Adrian Johnson was in store at Queens Square Shopping Centre, High Street, West Bromwich, sharing stories and local legends with children and parents in the spring of 2011
Birmingham's 14th poet laureate recalls the poll tax on its twenty first anniversary - 31 March, 2011
Still, no poll tax, eh?
by Adrian Johnson - Birmingham poet laureate, 2009 - 2010
Watt Tyler lost his head for it
a prime minister lost her job for it
thousands went to court against it
Trafalgar Square heaved with life and love and protest to stop it
civil courts got right shirty, filled with anger, ideas and spirit
for what’s right and fair and will power - to just not pay it
bailiff’s got over time, short shrift and rarely could collect it
MP’s sniffed the air and mumbled – far too late – ‘Now we’ve done it.”
Leaflets, banners and street protest said what they could do with it
friendships made and courage raised, together we could fix it,
stuff it, beat it, sod it
that flagship idea that spawned a mutinous flotilla
got scuttled by anger and laughter – stood together
mother, son and daughter
they knew what was right, wanted something better
Twenty years later, you’d hardly believe it
those passionate millions that stood against it
wouldn’t, couldn’t, shouldn’t’ave’ad paid it
the tax that came in just one size for the duke in his mansion
and dustman in his terrace
that shook us into action and life - and though overlooked by history
we can remember…
now and then, our story
remember ,the laughter, friendship and life
standing up for something better
and still, no poll tax, here.
c. Adrian Johnson
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First UK Laureate for Storytelling announced, 02 November 2009.
poll tax remembered - in the Guardian letters page 15 April:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/15/past-margaretthatcher
Twenty years ago, the biggest protest to inflame Scotland, which would also engulf London's Trafalgar Square with around 200,000 people, was the widespread protest against the poll tax. The protesters' success is remembered at Glasgow's People's Palace this Saturday (18 April) by musicians, writers and storytellers. Fortunately, no one died back then, but a prime minister's career did come to an unexpected end soon after.
Strange then that Germaine Greer (The making of Maggie, Review, 11 April) and others seem to overlook this hugely significant moment of British history.
There was, as Greer says, "weakness and indecisiveness of the opposition", but the thousands who didn't pay a penny and protested against the poll tax were sure of what was right and fair, and this is remembered in Glasgow on Saturday (see Glasgow museums).
Adrian Johnson
Smethwick, West Midlands