POEM OF THE DAY

Strait Jacket

to deliver a totally rational argument he snatches defeat from the jaws of victory by implying asylum seekers are given housing priority over ex-service personnel.

One minute he accuses politicians of divisiveness and the next moment he is doing the same.

He writes: “these asylum seekers have never paid a penny in taxes”.

So what? The idea that you have to pay into the ‘system’ before you can benefit from it is a reversal of the reasons for taxation and social policy.

This is the idea that well educated, healthy people, given a diverse range of opportunities will contribute to society and the economy in the long-term.

British children do not pay taxes before they receive child benefit, free NHS treatment or an education.

If we assessed families’ access to institutions on the basis of their overall tax contributions, we would have a nation where inequality and Working on an oil rig in the North Sea

In the seventies was not a holiday camp believe me

It’s almost always cold and wet And a sun tan you can forget Offshore is no place for the weak or fragile

You need to be strong, and perhaps a little docile

A fitter I witnessed arrived about three

He was back in Aberdeen for a late tea

class differences were more rigid and almost impossible to escape, a country with more homeless people.

Thankfully, Mr Piper regains his composure when he states the government should have the “necessary accommodation and facilities in place to cater for…asylum seekers” and all What some expected I just don’t know?

They would arrive and very soon go

A colleague of mine created such a racket

They carried him off in a strait jacket

Working in the North Sea I suppose at times did help me

It was a means to an end no not my cup of tea

GEORGE McLANDERS

the “homeless people”.

Absolutely right, and we also need to avoid the politically divisive game of the ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor which only plays into the hands of a self-serving establishment.

TONY BENNETT, address supplied