11 November
Armistice Day. Five chances.
I mind as ‘ow the night afore that show
Us five got talking – we was in the know,
‘Over the top to-morrer; boys, we’re for it,
First wave we are, first ruddy wave; that’s tore it.’
‘Oh well,’ says Jimmy – an’ ‘e’s seen some scrappin’ –
‘There ain’t more nor five things as can ‘appen;
Ye get knocked out; else wounded – bad or cushy;
Scuppered; or nowt except yer feeling mushy.’
One of us got the knock-out, blown to chops.
T’other was hurt, like, losin’ both ‘is props.
An’ one, to use the word of ‘ypocrites,
‘Ad the misfortoon to be took by Fritz.
Now me, I wasn’t scratched, praise God Almighty
(Though next time please I’ll thank ‘im for a blighty),
But poor young Jim, ‘e’s livin’ an’ ‘e’s not;
‘E reckoned ‘e’d five chances, an’ ‘e’s ‘ad;
‘E’s wounded, killed, and pris’ner, all the lot –
The ruddy lot all rolled in one. Jim’s mad.
Wilfred Owen, The Chances
Red Pepper in print
Subscribe to get the latest issue of the magazine
#232: Rue Britannia ● The legacy of the British Empire ● An interview with Priyamvada Gopal ● The People’s Olympics ● An interview with Neville Southall ● Agribusiness in India ● Deliveroo’s disastrous IPO ● Latest book reviews ● And much more!
And you choose how much to pay for your subscription...
Red Pepper by email
Get the latest articles and updates in your inbox
The Socialist Olympics of 1936
Radical workers’ sporting organisations and the 1936 People’s Olympiad illustrate the role of sport in fighting oppression, writes Uma Arruga i López.
Review – You’re History: The Twelve Strangest Women in Music
Lesley Chow argues for a new kind of music criticism that re-evaluates women musicians and "meaningless" music, writes Rhian E Jones
Lying through their legacy-speak
Olympic ‘legacy’ has greased the path for enormous, upward transfer of wealth to the global propertied classes, writes Jules Boykoff
SWexit: What are exit schemes for sex workers missing?
If earning money is a fundamental reason for entering the sex industry, it is also essential to leaving it, writes Marin Scarlett.
Failure to deliver
Major financial institutions have cited Deliveroo’s employment practices for its disastrous public share launch. Alice Martin and Tom Powdrill look at what went wrong and what it might mean for workers’ rights
Power on the picket line: remembering the Burnsall Strike
Almost 30 years on, Sarbjit Johal recalls supporting the strike, which consisted of mostly Punjabi women workers
