One of His Majesty’s Ministers breaks down
in tears uncontrollably in a makeshift
tent in the scrublands of Chad near the border
with Darfur. Millions of women and children –
the men dead or in hiding – are on the move
again in their multi-coloured robes,
hoping again to escape hunger
and molestation, the greed and havoc of
post-imperial wars. There to promote
the good deeds of HMG, the Minister –
without the protection of suit and tie,
and the gentlemen’s club procedures
of the House of Commons, without the bombast
of office, the fustian oratory
of the pretence of power – is reduced
to a human being.
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By David Selzer