Henry Normal, co-writer of award-winning TV and film shows such as The Royle Family, The Mrs Merton Show, The Parole Officer, Coogan’s Run, Paul Calf, and producer of Gavin and Stacey, Moone Boy, Uncle and Alan Partridge, among many others, has written four Brexit-themed poems exclusively for Northern Soul. They are called Brexit Trilogy (taking into account inflation). Here’s the second one. 

NEVER LET IT BE SAID 
 
I’m wrong
 
I’ve listened carefully to what you’ve said
and I’ve changed my mind
 
I’m normally very entrenched in my position
but the power of your argument has cut through my prejudice
 
Thank you for taking the time to explain the situation from your perspective
 
I can see there’s arguments on both sides but on balance I must now change my stance
 
I feel somewhat stupid at having been so misguided before and hope my previous intransigence hasn’t caused too many problems
 
If only I’d seen sense earlier this mess could have been cleared up and to think I was simply going to talk over you and regurgitate the same old tired arguments again
 
I can see that what I’ve been doing is cherry picking the facts that support my view and ignoring those that don’t suit
 
I ask for your forgiveness for anything hurtful I’ve said in pursuit of my previous goal
 
I’m sure you will understand my unreasonableness was fuelled by ignorance and perhaps a desperation that deep down I knew I was wrong
 
I ask for your understanding for deliberately misrepresenting the situation to gain advantage for what I misguidedly thought was the greater good
 
I am ashamed and repentant 
 
Lets move forward together in a new spirit of honesty and openness and see if we can now apply the same process of conciliation to the next problem

 

Henry Normal will be at The Lowry in Salford on January 25, 2020. For more information, click here.