Political persuasion is sometimes the result of chance. A single event, an opinion of someone we care for and think we respect, a man wearing a suit on TV looking all successful and powerful, can change a pathway of thought at a stroke.

And with a system geared towards monopolising those strokes, can we be truly surprised at how democracy withdrew in the corner likened a frightened child hoping its evil parents would ignore her?

In this poem, I write ‘peacekeepers’ for two reasons. Firstly, because I don’t want people to see police and consider them enemies of the people. Society needs a police force that protects the peace, that defends the innocent and which fights CRIME. What we do NOT need is a politicised force of thugs who feel they can beat innocent citizens and protestors because power is being challenged. Secondly because a  ...