R i g h t t o W r i t e STORIES CROSSWORDS POEMS AND MORE! Features: 2023 / Volume 2 / Spring Term
CONTENTS Congratulationsto the many talented authorswhose work has been published in thisedition of the Right to Write.Not all entriescould be published and we encourage those who were not to please apply again in future terms. SHORT STORIES TheLong Tongueby Oliver Penderis......................................................................................................................3 Artificial Emotions by TheodoreLitvin..................................................................................................................4 Sci-Fi Story by Leo Fulton......................................................................................................................................5 Hermesand theGolden Belt by Alexander Bailey................................................................................................. 8 Why PenguinsSwim by Alec Gentle......................................................................................................................9 Through theSnow by Freddy Osborne..................................................................................................................10 TheZombieII by Finlay Tyler...............................................................................................................................11 EmpaNada'sAdventure by Carl Dahlen...............................................................................................................12 TheBlood Curdling CastlePart I by Ilan Shaikh..................................................................................................14 Running for PrimeMinister by Yiannis Mizios.....................................................................................................16 TheMysteriousThievesby Jack Curtis.................................................................................................................18 NON-FICTION How many countriesby 2100?by Oliver Holmes.................................................................................................20 A Thorough Review of Water by Maxim Smith....................................................................................................22 A Series of Short Passages by Sebastian Dobson-Persad..................................................................................... 24 Four Months of Rishi by Connor O'Sullivan.........................................................................................................26 Wonder Book Review by Henry Weinberg............................................................................................................27 Munich by MaanasSwarup...................................................................................................................................28
WORD GAMES Winter Wordsearch by Finlay Hutchings...............................................................................................................29 English Crossword by Cesar daRosa................................................... ...............................................................30 Football Crossword by Rafi Sofer..........................................................................................................................31 Crossword of Idiomsby Kevin Yang-Dente..........................................................................................................32 Alfie'sRiddles by AlfieMercey.............................................................................................................................33 POEMS TheSeaby Isaac Dean...........................................................................................................................................34 Coloursby Noah Lam............................................................................................................................................35 TheInternet by BertieDuralski-Cross...................................................................................................................36 Seasonsby Axl Funk.............................................................................................................................................37 Wordsby Rayansh Kaul.........................................................................................................................................38 A SPECIAL MENTION Thank you to theediting team, comprised of Nathan Boucard, Kevin Yang-Dente, Jasper Penderis, Christian Lonberg, TomasDemiguel-Perez, GeorgePitman, AlexandreRaynal, Matthew Dixon, Max Mast, MarkusFeder and JamesHassan. Theediting team would liketo thank MissEarly and Dr Luckhurst for their guidancethroughout thepublication process, Mr Pinkus for hisoversight and copy editing and Mr Godwin for his support of thepublication.
Charliewas closing his mouth when LittleJohn rapidly camein and held Charlie?s mouth ajar with just enough spacefor his men to follow. Themen then started incessantly biting chunksoff thetip of Charlie?s tongue. You see, Charliehad thisunusual problem wherehis tongue kept growing longer and longer, and theonly way he could think of to shorten it was to havelittleminiature peoplebitechunksoff it. It all happened unexpectedly when Charlie wasgiven ahandful of perfectly normal looking beansby an old man at the edgeof thesparsewood. Theold man had told him to plant thebeans in his garden to improvehis fortune. However, Charlie wasnot listening and instead ateall thebeans one day when hewas feeling a littlepeckish. Theonly antidotewas to eat moreof thesamemagic beans, but Charliedid not know this. Oneday, after Charlie?s tonguehad grown to 8.5 metres long, hedecided to go on an adventure and had an innovativeplan to capturesomeanimals that hewould eat, ashethought thiswould curehis tongue. It wasbelieved that certain creaturesof thewood had magical powers, which Charliethought might help his tongue. Unfortunately, Charliewas unlucky in his adventure and did not captureany animals. On hisway home, hestumbled across some beans in an eerieclearing, and the beans looked remarkably likethe ones that theold man had given him. Feeling disheartened by his luck and alittle hungry, hegreedily gulped them down (that was silly of him!!). To his surprise, his tonguerapidly shrunk back to normal size. What a fortuitous outcomefor Charlie! Hewas relieved to no longer haveLittleJohn and his men biting chunks off his tongue. By Oliver Penderis THELONG TONGUE
So, at 7am, Georginastarted me up and started typing roughly on me. It wasannoying ? although I?m sureGeorginahad typed on memany timesbeforeand I wasn?t bothered by it at all then. How very strange! After an hour, Georgina, looking exhausted, lay down on her beanbag right next to my stand. For somereason, even though I had found her typing annoying, I still wanted to beat thecentreof her attention. That was strangeagain ? I don?t remember feeling anything like that before. Having had ashort nap, Georgina left theroom I was in. I waited and waited but Georginadidn?t seem to becoming back. I began to feel alone, something I?d never felt before? and I didn?t likeit. It was quitelateby thetimeGeorgina finally arrived back in the room. Therewasashiny new laptop in her hands. ?Shemust bewanting to replaceme,?I said to myself. Immediately, horriblethoughts about thenew laptop came into my mind. I began to think angrily about how to get Georginato destroy it or throw it away. Where wereall thesestrangethoughts coming from? Georginatook meoff my stand and put thenew laptop in my place, just as I feared. But then something unexpected started to happen. Georginatook meupstairs and into her bedroom and began to watch aNetflix film on me. Ah, that was it! I wasn?t being replaced ? I wasbeing promoted! I wasno longer thelaptop Georginaused for her work, I was the oneshe used as her entertainment system. It mademefeel all warm inside. What an unusual and lovely feeling! Finally, thefilm over, Georgina decided to update my software. ?Artificial Emotions? version 3.3? wasnow available(whatever that was). All I remember beforeshe shut medown for theday was another curiousand unexpected set of thoughts: it struck me how lovely Georginalooked and how happy I was to beby her side. And then sheturned off my power. By Theo Litvin Version 3.2 When I was started up earlier this morning, I felt alittlebit different somehow. In fact, I don?t remember feeling anything much before. All I remember is that I?m alaptop computer, but I?m not sureI haveaname. You can call meCharlie. Actually, I remember just oneother thing: last night, beforemy owner, Georgina, shut me down, sheloaded mewith a new program called ?Artificial Emotions - version 3.2?(whatever that means). ARTIFICIAL EMOTIONS
