Category Archives: Michael Rosen

Guy Pearce and Annie Lennox join call to end ‘normalised horror’ for children in Gaza

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Stars read Michael Rosen’s 2014 poem Don’t Mention the Children in film released by Save the Children

Guy Pearce, Annie Lennox and Vanessa Redgrave are among the celebrities calling for an end to the “normalised horror” of children being killed in Gaza, as part of new short film.

Released by Save the Children and Choose Love, it features the stars reciting the words to a poem by Michael Rosen. Titled Don’t Mention the Children, the poem was written in 2014 in response to a Guardian article about the Israeli government banning a radio advert naming children killed in Gaza. It begins:

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Leading global scholars sign letter urging UK to end Palestine Action ban

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Exclusive: Naomi Klein and Angela Davis among those demanding stop to ‘attack on fundamental freedoms’ of assembly and protest

Naomi Klein and Angela Davis are among dozens of international scholars and writers who have signed a letter to the Guardian calling on the UK government to reverse the ban on Palestine Action.

The letter applauds what it describes as a “growing campaign of collective defiance” against the ban and commends the hundreds of people who plan to risk arrest by declaring their support for Palestine Action during a mass protest in London on Saturday.

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More than 100 artists tell Starmer to halt arms sales to Israel if he becomes PM

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Letter signatories from Steve Coogan to Paloma Faith urge Keir Starmer to ‘take stand’ for human rights and international law

Actors including Steve Coogan, Miriam Margolyes and Juliet Stevenson have joined forces with musicians, writers and directors in calling on Keir Starmer to halt arm sales to Israel if elected prime minister.

The singer Paloma Faith, the film-maker Mike Leigh and the author Michael Rosen are among the more than 100 celebrities who have signed a joint letter, coordinated by Artists for Palestine UK, that urges the Labour leader to “take a stand against the ongoing atrocities committed by Israel” in Gaza.

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It’s beginning to look a lot like last Christmas: why the UK has Covid deja vu

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Omicron cases are soaring, experts want curbs and Boris Johnson is dithering. Sound familiar?

That old adage of Marx insists that historical events occur first as tragedy, then as farce. The government’s handling of the pandemic in the UK long ago undermined that progression: tragedy and farce have, since the very beginning of the crisis, always been a double act.

The clashing tone of current events feels like a dispiriting festive repeat of all-too-familiar dramas. A week that began with the exposed scandal of Downing Street lockdown parties, and ended with chief civil servant Simon Case stepping down as investigator of those scandals, because of a party in his own office, was also yet another week in which the alarming progress of the virus outpaced government rhetoric and claimed another thousand lives.

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Dear Gavin Williamson, if Latin is about levelling up, I have other ideas | Michael Rosen

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Why not emulate private schools with class sizes, playing fields, music facilities and modern languages?

Just as many of us are thinking ahead to winter and a possible next wave of Covid, worrying about whether schools have proper ventilation and what emergency measures you might have up your sleeve if a major outbreak occurs, you choose to put Latin at the top of your agenda. Well, not quite top because you also managed to signal the end of BTecs (a disaster in the making). Perhaps you were using your Latin splash to hide that announcement.

You’re also keeping very quiet about what is happening with the GCSE marking – the results only days away for my offspring. I can’t work out which is going to be more exciting: hearing his results or listening to your convoluted explanations as to why a) this year’s teacher assessment method was perfect and b) why – even though it’s been perfect – we’ll all have to go back next year to the one-off, high-stakes, unnecessary obstacle of GCSEs.

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Michael Rosen backs calls for Covid UK public inquiry

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Children’s writer who nearly died from virus joins Joan Bakewell and other public figures in demanding investigation

Michael Rosen, the poet and children’s writer who survived Covid after six weeks on a ventilator, has backed calls for a public inquiry into the UK’s handling of the pandemic amid rising pressure on Boris Johnson to announce a timetable.

The author spoke out as several other prominent figures urged the government to launch a statutory investigation into the UK’s Covid-19 experience, including the broadcaster Joan Bakewell, the film director Stephen Frears and the music producer and composer Talvin Singh.

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