Writing Wakeup England was an interesting journey. The motivation for the original song came from my observation of the growing number of people in Bristol experiencing homelessness as social housing got sold for profit. Witnessing unemployment rising as ruthless corporations replaced humans with machines and AI bots to maximise profit.

The song languished for a time as I never felt it had the right 'attack' to wake people up. Then Covid and the greatest expansion of police powers for decades. Rights to demonstrate being stripped.

How could England, the country that once famously rose up against tyrannical authority to win basic human and democratic rights (Magna Carta) then sleepwalk into letting the government take total control of their lives?

In 1215, at risk of losing his English kingdom in a broad revolution, arrogant and exploitive King John signed the Magna Carta, enshrining the principle that regardless of gender, race, or creed "all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

The Magna Carta created the moral and political platform on which was built both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, protecting the individual freedoms of all Peoples against arbitrary and capricious rule.

These charters gave People inalienable rights against oppressive rulers and limited the power of governments to protect those rights. They served as models of democracy worldwide.

Many people in England and America bravely died fighting for the Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence. Sadly drip-by-drip the very freedoms and rights our ancestors fought for have been eroded.

Our governments now answer to dark masters, not us the People.

This gave me the momentum to re-write Wakeup in a way that hits hard.

Time for England to say enough. Time for England to once again rise up and show the world the power of the people.

WakeUp England!