Theonly thingdrowningout the deafeningsiren was thecontinuous screamsechoingthroughthedeserted halls. Thereactor hadbeenshut down andthereforeall power hadbeendrained from thestation, only theemergency battery remainedon, castingtheelevator shaft inaneerieglow. Another crack and theelevator lurcheddownwards, taking Benby surprise, and makingamassive dent intheshaft wall. Benslippedoff the frayedcableandintooneof themany ventilationtunnels coveringtheelevator. Hecrawleddowntheshaft, carefully listeningtothescreamsandcrunchesof metal. Therewasaloudbangandall of thelightswent out andsuddenly blinked back tolife, dust rainedfrom thegaps in theventilator andall of thescreamswere suddenly silenced. Hecrawledonward, half expectingtofall out throughalooseplateontheriveted floor. Hefelt asoft rumble, that must havebeenoneof thevertical jets taking off from themany landingpadsonthe station, withits cargoof people, desperately tryingtoescapethechaos. Thispart of theshaft hadbeenblockedby someblack solid, mud maybe. Ben touchedthesubstance, andit cameoff in hishands, stringsof black viscous fluid trailingfrom themembrane. It startedto pulsate, givingoff alittleheat. Not mud then. Hekickedthebarrier downand crawledthroughasectionof theshaft he hadnever seenbefore, or recognized, as every inchof thetunnel was coveredin black congealedstainsof blood. Ben?s heart didasomersault. Hetriedtoavoid themuck, but it waseverywhere. The blood was steaming, soit wasnew. Fresh. Someoneor something must havekilled them recently. A loud metallicgroanandacrunch reminded Benthat hewas still ina researchbaseinthemiddleof the Antarctic withanunknownentity prowlingthecorridorsandno way to escape. Wait, theremight beaway. Ben glanceduptoseesomecold, shimmering mist seepingout of aslit intheroof. Maybetherewasachance. Hecurled ontohisback, tryingnot to makeskin contact withthebloodandkickedashard ashecould, puttingahugedent inthe ceiling. Hekickedagain, this time crackingthemetal sohecouldseethe underbelly of ametal hull. Hepushed himself throughandpeeredintoavast expanseof ice. Benrealizedthat hehad climbedontoalandingpad. Anescape route. All of hishopeceased whenaloud highpitched whir burst hiseardrumsand awaveof hot air pressedhim back into thecrack. Themachineabovehim slowly raisedintotheair andtheconcrete shuddered. It was takingoff. Hegrabbed ontoacargohook onthebelly of thejet andhauledhimself intooneof the loadingpallets, just as thecargodoor shut withaheavy clunk. He?d madeit out, alive. Benlookedupandsaw at least twenty other peopleinthejet along withhim, all staringat him inconfusion.There were soldiers, doctors, scientists, and many other crew members from thestationhe recognized, who wereall being evacuated, hepresumed. By Leo Fulton Eachstrand was slowly unravelling. Elevator cables weredesignedtoholdatremendous amount of weight, but sincethedisaster, theelevator wasdesperately clingingonby a few metal cords. Benhungonfor hisdear life, thedeafeningalarm blaringthroughout thebasedulledhis senses. Hefelt hishands slippingandhegrippedtighter, his knuckles turning white. Thebatteredelevator creakedandgroanedinprotest, as if tryingtobreak freefrom itsmetal-strandedleash. SCI-FI STORY
Hetried to stand up, but his legs gaveway beneath him.He then felt a sharp pain in his left shin and so helifted up his trouser. It was smeared in black sludge, now dark crimson as it mixed with theblood underneath.He must havecut himself on hisway out of theshaft.Thiswas bad.Thepain slowly spread up to his thigh and through all of his veins.Thesubstance was in hisbloodstream, and for some reason, hedidn?t think that was a good thing.A strange metallic tasteentered his mouth and all hecould think about was thecoldness that was reaching out to engulf him. Ben saw atunnel in thefar distanceand therewas something familiar and comforting about it. Thewarm glowing light washed over him asheheard, ?Urgent medical attention!?and ?It got him, there?snothing we can do now? ?before all went black.
Oncetherewas a Greek God named Hermes. Hewas young, tall, swift, smart, kind and could fly. Hewas the messenger god. One day hewent to Zeus (his father) and was astonished to have thefeat of stealing TheGolden Belt from Hades. ?Hehas madeafool of the gods, allowing uh? never mind.Any-who heneeds to pay? sorry um ? SHALL pay for his mistakes. I believehe is in what those mortals call The Sacred Borough of Islington,?said Zeus rather stupidly. ?Go on shoo, yes you, shoo.?Reluctantly, Hermes set off. ?Why me??whined Hermes. ?Why not erm? er? em,?he thought for awhile and then realised. ?Ares?Why did daddy not send Ares with me??he enquired blankly. Just then Ares appeared. ?Oh! YOU HEARD THAT FATHER, WHY NOT SEND ME A JUICE CARTON?? screeched Hermes. Then abackpack full of juicecartons, a backpack full of clothes, amagic book and abackpack full of Drachmacoins fell through theair. The two got dressed just in time. Insidethe book Zeuswrote?Go to Marchington House." They did as they weretold. Inside thehouse it was very tidy but not to the gods. ?Ugh, this is so ugly! I want to livein theHeavens again,? they agreed. Two days later, Ares and Hermes decided they wereto walk down amuddy hill. So off they went, and they werenearly therewhen they spotted Hades. The chasewas on, down into aholethen up thebiggest road in Britannia. Finally they reached amud bath and fished him out with an unbreakablerope. ?Where?s thebelt?? ?What belt??asked Hades. ?I?m on vacation.? Distraught, they headed back home. ?Oh yes, um? there was amix up. It was actually Cronos." "Pleasecan you catch him??asked Zeus. ?Nooooooo!?cried Hermes. ?Don?t worry about him ? we?ll do it, no problem!?exclaimed Ares. ?Silly, I was being melodramatic. Nooooooooooo!?he complained. Off they went to Hesiod'sTheogony to slay Cronos. As they wereheaded therethey talked about how to defeat him. Finally they cameup with aplan. They asked Apollo, Artemis, Dionysus and Athena to help them. Athenadistracted the front guardswhile Apollo and Dionysus crept in. Ares broke in through awindow. Artemisdistracted theguards round the back whileHermes went in. Lastly Apollo and Dionysus threw rocks at Cronosand Hermes took back thebelt. ?Well doneall of you! You may rest as long as you need,? congratulated Zeus. HERMES AND THE GOLDEN BELT A Comedy by ALEXANDERBAILEY
WHY PENGUINS SWIM A Fableby Alec Gentle Many centuriesago, when penguins could fly, onepenguin called Robert, didn?t want to fly. Hewanted to swim. Robert watched thesealshappily playing in theocean. Like them, hewanted to get fish instead of fish coming to him. Every day hewould pray to Apolis theGod to makehim likethe seals. Oneday when Robert wokeup, his wingshad changed. During the night, Apolis sent abolt of lightning to change Robert?swings into wingsmorelike feathered flippers. Robert would swim with thefish, play with theWellard seals and divewith his friends. Then oneday, he looked up and saw snow-whitebirds happily doing loop-de-loops in thesky. Onceagain, every night hewould pray to Apolis to changehis flipper-likewings into proper wings, but Apolis never did. This iswhy you should appreciatewho you arebecausewhen you ask agod to changeyou, it can and usually will be permanent
