The Prerogative Of A Harlot

was how one British prime minister
described the desire of the proprietors
of some newspapers to report more freely
the deeds of the rich and powerful
to the downtrodden poor of the 1930's-
a poor who were partially downtrodden
by the press themselves-
as wealth went about serving itself.

The prerogative of a harlot
was freedom without responsibility,
surely something that the governments,
even now, preferred to keep for themselves.