The Price of Potatoes 1812 - 2016

I've just discovered that the sleepy little Cheshire town of Macclesfield, where I reside, was once, in April 1812, the scene of full-scale rioting. Hundreds of poor people from the town and its surrounding villages, angry about the extortionate prices being charged at the local market, rioted and looted and threw potatoes and other foodstuffs, until they were eventually dispersed by the cavalry! Here is my poem to mark the event ...

Here comes the cavalry charge into town.
Here come the cavalry to strike us all down,
and it's just for the price of potatoes.
Yes it's all for the price of potatoes

For the price of potatoes our children are starved,
and our measly portions are quartered and halved,
and it's just for the price of potatoes.
Yes it's all for the price of potatoes.

There are queues at the food banks, and queues on the dole,
and they pray at the pulpit for our mortal soul,
and it's just for the price of potatoes.
Yes, it's all for the price of potatoes.

There's a tax on our bedroom, and tax on our corn,
so our children wear rags, and are battered and torn,
and it's just for the price of potatoes.
Yes it's all for the price of potatoes.

As we sweat and we toil, working long zero hours,
the cats get the cream, whilst our milk sours,
and it's just for the price of potatoes.
Yes it's all for the price of potatoes.

'Cause they closed down the factory, the mill and the pit,
so 'the world is still poor, and mankind is still sh*t',
and it's just for the price of potatoes.
Yes it's all for the price of potatoes.

Now they've stolen our benefits, privatised health,
while the fat well-fed few still cling on to their wealth,
and it's just for the price of potatoes.
Yes it's all for the price of potatoes.

But we're not gonna take it, no, not lying down,
so shoulder to shoulder we'll march into town.
For the price of potatoes we'll fight the brave fight.
The dispossessed workers reclaiming what's right.
'Cause it's all so obscene, and it's all so absurd,
we will make sure our voices are finally heard.
We're in for a penny, and in for a pound,
for the price of potatoes, we rise up from the ground.
Rise up from the ground, rising up from the ground.
The dispossessed workers rise up from the ground ........

But here comes the cavalry charge into town.
Yes here come the cavalry to strike us all down .....

and it's just for the price of potatoes.
Yes it's all for the price of potatoes.