Set by Dipak Ghosh We asked you to follow the example of Jeffrey Archer, who wrote The Gospel According to Judas, presenting him as a much-misunderstood man who did not betray Jesus for money. We asked for similar whitewashes of other despised and hated figures to whom you, too, are emotionally close

Not bad. I was sorry to lose Bill Greenwell (Vlad Dracul III),

M E Ault (Delilah), David Silverman (the Daleks), D A Prince (Erich Honecker) and Pat O’Byrne (Mrs Danvers). There’s a motley crew if ever there was one. I’m sure there’s some sort of comp in there, where they all meet . . . Hmm. Welcome back to John Griffiths-Colby,

who has written to explain that his non-appearance has been due to “circumstances beyond human control (again)”. Wow. £20 to the three winners, the best of

whom (Ian Birchall) also gets

the Tesco vouchers.

Neville Chamberlain is one of the most despised men ever to occupy 10 Downing Street. A man of great business and political acumen,

his premiership was dominated

by his handling of foreign affairs – his so-called policy of appeasement. In 1938, he returned from Munich with a signed agreement from Hitler that was popular but ultimately worthless. You may call this naive;

I call it honest. If he had constructed a “dodgy dossier”, plagiarised

from a PhD thesis, and then issued a 45-minute warning of imminent invasion, the establishment would have said, “Wow, let’s go and invade Germany now!” No, he decided to wave a bit of paper.

It probably was nothing, just the Munich restaurant bill. One has to admire his chutzpah. I do.

John O’Byrne

Now, when the hatred and contempt are being expressed in all quarters, I want to speak up in defence of a decent and misunderstood man. Alastair was never meant for the world of politics; his sensitive artist’s soul was quite unfitted for such a milieu. He was never happier than in those early years, writing those delicate, poignant erotic fantasies that made his reputation as an artist with words. It was a sense of duty towards the oppressed, not ambition, that drew him into a job where he could get nothing but opprobrium. Only when the pressure of this rough milieu became too much for him did he revert to his old way of life – the writing of fiction, with the consequences we all know.Ian Birchall

n most cases a man imprisoned for years without trial, the victim of his mother-in-law’s influence with an autocratic king, would earn our sympathy. Yet the Marquis de Sade is vilified, and his name stolen to stigmatise “deviant” sexual practices and shore up prejudice. What was his offence? He behaved as many men of his age and class did: he paid women to be whipped and liked to engage in sodomy with his valet. His real crime was his lack of hypocrisy. He candidly spurned conventional morality – long incarcerated, however, he could generally only indulge his appetites in fantasy.He was thus able to teach us a vital lesson: that the real thing is never quite as good.

Basil Ransome-Davies

No 3990 Put down the mop

Set by Pat O’Byrne

Tony Blair proposed to Cherie while she was on her knees cleaning the loo, so we’re told. We want you to imagine proposals from other well-known people (eg, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, David Miliband, Boris Johnson, or another of your choice), also made in less than romantic settings.

Max 120 words by 2 August

Email: comp@newstatesman.co.uk

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