Abbott to Grab it

Posted on September 8, 2013 by twitmericks

Australia‘s general election

Resulted for Rudd in rejection

And so Tony Abbott

Can now have a stab at

A shift in a rightward direction.

///http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24005687

https://twitter.com/twitmericks/status/376300160084889600

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Labour Movement?

Posted on September 6, 2013 by twitmericks

An unemployed fellow from Wales/

Sought work in electrical sales/

He hadn’t a chance/

As Currys said ‘dance,/

The best Daft Punk mover prevails‘/

//

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-23972952

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Union Blues

Posted on September 5, 2013 by twitmericks
The GMB leader Paul Kenny/
Has cost Labour one pretty penny/
By telling Ed Mili its/
Member affiliates/
Won’t from now on be as many.
///
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There Was an Old Geezer…

Posted on September 5, 2013 by twitmericks

Yep, today’s the day.

Mick Twister’s debut book, There Was an Old Geezer Called Caesar: A History of the World in 100 Limericks is out, and should be in the shops in the UK and, I think, other parts of the world apart from the US, where it comes out on December 1. Reported sightings welcomed.

Published by Portico, an imprint of Anova, the book can be ordered from Amazon, Waterstones etc – links are on the Book News page.

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Sun Block

Posted on September 3, 2013 by twitmericks
There once was a man with a car/
Who said it is rather bizarre/
That big office tower/
Has used solar power/
To melt my poor jag from afar.
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Spurs Get Baleout

Posted on September 2, 2013 by twitmericks
There was a Welsh winger named Bale,
A chap whose eventual sale
Cost Real Madrid
85 million quid
Plus pay at the top of their scale.

 

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That Was the Frost that Was

Posted on September 1, 2013 by twitmericks

There was an old fellow named Frost/

A TV man now sadly lost./

Although he was gracious/

He could be tenacious,/

As Nixon found out to his cost.

///http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23920336

https://twitter.com/twitmericks/status/374183536086892546

**Five days till UK publication day: http://www.amazon.co.uk/There-Was-Geezer-Called-Caesar/dp/1907554866/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375432501&sr=8-1&keywords=mick+twister **

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Famous Seamus

Posted on August 31, 2013 by twitmericks
Farewell to a poet named Seamus/
Whose body of work made him famous/
Reciter, exciter/
And prizewinning writer/
His poems inspire & inflame us.
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Cameron takes a Hammering

Posted on August 30, 2013 by twitmericks
There was a PM who misread/
The mood of the party he led/
A Commons defeat/
Means Dave must retreat/
And let France bomb Assad instead.///
 

**Book out next week –  September 5 in the UK – http://www.amazon.co.uk/There-Was-Geezer-Called-Caesar/dp/1907554866/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375432501&sr=8-1&keywords=mick+twister **

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Rude Limericks

Posted on August 29, 2013 by twitmericks

In a rare departure from my normal posts, here are a few thoughts on the case of the QI limerick. http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/aug/29/stephen-fry-paedophilia-limerick-apology-bbc

 

This is the verse read out by Stephen Fry:
 
“There was a young chaplain from King’s
Who talked about God and such things;
But his real desire 
Was a boy in the choir
With a bottom like jelly on springs.”
 
Responding to a complaint that this was trivialising paedophilia – at a time when the savile case was in the news – the BBC Trust said it was on the margins of acceptability but within guidelines.
 
A lot of limericks in the oral tradition involve paedophile priests, and many of them are a lot darker and more unpleasant than the one above (it’s OK, you don’t need to send examples!) I think it helped that Fry’s  verse was about a chaplain lusting after a boy rather than actually carrying out abuse. But why the enduring fascination?
 
Apart from Edward Lear’s gentle nonsense limericks, the form has often been part of an oral tradition used to mock the hypocrisy of those in power and the arbiters of moral authority. And that’s often been accompanied by a desire to shock and to be as sexually explicit as possible.
 
Fry is a collector of the verse of Norman Douglas, and wrote an introduction to a recent collection of his work.  (Some Limericks, Atlas Press 2009). All are pretty rude, some are very funny and well-written, and some make quite uncomfortable reading.
 
Although some of the taboos around the ways in which we talk about sex have eased, there is a problem when you derive humour from abuse – as recent controversies over rape jokes show, most people don’t find violent non-consensual sex that funny. And in lampooning the hypocritical abuser, it’s often too easy to abandon empathy with the abused. 
 
So while I agree with the BBC Trust’s decision, there are some limericks in Norman Douglas’s book, and some I’ve heard over the years, that I wouldn’t advocate reading out on TV. Or tweeting.   

 

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