Can't you hear them calling

My poem today is related to the general election of 2017 in the UK. I must be getting an angry old man as I get older, for I have been incensed by the empty slogans and lack of substance in this election campaign. At times I wonder if we have traveled back in time with vague notions of economic growth being waived in front of the electorate.

Lloyd George said in the early 20th century that "We cannot feed the hungry with statistics of national prosperity, or stop the pangs of famine by reciting to a man the prodigious number of cheques that pass through the clearing-house.".

Sometimes during this election, I think I hear too many recitations.

Can't you hear them calling

Food banks and famine in the city
Politicians serve empty platitude
While the hungry deserve our pity
Cry out that justice be renewed

The winner takes it all, they say
Strong and stable: call for votes
On the breadline, they still pray
Empty slogans stick in throats

Schools crowded, skills in shortage
Hospitals in crisis, no winter fuel
A generation pays this mortgage
Politicians: cowardly and cruel

Play the Brexit card, deal the hand
Even if policies are vague and bland