I'm currently writing a song making fun of a prominent societal figure. I'm writing it in the style of Gilbert & Sullivan's 'I am the very figure of a modern Major General', which features in the light opera, The Mikado.  The Mikado is a satire of late 19th century British institutions, society and politics. By setting The Mikado in a fantasy Japan far from contemporary Britain, Gilbert felt he could satirise British politics more freely and soften the impact of his criticisms of British social institutions. Instead, he was accused of promoting stereotypes of East Asians!

As a child, the nuances of The Mikado and its setting passed me by entirely. I loved the cleverness, pace and humour of the lyrics, the sparkling tunes, and the complex costumes. I hugely enjoyed attending Gilbert & Sullivan operas (unlike classical operas - my parents quickly stopped wasting money on taking me to those). I'm sure my love of Gilbert & Sullivan has influenced the type of songwriting I enjoy, with words and humour at the fore.

What also escaped me as a child was the varied directions of Gilbert & Sullivan's satire. They lambasted the law in Trial by Jury and Iolanthe, the rise of unqualified people to seniority in H.M.S. Pinafore and the Pirates of Penzance, and women's education in Princess Ida. Princess Ida was not a success although not necessarily because of its theme - its failure was attributed to a very hot summer in London.

I became enthused about writing my current song on our recent flight to London, where we are visiting Sarah. At Auckland airport, I researched media reports of the societal figure (particularly over the last 108 days), used dictionaries to find series of rhyming words, and came up with a first cut of a song to which I'm adding chords and melody. However, when I told Sarah about my song, she said, "Are you sure you want to do that?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Are you planning to visit that country any time soon? You wouldn't want there to be a social media record of your critique [in song]."

I'm not quite so naive to have thought this a non-issue, but I was surprised by the strength of her concern.

"Have you heard about people being detained at the border, being questioned, having their devices searched? People have been in custody for weeks with no specific charges laid against which they can protest."

I had heard about these events, but hadn't given much thought about how they apply to me. I've got no particular reason right now to go to the country in question. My focus had been how cool it would be to have a TikTok hit (though even more unlikely than me being detained!) with people loving my clever song.

Having considered the risks, I'm still writing my song, but you'll have to attend a live performance to hear it. But...how did we get to this point so easily, so quickly, that people in a different country are scared to write songs to perform at a local open mics that criticise a particularly powerful global figure? The world isn't just on a slippery slope, we're sliding at pace...

...on an only slightly related matter...

was the critique of Donald Trump's appearance at the Pope's funeral fair? Trump was condemned for wearing a blue suit in the sea of black. Vatican funeral protocols call for men to wear a dark suit with a black tie and a black lapel button, so Trump's light blue tie was visibly out of line. However, Prince William also wore a blue suit, Indian President Droupadi Murmu wore a blue sari, the King of Jordan wore a blue suit and a mid-colour blue tie. Of course, they hadn't recently been profiled slamming Volodymyr Zelensky for his disrespect in not wearing a suit when he met with them – what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander?

Apple sauce?