Empty libraries, no-one in the stacks,
There is no research, no-one sifts the facts.
Refectory shut down, lecture halls too,
Union bar gigs gone, nothing to do,
Students in garretts, now banged up all day,
Campus isolation all for 9K.
Laptop screens flicker in room after room,
Headphones on bonces, new learning on Zoom,
Tiers, pods and bubbles keep distanced apart,
Fears, gods and troubles, is no way to start.
Fresh faced freshers no way will stay quiet,
They will learn something, new ways to riot.
Curfews on campus, they’re all getting ill,
No track, and no trace, there’s no magic pill.
Still, just so long as students pay their fee,
They’ll get a University degree.

Harry Rogers, in the Red Bedroom, September 28th 2020