Small crystalsof snow flew around me, twisting and twirling in acomplicated rhythm. They jumped and twirled and spun in a coordinated dancethat was full of chaos. Someof them whirled past, moving on to their next stage, but someof them formed alittle tornado around me of prancing snowflakes. But even as they danced, thesnowstorm began to pick up and soon aharsh wind, full of thosesamedancers, stung my exposed cheeksand neck. I stumbled forward alittlemore. Foot up, foot down. Still, I trampled on lifting and sinking tired feet into thesnow oneafter theother. My bootswere coming apart, and I did not know how much moreof this punishment they could take. I had lost my coat to abush amileago and had been so stuck in this repetitivestateof mind that I had taken no notice, and my thin jumper that was my only extra layer was covered in athick crust of snow. Foot up, foot down. I had been walking for hours, trying to get asmall lead on my pursuers. My feet burned likefire every timeI continued the repetitiveprocessof trudging on. All theadrenalinethat had coursed through my veinshad burned out hoursago, and now all that was left was thecoldness of my skin and theconstant, burning achein my feet. Foot up, foot down I stumbled and fell flat into the snow. I tried to push myself back up again, to keep walking on, but thenagging tiredness in my brain and all my limbsmade mesink back into the snow. I lay there, breathing in and out, and I thought how niceit was. How calm and relaxing it was to just liehere, and let the snow cover me likeasoft blanket. To just give up, and to go onto what camenext. I had not a speck of determination left in my veins, and as I lay there, I ever so slowly drifted off to sleep. All wasquiet now. By Freddy Osborne THROUGH THESNOW
TheZombiepoliceofficer had been hiding in theabandoned housesincethezombiearmy was defeated. Thosetwo young boys had alot to answer for. He watched oneof them die, but he had no ideawhat happened to the other, and to grow the army again, heneeded to know whether he survived. Heneeded to know whether anyonesuspected zombieswerestill alive. Hepoked hishead out of theabandoned house. Wherewaseveryone? What had happened sincehehad been in isolation?Wherewas that interfering littleboy, playing the hero?Heshuddered. How washe going to find out? TheZombiestepped out into the full glareof thesun. It beamed down on him likeawall of fire. Theonly way hewasgoing to find out what had happened hethought, was to find adisguise, and ask someone. Heneeded to get out of thesun, fast. Suddenly, hehad a brain wave. If hecould find a suitablevictim, hewould bite them. Thiswould turn his victim into azombie, regenerating the zombiearmy sinceit had been dispersed. Hewould steal the clothesof his victim, conceal his facein amask, and find out where theboy was. Heset off and madehisway to the nearby park, hiding behind the biggest hedgehecould find. He waited patiently for the next unsuspecting victim to pass. He watched as afigureapproached. A bedraggled Mr Fletcher who had just been teaching agaggleof mischievous year four students, washalf running, half walking past. Thezombietook his opportunity and stuck out his leg. ?Arrggh,?screamed Mr Fletcher, falling over. Quickly, theZombie pulled Mr Fletcher into the hedge and bit him on thearm viciously. However, the result wasnot as he expected. Mr Fletcher did not transform into azombie, hefell into adeep coma. ?No matter,?thought theZombie, ?thisdoesn?t changeanything. I havetheclothesand the army will haveto wait. I haveto focus. Is the boy still alive??TheZombie rapidly got dressed, put on the socksas apungent whiff came from them and grabbed the briefcaseMr Fletcher had been holding. ?Oooh, ateacher!?the Zombieexclaimed. ?Now this shall beinteresting. What better placeto find out what happened to our boy playing thehero. Thereis bound to becommotion about it?. Heappeared at school thenext day. With apeculiar accent he announced ?Mr Fletcher is feeling abit under theweather today, so I will beteaching you.?A student put up hishand. ?What is your name, littleboy??asked the Zombie. With asmirk the boy replied, ?I wasabout to ask you thesamething.??Well, I?m Mr Boon, but you still haven?t answered my question - what is your name?? ?I?m kind of a celebrity around here,?said the boy with anoteof sarcasm in his voice. ?My nameis Jack - but you can call me thezombiehero!?The class started cheering. ?Bingo,? muttered theZombieunder his breath. ?This isgoing to beeasier than I thought.? TheZombiemay not havebeen so cocky if heknew what Jack was thinking at that exact moment. Jack was staring at thestrangely familiar teacher. Helooked deeply into the yellow eyesof theman, and as the bell rang for break he thought, ?I recognisethoseeyes...? ?Stay behind, won't you, Jack, I'd liketo haveaword with you...? By Finlay Tyler THEZOMBIE2
Onefoggy English morning Empa, aten year old boy, scuttled likeabeetleout of hisoak bed and stumbled down to breakfast. Empa wasanormal boy, but hishair was indescribable. It looked likea lion'smanethat had just been washed, dried and combed; unlike his sister, who had aponytail. He had not realised that his term was over, and they weregoing to the Maldives; healways longed to meet aturtle. Onething hehated and worried about was losing his family in theairport. They were travelling that Sunday. Empawokewith aloud thump abovehishead. Heknew what that meant. His sister Margaret was having atantrum about what to wear on theplane. It was seven - timeto go to the airport. When they reached theairport, Empawhizzed past thepassport control, security and walloped his bag below his feet, but when he heard the voicebellowing, he noticed it wasBrazilian and that only meant... Hescreamed, and realised his family wasnot there, and neither washis suitcase. Theplaneflight wasover and Empalooked likeahorrified pigeon. Heswallowed hisbreath and spotted thedifferencebetween thetwo airports. Neow! Neow! Thesirenswailed likemonkeysas an English man shrieked ?Robbers, thieves, they arehere!? Hefell silent as awhizz of greyness shot through hisbrown Loro Pianasuit and behind him, therewasathump. Empa could hear footsteps coming closer, but Empawas ready. Hehid behind thepizzastand and covered himself with thered beads that werehanging on strings. Hecould hear everyonecollapsing on the ground whilein thebackground gunfirecrackled likethecorpse of aghost that had been splatted by water. By Carl Dahlen EMPA NADA'S ADVENTURE
Thebattlewasover. Luckily, they had not seen him or his leather bag that hehad not remembered having, and suddenly hegasped at thesight of agreen glinting emerald just shining in themisty brown bag. Herealised it was from oneof therobberswho had stolen from unusual placesand dropped it hereasheran off. Emparan round the stand and looked first at thedead man and then thepizzaand said, ?Don?t mind if I do haveanicecheesy slice.? Days later Empahad joined the robbersand picked up afew skills and amachinegun, but had not told them hewasgoing to usethe skillsagainst them so hecould maketheairport abetter place. Monthshad passed and Empahad forgotten about his family completely and only thought about murder and killing and jewellery; this isbecausethey wereusing drugsand threatening him, so he decided to stay arobber and stay poisoned. Hecameacross several different varietiesof peoplefrom different countries, but his favouritewas John F Kennedy who sadly was killed by oneof his colleagues. Hehad donetheroutine every flight until oneday herecognised afamily, agirl and two parents. Thegirl?snamewas Margaret - they oncehad aboy, but he disappeared. He had thechoiceto either kill thefamily or livewith them again and so hedecided. He loaded thegun. He shot the robbers and had awound from one shooting back, but hedid not care. Empawalked up to his family and said, ?I am your son.? Onemorning an 11 year old walked down to breakfast with a bright green emerald by his bedsidetable.
