UNPACKING BLAIR

James Chater

I’m a man with a rucksack behaving in a suspicious manner,

And the load that I carry around is a lethal concoction,

I’m a man with a mission, marching to a “just” war banner,

It’s a hard-edged decision, to wipe out this evil, but just trust me.

My target, my focus – I’ve always been clear about this –

Is to blow myself up, first with pride, then with vain self-delusion.

Look, it’s walk-about time, let me pose for the CCTV,

Climb aboard no. 30, watch me detonate lies and confusion.

I’m a prisoner of sorts, ever since my landslide election,

Holed up in my Downing Street bunker, enjoying protection

Against mortars of blame, wisdom’s flashes and thunder of truth,

We lived through the blitz, we’ll get through this, my survival’s the proof.

But soon I’ll move on, war is costly but peace even more so,

I’ve a mortgage to pay, but I’ll manage – strum away, feel the din! –

’Cause across the Atlantic the white-haired patricians are calling,

With fat bank accounts, well paid lectures, a New World of spin!

Written shortly after the bomb attacks in London on 7 July 2005.