The bard celebrates two other fine practitioners of the art, and laments a lost brewer
Last time Donald ascended the throne we got Covid
for our trouble. Slept in after the Super Bowl,
spread gain-of-function throughout the nation. The howl
for and against masks, quarantines! Even Ovid
would have had trouble keeping up with variants
metamorphosing like Kafka’s ID crisis
(of course, Rilke had crossdressing experience).
Trump said the Chinese did it, and some said Isis.
Miracle vaccines appeared like never before,
ol’ Warp Speed emergency authorization —
Big Pharma a windfall laughing Fellinii whore —
Google protecting against disinformation.
BEN COWLES samples the many sonic and social therapies of Manchester Punk Festival 2026, and is ready again to smash capitalism
International solidarity can ensure that Trump and his machine cannot prevail without a level of political and economic cost that he will not want to pay, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
by Christopher Norris
‘Honest’ Tom Wharton’s 1682 drunken rampage through St Mary’s church haunted his political career, but his satirical song Lillibullero helped topple Catholic James II during the Glorious Revolution, writes MAT COWARD


