Earlier this week I received a letter with a strange small knobbly item lurking in the envelope. I tried to work out what it was by feeling it. I couldn’t see any obvious sender identification on the letter, and without telling Fiona, chose to open it outside.
It turned out to be a welcoming letter from the Free Speech Union, with a single clear page of their statement of values, and my membership number. The knobbly item was a faux gold lapel badge. I noticed some tiny text on it – in fact the same logo and text is on their website, though I hadn’t donned reading glasses before to work out what it said:
‘Audi Alteram Partem’. For any as poor at Latin as I am, this summary of its meaning and significance is taken straight from Wikipedia:
“listen to the other side”, or “let the other side be heard as well”…
“Audi alteram partem” is considered to be a principle of fundamental justice or equity or the principle of natural justice in most legal systems. This principle includes the rights of a party or its lawyers to confront the witnesses against them, to have a fair opportunity to challenge the evidence presented by the other party, to summon one’s own witnesses and to present evidence, and to have counsel, if necessary at public expense, in order to make one’s case properly.
A very appropriate phrase for the FSU, I’d say. As well as this hard copy, I receive a weekly and monthly update of what they’ve been up to as an organisation recently. Including the interesting news today that their membership numbers have soared by 43% since the UK’s general election in July. So it seems I’m not alone in feeling a need to support their work.
The above Wiki page also has an interesting link to the familiar first word of this phrase – Audi, and why nearly everyone in the UK would be able to link this to something. Together with recent events, this got me musing, and this short post and poem is the result.
The Last Man in Europe (2024)
When we’re told what we ought to think
When we’re shown what we ought to see
When we’re fed what we ought to eat
Should we question if we’re really free?
When our words are corrupted and changed
When our trust in the law seems constrained
When our parliament’s questions are gagged
We’ve been hooked, and our lifeline’s been snagged
When the rules mean the rules for the rest
When free tickets and clothes clad the best
When the snake oil of populists burns
Are we woke, will we wake, will we learn
That history reminds us to strive
The dates might have changed, not the vibe
Will we sink, will we drown, will we swim,
Will we gain, will we lose, will we win?
When the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine
When the batteries won’t charge and the heat pumps won’t run
When ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ seems hollow and vain
Change era, switch tongue, chant ‘Audi Alteram Partem’ – in time.
Then resist all the grey, all the gloom, all the flags
All the woke ideology, sex madness wags
Dust off your copy and check out the dates
Orwellian prophet – our own fate awaits.
04/11/1949/1984/2024