ROZ contributed the LION image upon the front of the new book by MR ICKE and also the opening poem:

RISE LIKE LIONS
by PERCY BUSSHE SHELLEY

MCDONALD was a bit 'vague' about it all - his heart didn't seem to be in it - he decided upon this text, almost immediately:

IF
by RUDYARD KIPLING

It is an odd one but I can remember DAVID DABYDEEN saying that even though KIPLING had been a hugely racist author....this one poem - was one of DABYDEEN's favourites...he loved it - it summarised so much - what a young boy and man needs to know about life and how to be a REAL man...

"IF you can keep your head when all about you,
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you..."


It is all about the human condition - as some writers put it...and how well you can cope with it - in a crisis. That is the proof of a REAL man and also a REAL woman, I might add...so we can only accuse KIPLING of a cultural point in history where sexism was acceptable....