Imagine Peter Black with a CBE

Peter Black CBE (@peterblackwales) | Twitter

I have long valued those who stay firm to the beliefs and principles of their youth. I have always been a Republican from adolescence onwards. At Swansea University there were friends around me who remained committed to this path throughout their lives. My friend the late Steve Tarbet was such as that. In the early eighties one such person was Peter Black. I remember Peter telling me that he sat during the English national anthem at his graduation as did I.

The English national Anthem is a dirge about one person, one Elizabeth Saxe-Coberg-Gotha. Its infamous verse reads

God Grant that Marshal Wade,

May by thy mighty aid

Victory bring,

May he sedition hush,

And like a torrent rush,

Rebellious Scots to crush,

God save the King.

Confound their politics

And curse their knavish tricks . . .

Long ago Peter Black told me how he admired the principle of John Lennon who sent back his OBE...what a pity peter could not do the same.

But...long ago john Lennon wrote the song How do you sleep? It was addressed allegedly to Paul McCartney. After all these years I must ask the same question to Peter Black..it is one thing to mature it is another to take on board the panoply of the British sate, the relics of the British Empire and the Honours system with all it implies and suggests. Still as in my case I mist plead the quote of Oscar Wilde “Every saint has a past every sinner a future...... Peter will say that it will open doors to him, give him influence but we all know about the greatest defense mechanism ever...rationalization...how the words of Imagine come back to me..and I imagine Peter Black bowing and backing away from the Queen...oh imagine it John Lennon...how do you sleep?