The Price Of Progress. Poem by ivor or ivor.e hogg

The banks of Tyne are green again
The skyline boasts no shipyard crane
Our great shipbuilding industry,
a footnote now in history

The riversides no longer ring
to the harsh sound of riveting
It’s not the Tyne I used to know
although the daily tides still flow

up past Newcastle from the sea
Far cleaner than they used to be.
I wonder was it worth the cost
a thousand, thousand jobs were lost.

There was no clear cut policy
to deal with mass redundancy.
As usual the government
addressed the rising discontent

With promises of action to
reduce the ever growing queue.
On unemployment benefit
But sadly they did not see fit.

To do what needed to be done.
So we were left to struggle on.
The fat cats were protected by
the old boys camaraderie.

Nobody gave a tinkers damn
about the common working man.
One M.P.was heard to say
this is the price we have to pay.

He clearly did not understand
the working men’s right to demand.
Some action from the powers that be
which would relieve their misery.

Correcting mistakes which were made.
As usual the price was paid
By men who lost their livelihood
and not by those who really should.

have paid the price because they failed
to see. Just what would be entailed
In closing down an industry
which had thrived traditionally.

From lack of positive support
and even worse from lack of thought.
Though craftsmen could transfer their skill
there were no vacancies to fill.

Whole communities were destroyed
there was no way they could avoid.
Being forced to move away
although they would much rather stay.

The banks of Tyne are green again.
Paid for in hardship and in pain.
The working men were hardest hit
again the rich folks benefit.

Because they can afford to buy
Luxury flats that now rise high
and cater for the wealthiest
Who think that they deserve the best.

The working class lose out again
Which is quite easy to explain.
Though working men are in demand
the wealthiest are in command.

They always were through history
There really is no mystery.
The power lies with the elite
The working men cannot compete.

The rich get rich at our expense
and most of them make no pretence.
To care about the working man.
Who they exploit because they can.







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