It wasahumid night in April, and thebirdswere silent apart from theowl which was living in the neighbour'swillow tree. Theowl washooting softly, but Steven was so used to it hecould barely hear it. Steven was lounging in hisold, familiar bed while reading abook about the rainforest. Healways found it difficult to sleep at night, so heusually read beforebed. Tonight, thereading wasn?t working, so hegot out and started to havea littlewalk around the room. Hewalked to his tiny window and opened it to get somefresh, Spring air. Then Steven heard something ringing, a ringtonethat hehad never heard before. It was coming from outside. With great curiosity, heran out of his room to seewhat was happening. Ashegot closer, thesound of ringing got louder. His heart waspounding as he peeked round the corner of the garden shed. Someonehad left their phoneabandoned lying on hisgarden lawn. Steven picked it up. ?I want to meet you,?the voicesaid mischievously. ?Cometo my castlequickly, I have asurprisefor you,?the peculiar person bellowed creepily. Steven hung up frantically and screamed, ?What do I do??He sprinted back to his houseand sat on hisbed to think. Hewas exploding with fear. After awhilehemade hisdecision: hewas going to find out what was in theunknown castleof mystery. Steven carefully put on hisbright red, shiny bootsand crept through thedark, gloomy streets of Arkington. Hehad heard of alegendary castlethat existed on the other sideof the forest near Sedinot. Could this bethecastlehewas meant to find?After walking for hours, he started to get near the edgeof the forest. By then, hewas really tired, so helay down on an inviting mossy areaand took anap. After along deep sleep, Steven stretched and started oncemoreon his exhausting journey to the mysterious castle. He walked through the lush forest whilelistening to its sounds. He heard branches creaking, leaves rustling, squirrels chattering, birds singing and insectshumming. In thedistance, hecould seepart of an eerie, pitch-black castle. This must beit, hethought. Ashegot closer, Steven could seemoreof the gloomy castle and all the gargoylesaround it. He carefully stepped along thecrumbling cobblestones, getting nearer and nearer to the castleentrance. He gingerly opened thedoor slightly to step into the castleand heheard someoneeerily calling hisname. Hefollowed thesound. At the end of thehallway, hecame to an echoey, petrifying placelit with candlelight and filled with cobwebs and slugs. Slowly he tiptoed down through the frightening corridor wondering what he would come across. He wasn?t sure if thiswas going to go well. Thecastlewasbig and thereweremany routes, so hechosehispath mostly at random. The first room hetried had a polished television that was still on from when thelast person had watched it. Heleft that room and went to the next one. It had some old, tatty couches and a rusty knight statue. At theback of theroom was theentranceto adark, narrow corridor. He explored thelong corridor but found no doors in it. ?Thisplaceis atotal mess,?hethought, feeling quitestressed out. THE BLOOD CURDLING CASTLE PART 1 Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,consetetur sadipscing elitr,sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut. By Ilan Shaikh
Steven wasat adead end. He knew something just wasn?t quite as it should be. Hewas very scared. Hedid not know what to do. Hepaced back and forth in the hair-raising corridor trying to think. Ashewalked, something tickled theback of hisneck. He leaped, thinking it wasaspider. When helooked morecarefully, herealised it wasastring hanging from theceiling. Hetugged it, hoping it wasalight switch. Instead, ahugedoor creaked open. Hepeeked through thedoor and saw aman dressed up in acloak sitting on aclean, brand-new chair. Themysterious man creepily turned around and boomed, ?Hello Steven.?Theman didn?t look like Steven had expected, helooked quiteordinary. Theman stood up and slowly edged towardsSteven. Steven was terrified. Helooked around but all that hecould seewerethe 3 guards that werestarting to surround him. Hecould not run. They werenot going to let him escape. Steven wondered how many people had suffered in this placebadly and how many had survived. Hewas morenervous than ever. The soldierswereall around him. Steven thought about what to do and how to get out of there quickly enough that hewouldn't get badly injured. Theimmense pressurewason him. Heneeded somesort of tool or weapon to haveachanceat surviving in these circumstances. Helooked around frantically for anything that was near him. ?Areyou having fun??theodd man teased. Hechuckled mischievously as hewatched Steven squirm nervously. Steven stealthily searched hispocket with thehopeof finding anything he could potentially useto fend off hisopponent. In hispocket of his navy woolly trousers, hecould feel asmall spanner, someold tissueand atweezer. It wasbetter than nothing. ?What do you want from me so badly??Steven spluttered. ?Why am I here?? ?I need help from you urgently,? pleaded theman, who wasnow looking angry. ?What sort of help??Steven asked. ?I worked with your UncleSamuel many yearsago. He kept something of mine, something that I need now but I havenot seen you or your unclefor so long now. I need your help finding it...? Find out what happens to Steven in thenext edition of Right to Write!
It wasafrosty morning in theverdant neighborhood of Hampstead. Maximilian had woken up early to take hisbeloved golden retriever for his usual morning walk. It was during their normal routine that hesaw aposter outside thelocal library with big red letters: ?Run for Prime Minister for abetter future for All.? Maximilian almost dropped his coffee when hesaw thesign. ?This ismy North Star,?he thought. Maximilian wasa cunning man who dreamed of power and money. He had thecharismait took to becomePrimeMinister but was also scrupulous enough to do whatever it took to get the top government job. Maximilian went homeand quickly started to work out hisplan to ?Run for Prime Minister?or better yet ?BecomePrimeMinister.? But wherewashegoing to get thefunding for his campaign? Thiswas an expensiveplan. What better way than to turn to social mediato seeif he can attract some sponsors? Theplan worked brilliantly and already, thenext day, a company called Crypto contacted him. ?Wewill sponsor you!?they said, ?but you must do whatever it takes to win even if that means telling lies, likeyou will cut taxes,? they chuckled. ?Areyou really committed to this?? Maximilian looked straight at them with aserious face, ?No oneis more committed,?hereplied. TheCrypto guys cheered and high-fived each other as they knew this would help them ask for government laws that would help them become billionaires. So, it was all settled. They agreed that they would meet in Crypto?sHQ, which was in London Bridge. It wasanother frosty day. Thepenetrating cold went through Maximilian?s skin as if the weather knew that hewas going to do something cold to society. Thehectic streetswerefilled with smellsof morning coffee. TheCEO of Crypto, Bruno, was atall man with aloud voicethat madehim sound important. Hemet Maximilian at thereception and took him to the top floor conferenceroom wheretherewerea couple of other men from the company. Bruno explained to Maximilian that hewas up against an honest man who wants to do good for society but not to worry as hedoesnot havemuch funding for his campaign. Hisname isWilson. The only problem is that hehas found an officeright next door so they must be careful with their planning. It is crucial that no one findsout that their promisesareall lies. All themen went out for a lavish lunch with lotsof wineand extravagant desserts. At theend of the meal, they made another plan to meet again tomorrow at thesameplace and sametime, but little did they know that they werebeing watched by Wilson. Hehad seen Maximilian on social mediaand knew that something wasgoing on when hesaw him with the Crypto crowd. Hehad an ideato record the conservationsheoverhead during lunch. Wilson felt ashamed to bedoing such an act but felt he had aduty to show the peoplewho Maximilian really was! I feel sorry for them, thought Wilson, but heknew that what they weredoing would harm millionsof peopleif Maximilian becamePrimeMinister. RUNNING FOR PRIME MINISTER By YiannisMizios
It was theday of thedebatethat was being held at thepacked City Hall. Common people from all over the country had cometo watch it. Maximilian was leading thepollsby a widemargin. TheCrypto company spent alot of money to advertiseand help Maximilian become popular. Peoplewerestarting to ask Wilson, ?Can you actually win?Thecampaign is in threedays!" Wilson replied confidently, ?I know that I am going to win it. I haveto win it for thepeople.? During thedebate, theshrewd Maximilian won everyone?s cheers when hekept on repeating that hewas going to cut taxes. ?But how areyou going to afford that??Wilson kept asking. Maximilian just gavea charming smileand said that England wasarich country. But at theend of thedebate, when it all looked as though Maximillian would bethe next PrimeMinister, Wilson had asurprise for all. Heplayed the tapethat hehad recorded during thelunch whereall the details of Maximilian?s plan with the Crypto guysweremade. Thecrowd was shocked. They saw Maximilian for who hereally was. Needless to say, helost the election and Wilson became thenext PrimeMinister. An important lesson was learned: What happens in thedark always comes to light.
