank the food bank the food bank
What’s it like there, Laura?
because they wouldn’t know how to ask
JohnsonHuntFarageGove a tough question
if their lives depended on it
because speaking truth unto power, folks,
speaking truth unto power

you do not listen to the radio any more
because infotainment is not news
because their knowing world-weariness
does nothing to change anything
is intended to do nothing to change anything
because you are bored of their faux outrage
tired of them asking all the wrong questions
because they will discuss the postcode lottery
without ever mentioning that it isn’t a lottery at all
but institutionalised structural violence
but institutionalised structural violence

you do not listen to the radio any more
you don’t know what to do with the silence

you think you’ll get a dog

 

 

 

© Steve Pottinger 29 June 2019
Illustration Nick Victor


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