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West England Bylines
Home Society Poetry

What Britain Means to Me

Poem by Bob Copeland

Bob Copeland by Bob Copeland
9 September 2026
in Poetry
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
A battered Union Jack

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

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Poem on a Union Jack background:Shame of our pastrarely taught.Property rights putbefore human rights.Enclosure of commonstook away the bounty of nature.Denied wood and pasturewe moved into townsbound to a wage.In an empire of tradecolonists took it allwith oppression and slaughter.Slaves shipped in chainsto work plantations.India lootedAfrica’s gold taken.Crops grown for greedleft starvation in Irelandfamines in IndiaChina addicted.Oppressed welived in slums.Children labouredin mines and mills.People gatheringcut down at Peterloochartists marchedmartyrs transportedsuffragettes imprisoned.Just for votesand representation.After World Warsleft cities in ruinsand millions dead.We chose solidarity,healthcare, homes.and nationalisedindustry.Colonies now nationswere loaded with debt,now cash cows forCity banks. Shame of my generationas solidarity lostto the neo-liberal creed.Prices increasedservice plummeted.Still we paid forbonuses,bank interest,dividends the lot.For too long ignoredinconvenient truths ofcontaminated bloodsub-post mastersHillsboroughchild-abuseGrenfellCovidso many more.A nation of landlordsbuilt generation rent.University feesa generation of debt.Austerityfoodbanksthe homelessleft to die.Concerns dismissedwith corporate spinas uncheckedBig Tech hookedyoung and oldonlinefor profit, salesand criminal gangs. No interventionsagainst genocides,war crimes,and global warming.Security Councilveto powersdealt us anarchyand climate disaster. Shame of todayselection and electionsfinanced by wealth.A parliamentunrepresentativeunaccountableled to dissent.Protest and direct actionmet with oppressionconstant surveillancefacial recognitionspy cops amongst us.Property rights still putbefore human rights.Protesting pensionersdragged off the street.Jury trials withdrawnmotives not heard.Justice a joke.Houses as an investmentmade homes unaffordable.Accumulation accelerating,inequality unfathomable.Media feeds oflow fact news,weave racism anddiscriminationthrough the nation.Millions still sufferfrom our imperial past.Take a look at Palestineand Sudan today.Those in boats shouldnot be turned away.Britain no longer partof the European dream,a vassal ofAmerican power.Paying our tributebending to their willcomplicit in theirwar crimes.

Further reading: Private Island by James Meek, How Westminster Works by Ian Dunt, Vassal State by Angus Hanton, How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain by Sathnam Sanghera, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff,Complicit: Britain’s role in the destruction of Gaza by Peter Oborne.

Comments? We want to hear them. Please write to editor@westenglandbylines.co.uk

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Bob Copeland

Bob Copeland

Bob Copeland BSc. MBCS CEng CITP Bob has been an active member of the community in the village of Kingswood, Gloucestershire for over 30 years, he has helped to set up Churches Together in Kingswood and is currently part of a team working to establish a community hub there. Bob also hosts a Socialist book club, and has reviewed many of the books the group has read for Bylines. Professionally he is a Director of a business developing software for the transport and logistics industry. He enjoys the outdoor life, walking, cycling and camping, and has been writing for West England Bylines since 2021.

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