Snow lashed against the window as thestorm raged on through the night. It wasacrisp winter?sevening, and Connor lay wideawake on his creaky bed in his empty room. He had no desirewhatsoever to closehiseyes. Connor?s family waspoor. He lived in an old house with only fiverooms. Connor, however, wasa small boy. Hewasoneof thesmallest boys in his areaand wasalso avery aggressiveboy attitudewise. Hisdad wasaway in New York for awork conferencerecently, but got fired for eating in the office, so hewas trying to find another job. Meanwhile, hismother owned abookshop just down theroad and was alwaysback late. In the meantime, Connor was at homestaring out of thecracked window and into thedistance. Thesnow fell harder onto theroof, blown by thewind, likeit was trying find away into Connor's cold room. A chill ran down Connor?s spineand hehad a feeling that hewasn?t alone. Suddenly, he heard aconversation outsidehishouseand sat upright under hisduvet with his mouth wide open. Whowere they, andwhat werethey doing?Hedecided to carry on listening to the conversation. Connor could barely hear what they weresaying under theloud noiseof the storm, but hecould just about makeout afew words. Thereweretwo men, oneof them had a north Lancashireaccent and theother sounded likehewasRussian. ?I?ll wait by thecar whileyou go n?get therest of ?em.? Connor could tell by the toneof their voices that they werenot good people. In aflash, the enginewas turned on and thecoupledrove away with something in theback of thecar. Thenext morning, Connor looked out of the window to alovely blue sky. Thestorm had cleared, and asmall smileslowly started to creep up his face. Then heremembered about what had happened last night with the two men and started worrying. He knew they had something awfully bad in theback of that car, and hewasdesperateto find out what it was. Suddenly, Connor thought about school and darted down thestairs likeaflash to get his clotheson and have somebreakfast. Connor was very efficient at getting dressed and eating , it was likeyou could watch him all day long. Instantly, Connor wasup and out of the old, chilly houseand was on hisway to faceseven boring hoursof school. However, today, Connor wasn?t dreading school, but hewasn?t excited about it either. Theworst thing about school was Connor?smaths teacher MrsConstance. Shewas so cruel that whenever a student got any question wrong, they got an immediatedetention. Everyonewas so frightened when shewas speaking to them that they started to cry. But Connor wasdifferent. He wasnot scared of Mrs Constance, and he wanted to proveher wrong to thewhole class. And heneeded every ounceof strength to do so. Then helooked back into yesterday and remembered thetwo men driving away. THE MYSTERIOUS THIEVES By Jack Curtis
Hefelt awaveof dread wash through hishead. Connor knew he had something to do with this problem. Connor had ahard night sleeping on theunstablewooden floor, and hewokeup with abad back. Putting that behind him, hegot dressed almost at thespeed of light and wasalready on hisway to another day of school. On his way, this timehewasnot in a particularly good mood. Hewas annoyed at hisbed being stolen for starters, and hecould barely bend down and touch the floor likehe usually could. Connor repeatedly kept thinking to himself could it havebeen thosepeoplewho had something in theback of their car? It must havebeen and hefelt like thosepeopleweretracking him down. Eventually, Connor managed to get to school but hedidn?t say hi to Jacob or Loic likeheusually did. They tried to ask Connor what waswrong with him but Connor didn?t reply. Hestruggled in his work and hekept on making mistakes in football. Gradually, his fists started to clench into atight ball. He had had enough and wanted to just bealone. It felt like thelongest day of school ever, but heeventually got home. He tried to sit down and lieon hisbed, but hejust realised hisbed had been stolen. But what hedidn?t know was that hiswardrobewasgone. ?What ishappening?!?hecried. When hearrived at school, he spotted his friends Jacob and Loic. They wereboth very sporty and they werenot afraid to try new things. Every break time, Connor, Jacob, and Loic played their own football game called If you score you go in. In other words, Wembley. Thetrio always enjoyed Wembley becauseit was thelast lesson before onewholehour of mathswith MrsConstance, so it was thelast timeto havefun beforethelesson. When break timewasover, all of thenineteen peoplein Connor?s class stopped chatting and fell silent. They strolled down the corridor and Jacob accidentally ran into Mrs Constance, and shedropped her books. Connor could tell shewas boiling over with anger and rage, and heknew it wasan obvious detention for Jacob. ?S-sor-ry,? replied Jacob sheepishly, trying to stop his salty tears. Surprisingly, MrsConstancepicked up her booksand walked to classwithout giving any sort of punishment. After school, Connor ran up the wooden stairs to his room but when hetried to lieon hisbed, his back slammed thewooden floor, and hewinced in pain. For some reason Connor?s bed wasnot there.
