Return to: Home
Set by Ian Blake "What we needed was 50 words we can use on the doorstep," moaned a Tory supporter about David Cameron's too-long conference speech. We asked you to do "on the doorstep" versions of famous speeches, in fact or fiction
Report by Ms de Meaner
The headline of this comp should have read: “Fight. Beaches. No surrender!” However, there wasn’t room. £10 to the winners, the best of whom (Ian Birchall) also gets the Tesco vouchers.
The Ten Commandments
God Rules, OK? Watch your language. Lie in on Sundays. Don't diss the oldies. No knives. No nicking. No playing away. Hands off the neighbour's missus, and leave his pets alone. Let's hear it for HIM! Amen.
Barry Baldwin
Musharraf's address to the nation, November 2007
Sadly, dear fellow citizens, we must postpone the elections while I concentrate on saving the nation for democracy. I shall diligently defend you from extremism, civil war, and . . . er . . . military takeover. Stay indoors and watch me on TV . . . in my new, discreet civilian uniform. Any station will do. Pakistan zindabad!
Anne Du Croz
Sermon on the Mount
What He told us on the mount was to play it cool. Act meek, He said, as though you love your enemies - and you'll win through in the end, while they perish. And another thing: don't bother saving for the morrow. Everyone that asks for benefits receives them.
Barbara Smoker
I Had a Dream
For one hundred years our cheques have bounced, because we're black. We've suffered. So study this atlas of the Southern states - you know which ones I mean. Read their names. I dream that the sufferers within them will stand and sing the national hymn. All together now: Free At Last!
Bill Greenwell
Khrushchev's Secret Speech, 1956
Listen, Stalin was evil; he was useless; he was a killer; he nearly lost the war. I don't need fifty words - three will do: Trotsky was right.
Ian Birchall
We Will Fight on the Beaches
In a nutshell, we'll fight in every imaginable venue, France, England or anywhere else they choose, and surrender is not an option. OK?
Gerard Benson
Chamberlain's address to the House of Commons, 1939
It is time for actions not words. We gave the German chancellor his chance and he's blown it. But be calm. This is not 1914. This time we are prepared. We have plenty of servicemen, plenty of experience - and the civilised world is behind us.
Alanna Blake
Friends, Romans, countrymen
Friends, Romans, countrymen, I say to you I'm utterly devastated. The whole of Rome is. He was a wonderful, cruel, bloodthirsty, warlike human being. But truly lovable. He'll remain in our hearts and our memories for ever. He was the people's Caesar and that's how he'll stay. Thank you.
John O'Byrne
No 4008 Books of the Year
Set by Leonora Casement
No, we don't want your actual books of the year, but those with incongruous combinations of title and an author who's been in the news recently, eg, A Hundred and One Uses of a Dead Cat by Sir David Attenborough, or Some Like It Hot by Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
Max 25 tries by 5 December
Email: comp@newstatesman.co.uk
Post this article to
Post your comment
Please note: you will need to login or register before you can comment on the website


