In Competition 2828 you were invited to submit a retrospective verse commentary on 2013. Reasons to be cheerful are, apparently, somewhat thin on the ground. Alanna Blake’s opening couplet captures the general mood of the entry:
The year is past, it’s maybe best
To let the poor thing lie at rest.
The arrival of a royal baby injected a more positive note, albeit leavened by a healthy dash of cynicism. Here’s Jerome Betts:
Yet still, you welcomed young Prince George,
A howling future Head of State,
Then let the media-vultures gorge
On shots of —Wow! — unweighty Kate
Commendations to Trish Davis and Chris O’Carroll, who were unlucky losers. The winners take £25 each and the bonus fiver belongs to Alan Millard. Happy New Year!
Firstly the weather (according to Twitter):
‘From bitter to better then wetter to bitter’;
In Westminster more of the same: caterwauling,
With all of the usual booing and bawling;
In Europe, resentment, with Britain backtracking
And Merkel embittered by telephone hacking;
In Royalty, annus mirabilis — joy
With Kate spared the Tower by bearing a boy;
In Olympics, a legacy ceasing to matter
With few of us fitter and most of us fatter;
But gays can be gay, with no reason to tarry
They’re able, at last, to be merry and marry;
And, soon to be girded in gaiters with crosier,
Women in collars face futures far rosier.
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