How many countries do you think there are in theworld? Therearedisputes about how many countries therearein theworld currently. But thenumber is approximately 196, including 193 Member States to theUnited Nationsand sometimes counting Kosovo, The Vatican and Palestine. How about in 2100? That isacompletely different subject. Will therebemany more countries?I have done someresearch and havegot results. Here arecountries that could exist and disappear by 2100. Onecountry that could exist by 2100 isThe East African Federation. It consists of thecountriesof The Democratic Republic of theCongo, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi. Thispossiblecountry hasbeen talked about for decades. One of the obstacles in theway of thisunion becoming a possibility is that there isnot much chat among thecountries in said possibleunion. Another obstacle is the corruption in these countries? governments. Despite all theseproblems, thereisalready a capital city being built in Tanzaniacalled Arusha, but nobody knowswhen it will be completed. If or when thecountriesunite, it will becomethelargest country in Africa. Somaliland isanother country that could exist by 2100. Somaliland isan independent region in modern day Somalia. When acivil war in 1991 between Somaliland and Somaliahappened, Somaliland ended up winning and gaining their independence. However, in theway they got their independence, many countriesdo not recogniseSomaliland. To thisday, no countries recogniseit. But if their disputes with their neighbour, Somalia, stopped then it ismost likely to start gaining recognition. Next, let?s look at Bougainville, which is most likely to gain independence. Bougainvilleisan autonomous region in PapuaNew Guinea (?P.N.G.?). In thelate 20th century, Bougainvillewas in a disputewith P.N.G over independenceand this related to natural resources. The PangunaMine, alarge copper reservein Bougainville, accounts for 12% of P.N.G?s economy. Bougainville hasalwayswanted independencebecause of this, and in the 1990s therewasacivil war until in 2001 a peaceagreement was signed between the two sides. In 2019, a referendum washeld for independencewith 98% of Bougainville wanting to get independence. In 2022, PapuaNew Guinea announced that Bougainvillewas to gain independencein 2027 if it still wished to by then. HOW MANY COUNTRIES BY 2100? A thoughtfully penned essay discussing the potential political changeswithin the next seventy-seven years. Make a prediction before you read - what is your guess? By Oliver Holmes
Kurdistan may also becomean independent country by 2100. Kurdistan is in the MiddleEast and isaunion that consists of partsof Iraq, Iran, Syriaand Türkiye. Most Kurdish people havetheir own languageand cultureand havebeen trying to get independenceand recognition for multiple decades. TheKurdswho do not want independencejust want a bit of autonomy in thecountries that they currently livein. This led to theKurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in North Iraq. TheKRG was founded in 1992 asasemi-autonomous region in thecountry of Iraq. TheKRG hasapresident (Nechirvan Barzani) and its own military and is responsible for thehealth of itspeople. In Türkiyeand Iran many Kurds havebeen put in prison and violencehasbeen involved. In 2017 theKRG voted for independence, but the referendum was not recognised by theIraqi government. Finally, let?s look at acasewe all know very well: Scotland. Scotland was independent for a long timeuntil theU.K. was formed. In 2014, Scotland held areferendum of independence where55% of Scotland voted to stay in theU.K. But dueto Brexit, Scotland isgetting angrier at therest of theU.K. and are now wanting independenceso that the Scottish peoplecan beback in theEuropean Union. Now, what arethecountries that might not exist in thefuture? Unfortunately, if Russiawins thiswar with Ukraine, then Russiawill takecontrol over it and start theSoviet Union all over again. This means that Ukrainewill not beindependent as it will beunder thecontrol of Vladimir Putin. Belaruswill also beunited with Russiaif they win thewar. Other countries that might disappear dueto Civil War are Yemen and Syria. Yemen has had aconflict ever sincesome peoplemanaged to get control of some of Northern Yemen in 2014, and theMiddleEast got involved. Thecrisis is sometimes referred to as the MiddleEastern Cold War. Many countries could go underwater such asFiji, Nauru, Tonga, Tuvalu, RO The Marshall Islands, TheFederated Statesof Micronesiaand The Maldives. Global Warming is causing this. Therearecurrently 196 Countries in theworld. The mathsand research show that therewill befewer countries in theworld by 2100. So, how many countrieswill therebein 2010?Theanswer is188 (or thereabouts).
You, thereader, may beasking, ?Everyone knowswhat water is! This is awasteof time!? But it?sworth remembering that ?Water is life?smatter and matrix, mother and medium. Thereisno lifewithout water,?as thedoctor who discovered vitamin C pointed out. This is certainly true: the survival of all organismson Earth dependson water. Without it, animals would dievery quickly. Peoplehave recognised thevital roleof water since ancient times. The famousRenaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci wrotethat ?Water is thedriving forceof all nature,? whilethefamous marineexplorer of the 20th century Jacques YvesCousteau commented, ?We forget that thewater cycleand thelifecycle areone.? In medical terms, this isbecauseof water?s vital rolehelping the body createchemical reactionsand helping red blood cells carry oxygen. Thebody is around 80% water, blood being around 90% water. Not only is it vital for animalsand plants, but bacteria also need water! Water takesup 71% of the entireEarth, so it is safeto say, water is undoubtably prominent on our planet. Yet, despitethose enormousoceans, fresh water isan increasingly scarce resource. ?All the water that will ever be is, right now,?National Geographic tells us. What it means in practical terms is that theaquifersnear large metropolisesare drying up. Water scarcity isagrowing problem in many parts of theworld dueto population growth, climatechange, and overuseof resources. This can lead to disputesbetween countriesover access to water, aswell as the need to protect water sources from being polluted. Rising temperatures mean that many countrieswill becomeinhabitable in our lifetime. While in the20th century the warswerefought over theaccess to oil, in the 21st century fighting over fresh water may becomeanew reality. Water is fascinating to study. It is, remarkably, thebest solvent, which can dissolvemore solids than any other liquid. Itsphysical propertiesareunique, for it?s theonly substanceto increase its volumeboth when frozen and when heated. Proximity to water is critical for agriculture. Waterfront properties havemuch higher value. Swimming in almost any kind of reservoir, from atiny pond or aswimming pool, to amountain stream, awarm lagoon or an ocean provides unforgettableand highly enjoyable leisuretime. Statistics show that swimming improvesmental health and reduces stress. Then, thereare many water sports, likewind surfing, kneeboarding, polo, to name afew, which haveafaithful following of the millions. A THOROUGH REVIEW OF WATER By Maxim Smith
Water is aforceof natureto reckon with. From theBiblical times, peopledescribed floods of ?Biblical proportions.?TheNoah?sArc and TheCalming of theStorm areamong theancient examplesof people?s realising how dangerouswater can be. Climate changebrings new challenges, as flooding becomes moreextremein some partsof theplanet, whiletheother parts experiencedrought, which isunusual in its duration and severity. Let?s not forget water?s mundane daily uses, which includecooking, bathing, laundry, brushing teeth and cleaning in general. Wemay takethem for granted but it?sworth remembering that 1.6 billion peopletoday lack access to safedrinking water. It is important for us to recognizetheimportanceof water in our lives, aswell as the consequencesof using it irresponsibly. Wemust work to protect our water sources from pollution and overuse, aswell as to ensureaccess to clean drinking water for everyone. ?If thereismagiconthisplanet, it iscontainedinwater. - American anthropologist Loren Eiseley
Iceand snow lashed through theair as the wind howled likea pack of starving wolves. Thechildren in theorphanage shivered eternally; their red and green hand-knitted jumpers werenot nearly enough to keep them warm. Grey clouds loomed over London likethescowl of a disappointed teacher. Leaves twirled elegantly away in the wind, likeagroup of ballerinas. Rats and cats had stopped chasing and instead had slunk back to their warm, cosy densand fireplaces. Newlywed couples kept closetogether for warmth. The branchesof thin, spindly trees swayed and stretched in the everlasting downpour. Hail stung theeyesand body partsof captains and workmen on the battleships, reinforcing thesides, ready for World War III. My first customer camein. Hewas a hooded, thin figure with brown leather clothesand some parrot-feather mittens. Heseemed to create an evil aromathat made peoplerecoil. He pulled back hishood to reveal astark whitefacewith a nosemissing achunk of flesh. Heworean eyepatch and a blood-red scarf. He spokein avery grumbly voicewhich cracked every-so-often. I asked if hewould likeanything and all hesaid was, ?Me look around, you givemetour.? With that, we set off at a brisk pace and often hewould say, ?Stop! Melikethis one!? I led him to thetigers and said, ?Would you likeone, sir?? All hereplied was, ?OK.? Hewent to touch oneof thecats. Suddenly, he surreptitiously injected aserum into thethick fur and the beast collapsed, knocked out. The customer tugged out ablack sack from his pocket and with superhuman strength, heaved thetiger into theflabby bag. SERIES OF SHORT PASSAGES WORLD WARIII By Sebastian Dobson-Persad THECUSTOMER
