Has Tony Blair's reign been an aesthetic golden age or a triumph of style over substance? The NS's favourite artists, musicians and writers commemorate him here in an ancient Japanese verse form, the "Blair-ku".
Andrew Billen
The spin unspun, the
grin undone, an election
That cannot be won.
Tom Paulin
Always the self
in a mirror
and always - in one word - protestant.
Sebastian Horsley
You can count on your
Prime Minister to lay down
your life for his country.
Rizwan Ahmed
Grinning pirouettes;
Far away limbs rain down in
Thunderous applause.
Nicholas Blincoe
Not one of us but
unlocatable, more of
a stranger each day.
David Shrigley
In the night I will
Make his portrait on a wall
In blood with a stick.
Amit Chaudhuri
Saying "Yes" to writing a haiku was wrong, perhaps - and that, too, about a man who's become less and less known for having said "No" to the wrong decision.
Sarfraz Manzoor
Blair was here ten years
But the tears began after
Forty-five minutes.
Alice O'Keeffe
Bee Gees, Cliff Richard
his natural companions
slow cultural death
Glen Neath
I can't recall the
bad news given on the good
day they buried it.
Lynsey Hanley
"We're all middle-class,"
He said, causing me to choke
On my Pot Noodle.
Paul Smith (Maxïmo Park)
A permanent prickle
Forever infested
A red-eyed monster still lurks.
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