Unpicked in 5

This is my view of a well-known event i.e. The chain saw felling of the Sycamore Gap Tree in Sept 2023, along Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland. A place I know well, having walked the wall. As the most photographed tree in the UK, its solitary picturesque silhouette, had become a cultural symbol across the world, appearing in films like Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. It was also the last place I sp...

This is another attempt at apolitical song- allowing the  listeners to make up their own mind about an issue. This is a song about the Kamikaze pilot suicide attacks on allied shipping at the in 1944/45. The word Kamikaze means ‘divine wind’. Japan was losing the war,  so Vice Admiral Onishi proposed using young pilots to fly planes packed with explosives into enemy ships. They were 21 years old ‘...

‘Not another love song’, I hear you cry. So, this is my first attempt to write a ‘political or protest song’, following in the wake of songs like Blowing in the Wind, Give peace a chance, What's going on and War by Edwin Starr, with the famous line ‘what is it good for, absolutely nothing !’ This song was prompted by a  comment from the local Mayor in Calais, who claimed migrants were willing...

This is a sad, sentimental song ,which listeners tell me, has made them cry. It’s my attempt to look at a subject from another point of view. It’s adapted from one of my early poems The Vietnam war lasted for nearly 9 years ending in 1975, after five Presidents. Albeit the conflict started 10 years earlier. Ho Chi Minh ( a communist revolutionary in the north) rebelled against French Colonial Rule...

Dictators generally have absolute power, very little political opposition, control their media, use force to suppress , with one single ideology. About 87 of the 200 countries in the world are under authoritarian rule or 43%. But it equates to 65% of the world's total population of 8.1 billion. The top three are Russia ( Vladimir Putin), China (Xi Jinping and North Korea ( Kim Jong Un. The to...

Silent Assassin was first pushed as a poem in my Poetry Book ‘Poems and Sentiments’ Later in 2024 I entered the poem into a competition in the USA and was successful. I was awarded an Honourable mention in the Best of Prose category in the Northwind Treasury Writing Award. This single event led me, to write many more poems and books and eventually start writing song lyrics and podcasts etc. The so...

I visited my ailing Mother in hospital, along side three other ladies. One of them had no living relatives and had not had a visitor for 6 months, rarely speaking to nurses etc. She died two days later. This song is for her. 220,000 women aged 50-54 in the UK live alone, about 12% of the total. This rises to 35% by the time they hit 75. Cancer is the leading cause of death for women over 50, which...

Survival rates depend on age ( the younger the better) and the type of cancer. Prostate cancer survival rates are as high as 88% , whilst liver cancer can be as low as 13% The good news is that survival rates in the UK, have doubled in the last 50 years. Catching the decease in stage 1 is critical, with survival rates of 90%. If it reaches stage 4 , then rates drop to 10% I have numerous friends a...

I was born to a family of seven with 5 sisters and one brother- only 2 in every 1000 families have seven children ! – gulp. We were brought up in council housing, part of the 8% of people in the UK ,living in  council houses. Our parents divorced, like 8% of the population, versus married and single people. To say our childhood was stressful is an understatement. All my siblings live in the Uk exc...

There are about 4300 religions in the world, led by Christianity ( 31%), Islam ( 25%, Hinduism (15%) and .Buddhism 7%. The majority believe in some concept of the afterlife. It could be called heaven, paradise or even re incarnation. The word heaven comes from many sources, but the old English version comes from the word heofon – meaning the sky or the abode of Gods and Angels.  There seems to be...

The divorce rate in 2022, was is 7 divorces for every 1000 marriages, with on average marriage lasting 13 years in the UK. In total it added up to 80,000 divorces. The rate has however dropped significantly; it was 40% higher in 1997. This is due to less marriages, people marrying later, people living together and a change in attitudes i.e. there is no longer a stigma about bearing children outsid...

This is my view of a well-known event from a different angle. i.e. The sinking of the Titanic ship in 2 hours and 40 mins in 1912, 370 miles off Newfoundland in Cananda. The main character in my song is a Mr J Bruce Ismay, who became known as the ‘Coward of the Titanic’. At the time, he was President of The White Star Line, the company that owned the Titanic, which sank on its maiden voyage  Mr Is...