I sneaked noiselessly as I stalked the majestic, peaceful elk, grazing on a lingonberry bush. Its long, forked antlers shined in theautumn sunlight likepolished ivory. I lay low. My bow, well oiled, glistened in theshadows. My barbed flint arrows rattled in thewind; their featherswerefalcon, so they flew straight and fast. I heard some faint rustling from thebush next to meand felt likeI was being watched. I shrugged and continued to wait until theright moment when theelk had itsback to me. Suddenly, theelk sprinted away and theforest screamed. Watching mewas amassive saber-tooth tiger, roaring with itswhite canines fully extended and its sleek, golden pelt shimmering with sweat. Theamber eyes stared at meas if trying to burn two holes through my skull. Shaking, I raised my bow and arrow and took aim. Thebeast lurched towards meand brought down onehugepaw, snapping my bow in half. Turning with surprising agility it swiped again with knife-likeclawsextended and gauged three clean crevasses in my flesh, ripping off my quiver and tearing it to shreds, along with my arrows. Thepain wasexcruciating. I yelled in agony and collapsed, blood seeping from my ravaged torso. Thelast thing I saw was apair of saliva-dripping fangsheading straight for my face. Thetiger?sputrid breath, mixed with wet fur, filled my nostrilsas I passed out. THEHUNT
Rishi Sunak hasbeen PM for four months. In that time, hehas?restored integrity?in thesameway that I won theNobel Peace Prize, i. e. not at all. The Zahawi scandal is of gravitas, but becauseit represents thecollapseof our democracy. John Major oncesaid ?In our democracy, wecan speak truth to power. But power must also speak truth to the people.?Voting has become meaninglessbecausethe ConservativeParty doesn?t do what they promise. They wouldn?t raise National Insurance. Lie. They would extend the moratorium on fracking. Lie. They would not need to borrow to fund day-to-day spending. Lie. If voting for someone doesn?t mean they actually do, or at least attempt to do, what they promise, votesbecomemeaningless. Whether or not you area ?Sunakist?, it isparamount to acknowledgethat our democracy is crumbling from lack of truth from power. Thisalso representsTruss? most redeemablequality. Theway shewas elected is stupid, and should bedone away with, yes. Her ideas werestupid, undeniably. But sheactually made attempts to do what she promised, which were blocked by theCommons. As far as I can tell, Sunak seems to imagine that ?Integrity?can besaved likeTinkerbell in Peter Pan- say it enough times and it will all beO. K. Even though hehas sacked Zahawi, Braverman and Raab leaveabad taste in themouth. But theSunak erahas felt morelikeawaiting room for Starmer than anything else. Other than the leadership, and themost insaneideas, what actually changed after theelection of Sunak?Govecame back, Hancock went to Australia. Hunt stayed on, although I don?t necessarily object to that. I?m reliably informed we haveaForeign Secretary, and SteveBarclay isHealth Secretary. Braverman, who combines thexenophobia of Donald Trump with the charm of apost-Watergate Richard Nixon, is coming back after violating national security. Again, if theConservatives as a party want to berespected, they haveto maintain the principles they supposedly stand for. Simply electing Sunak didn?t, and will not, changetheinstitutional failingswhen aparty has been in power longer than most boysat theschool havebeen alive. Theelection of Labour in 2024 seems as undeniable. TheConservativeshave, historically, threetalking points- Taxes and thewider economy, Government Spending and Debt and National Security. Taxes and thewider economy are stagnating, as they have been sincetheGFC. The Toriesdo not hold sole responsibility for theGFC, although Thatcher was the anti-Christ of regulating banks, but they haven?t really advanced us past it. Debt is out of control, and not for effectivepurposes. All sensible economists, and sensiblehumans, would tell you debt isok if interest ratesarelow, and thepurposeis sound. During Covid, interest was low, but the money was sent to Tory donors. Now, we?recollapsing and interest ratesareobscene, so that?sbasically par for theConservativecourse. National Security is slightly less immediate, but consider this. If we, not that weshould, went to war with China, they would shut the country down. SuellaBraverman is about asgood an ideaas appointing me to theU. S SupremeCourt, and the military isn?t all that good for themoney wespend. Wehavethe highest military budget in Europe, except Russia, but our military is far inferior to that of France, and Germany?swill soon overtakeus. TheTories simply havean overwhelming lack of talent. HomeSecretary is Braverman, utterly hopeless. Hunt is an acceptablechoice, but he isn?t going to set theworld on fire. JamesCleverly is foreign secretary but he hasn?t really done anything, so I?m not going to giveaverdict on him other than pointing out that now, it might bea good timefor aForeign Secretary to, and hear me out here, visit Ukraineor something. In conclusion, I haven?t lost faith entirely in Sunak, although heisn?t exactly setting theworld on fire. Rather, thepast four monthshavedemonstrated acollapsein themeaning of our democracy. FOUR MONTHS OF RISHI By Connor O'Sullivan
Wonder, by R.JPalacio, isabook about an eleven-year-old boy with afacial deformity, who goes to school for the first time. In thisbook he overcomes thebiggest challengeof his life. August lives in Manhattan, with his family and their dog. August was home-schooled but when it was timefor middle school, hisparents thought it wasaclever ideato start becausehe would not betheonly new student. But one thing madethem worried, thefear of August being bullied. He thinks that heis just a kid, ?to me, though I am just me, I am an ordinary kid.? When August goes to school hemeets Jack-Will, atruly kind and empathetic boy, who decides to giveAugust a try at being his friend. After spending time together, herealizes that August isan amazing friend. This starts his exciting journey through school. Theimportant characters in thisbook areAugust, who isabrave, generous and funny. His sister, Via, isunderstanding, protective, loving, and confident. August?s mum is selfless, caring, and artistic (she useto draw pictures for books). Dad ishilarious, worrisome and defensive. Wonder stands out becausethe story is told from different characters` perspectives. You seethesameevents from other points of view and that can make you changeyour mind about acharacter. Each person has their own uniquevoiceand writing style. Asan example, Justin, aschool student, doesnot capitalizehis I?s, which makeshim seem morerelaxed. Thetwo main themesof thisbook arekindness and friendship. Thereis aquotefrom thebook that really stood out to me: ?If thereisan option to bekind or beright, be kind.?After reading this book, I realised that no oneisperfect, and peopleareoften different from what you may expect. R.JPalacio decided to writethis book because onceshewasat apark and shewas sitting next to agirl with afacial deformity. R.JPalacio?s child wasabout to say something and so she rushed them off to avoid upsetting the girl?s feelings. Later that day, R.J regretted running away from thesituation becausesheknew that shecould haveturned that into an amazing teaching lesson for her kids - so shestarted to writeWonder that very night. I loved thisbook because it has an amazing main character, and it was exciting and funny but also moving. Even though therearesome incredibly sad moments, thebook teaches you an especially important lesson which is that peoplehavealot morein common that you may think at first. WONDER BOOK REVIEW By Henry Weinberg
Munichisan excellent novel by Robert Harris which outlines the long-term build-up to the Munich agreement (a datethat somebelieveto bethereal start of the 2nd World War). It is narrated by two government workerson each sideof theconflict: oneGerman and one English. Thetwo were very good friends back in their university days, but now found themselvesworking for oppositesides of what would beWorld War II. Thebook wonderfully outlines thepolitical aspectsof WW2, and what working in a government officefor a country on thevergeof war was like? all captured stunningly by theauthor. To start off, thebook is told through the perspectiveof Hugh Legat, theEnglish government worker, working as oneof British PrimeMinister Neville Chamberlain?sprivate secretaries. ThePrime Minister isportrayed as a heroic figurerather than theappeaser heisnow thought of as. After a few chapters from the Englishman?s perspective, weget afew more, this timenarrated by Paul Hartmann, an anti-Hitler German diplomat (again working in theGerman government office). Many telegrams are exchanged between Hitler and Chamberlain during thefirst few chaptersof thebook, however, all of them are an attempt by Chamberlain to delay the start of the forthcoming war. In adesperate situation, Chamberlain rushes to meet with Hitler in Germany, with hisentourageincluding Legat. During this time, Legat meetsHartmann, and they reacquaint themselves? aswell as discussing their viewson theongoing situation. Hartmann says that heis unsurethat theHitler movement will end well, so heis secretly part of an Nazi resistancegroup. Legat tells his friend that hehasayoung family at homewho heneeds to protect. Finally, thebook?s ending. Thebook comes to aclosewith ? although not explicity told by Harris in the novel itself ? the signing of the Munich Agreement, whereHitler ?agrees?to claim the land of Czechoslovakia, and Czechoslovakia alone. Thispact Hitler subsequently breaks in 1939, when heinvades Poland, kick-starting WW2. What I found fabulous about thenovel washow theauthor madehistory cometo life in atruly thrilling manner. The contrast of the two different livesof people working on both sides of awar madefor agreat setting, keeping me engaged and wanting to read on. Munich was gripping from start to end, thewriting superb through theconstant action and detail as to lifein early 20th century government buildings, as well as the political dynamicsof thetime. Overall, I would highly recommend thisbook to membersof TheHall in theSenior School; however, I feel that any Year 4sand 5s arejust as welcometo read this fantastic work. MUNICH A review of the book by Robert Harris By MaanasSwarup
Cesar da Rosa
By Rafi Sofer
CROSSWORD OF IDIOMS By Kevin Yang Dente
By Alfie Mercey Answers will be revealed next issue so keep your eyes peeled!
THESEA Thesealapsendlessly against thecraggy shore, And has always survived, in myriad forms. It has seen many perilsand will seemany more, Liketragic shipwrecksand raging storms. How ancient is thesea? Theseais vast and encircles theworld, Deeper than can beconceived. Over thesurface, bitter windshaveswirled, Through murky depths, seacreatureshaveweaved. How infiniteis the sea? Itsmood ever varying; itswaters rarely still, Thrashing and writhing about. It can bend anything to itsmighty will, Never wavering, never expressing doubt. How powerful is the sea? BYISAAC DEAN
All my feelings, They makeavivid rainbow. Though someof them Can beawild volcano. Ruby Red, Thefurious typeof boy That you cannot control, Or much less enjoy! Amber Orange, Thehilariousand playful kind With many jokes Ready in my mind. Golden Yellow, Thenervousand timid me. With a pounding heart When speaking publicly. Emerald Green, Thecalm and happy boy. Thetypethat won?t jump out LikeaJack in abox toy. SapphireBlue, Thesad and miserable sort, Theonethat criesuntil his eyes hurt. Theonethat needs support. Deep Indigo, Thescared and panicked kind, It makes mecower in acorner And hallucinatein my mind. Amethyst Violet, Theproud and exuberant boy. When I get abirdie, I feel full of joy. Black and white, Thedull sensation where timegoes slow. Thesearemy emotions, Which will arise?No onewill know. COLOURS By Noah Lam
Oh, I do so lovethe internet, Givemeaphoneand I?m all set Or atablet, computer, or screen And for therest of the day, I will never beseen. I know I havehomework, but really don?t care My knowledgeof YouTube, I most want to share. I wish I could livein an excessively big flat Wheregaming and screen timeisall that I?m at. No Parentsor Teachers to distract my attention From Roblox and Minecraft and more games I could mention, And unlimited Pizzato eat all day So that I am never disturbed from the games that I play. This is thelife and the stuff of my dreams I hopeso much that it is all that it seems. I could beafather but that seems so boring If I watched my kids playing, I would spend my lifesnoring. By BertieDuralski-Cross THEINTERNET
SEASONS Thegrowth of theworld, theexpansion of life, Spring is thegreatest creator, and spring will bring thelight. With abit of patience, great thingswill come, Spring will evolveand energize; theworld will beborn anew. Theworld is in itsadolescence, theworld hasmatured, Everything is fully grown, and summer has come. You?vereached thetop of themountain peak, thingswill only go downhill, Summer will sleep and hibernate; theworld will beborn anew. Theworld haspassed itsprime, its breathing very laboured, Autumn has cast acrimson spell, and summer isovertaken. Theworld isdying, alas, theworld is dying, Theautumn grows and swallows earth whole; theworld will beborn anew. Theworld?sheart isn?t beating, it doesn?t hear athing, For theworld hasdied of illness, and winter is thevirus. Through all thecold and thethick blizzard, is thereaglimmer of hope? Thewinter breathes its final breath; theworld isborn anew. By Axl Funk
ThePower of words is a mystery yet to besolved, Aswordshavedeveloped, wehaveevolved, Lifeand death, grief and joy, Anger and fear put in a littleboy, A word is just abreath of passing air but sometimes too much to bear. From Latin to English, To Italian to Finnish, Weall haveour own uniqueword, And they should all be heard. Wordsoverflow with different meanings, They impact our feelings, Their usesareinnumerable, Yet sometimes finding what to say is almost impossible, A word is likeabeat, When multipleis strung together it feels complete, When wespeak it is as if wearesinging asong, Something we don?t want to end, something wewant to prolong, They break our solitude, makeus feel free, Open our eyes to abetter world and let us see. Words can bestrangeand roll off thetongue, Thebreath wetake before speaking fillsup our lungs, If you try and say scrumptiousand serendipity it just flows so sweetly, It is almost satisfactory. Then thereareconcepts within grammar such as onomatopoeia, They sound as they areand can causeshock or even a feeling of euphoria, Suddenly, aboom, Quickly, azoom, A pop sound, abang, A hauntingly beautiful sound, that rang. Next there is thebeautiful topic of rhetoric, They can describethings that cannot besaid through thestudies of sociometric, Thedetail is something so refined, That someof us cannot spot it as if weareblind, Theeffect has so many different impacts, Humour, feelings, emphasisetc. all causing reacts. Wordshavebeen there to resolvewars, To other worlds they open doors, They havenever failed to bethere, Just floating around, waiting in the air, At first when languages wereproducing their words, Hundredsof them had already been conferred, Spread across theworld and they werechanged, Word order, sentences and lettershad already been rearranged. Bright words arealwaysup and singing early, Therearewords so opalescent, cool and pearly, Words that areluminous in thedark and bedazzled with alittlebling, Rough and sticky with a littlesting, Therearewarm lazy words, cattleunder trees, And honied words like bees. Homophonesaremorethan I can bear, They makemy brain go bare, They feel as if they get up in my hair, Jumping around hard to catch like ahare, All in all, at onepoint they can bethere, But at others there they?re, Getting hit with aball, But trying not to bawl! WORDS By Rayansh Kaul
BECOMEA PUBLISHED AUTHOR! Submit your work to be considered for the Summer Term Edition of TheRight to Write! Ideas: - Stories? - Poetry? - Reviews? - Graphic novels? - News/Interviews? - Crosswords? - And more! To apply, send your work asan attachment to an email to [email protected] by Monday 5 June, 2023. We'relooking for clarity, creativity and originality.