Of all useless banks, Lloyds undoubtedly has the best logo. You could probably do a small book of ideas based solely on the Government’s relationship with that horse.
The Lib Dems had their spring conference this weekend.
There’s something peculiar about Nick Clegg. Look closely and he seems to have many good qualities.
But compare him to Vince Cable for example, he just seems unbelievably insignificant.
And place the Lib Dems in the context of the real world…
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I’m not much of a collector. I forget to categorize things.
Which means it ends up being just a pile of stuff.
Anyway. I’ve just come across a collection that I wish I had. Of political packs of playing cards. Some brilliant stuff in there.
From Kennedy Kards (1963) to V&A’s Playing Politics (1983) to more recent ones like the Sky News Politipack (2005) drawn by Matt ‘Hack’ Buck.
Click on the images to see more from most of the packs.
I actually once had one the packs in this collection. The one from the Lib Dem conference in 2003, which I bought while at the conference in Brighton to give me picture reference for drawings. Had I known that it was part of limited edition of 1000 I would’ve taken better care of it…I’m sure.
Tribune cartoonist Alex Hughes did an interesting project last year, in which he drew a card every week featuring someone who’d made headlines in the news – making it a fully illustrated pack. I haven’t heard what he intends to do with it now, but if you want to see the drawings, go to his blog here.
Finally some flare!
On the Politics Show today John Sopel presented a fabulous document titled “Calamity Clegg” sent out from the Hapless Huhne camp, which spells out issues on which Calamity Clegg is flip-flopping.
Good fun.
Calamity Clegg is saddened by it.
Humbug Huhne, who blames an overzealous researcher for the title, thinks the name won’t stick.
Calamity Clegg.
Calamity Clegg.
Calamity Clegg.
Calamity Clegg.
Calamity Clegg.
My guess is that it probably will!
Update:
Calamity Clegg makes official complaint – and thus ensures that what was a rather damaging scene for both of them, stays in the media spotlight for longer! He’s already living up to his new name!
Update2:
Iain Dale blogs well on this unfolding saga – and also links to an interesting analysis by Guto Harri.
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I’ve just been watching the Lib Dem leadership contenders on Question Time.
Good grief. It was positively painful to watch poor Dimbleby trying to prevent the hour-long program (with 50% Nick Clegg) from causing the nation to fall into a drivel-induced coma.
My plan was to study the two candidates and work on caricatures, but I was so overcome by boredom, all I managed to draw was the yawn above.
As animation slowly takes hold among British cartoonists (Expect some new and exciting things very soon, is all I can say – although not from me yet unfortunately), the Americans are in full flow.
Current SuperNews has got a brilliant new cartoon out, which really is worth watching. The “White House Halloween Party” is very funny indeed!
Walt Handelsman, the Pulitzer prize winning cartoonist, has released a few more since I last paid a visit to Newsday.com.
There’s for example a rather amusing one on political soundbites called “What they Say, What we Hear”.
Another clever one called “2008 Web Campaigns” about…well…web campaigns by those running for President.
There are others too, so have a look and enjoy.
Also from across the pond, the increasingly prolific Mark Fiore has got a new animation attacking the usual suspects.
Closer to home Neil Hepburn from Beau Bo D’Or is also continuing his animated viral venture. Continuing his love affair with the Lib Dem bird, he’s done a really successful, and strangely profound piece, if I may say so, on the current state of the party. Neil doesn’t spell out his thinking behind it, nor does need to, but he does go some way to explain why he’s taken a somewhat different approach to animation than he usually takes in his pictures:
I know it seems counterintuitive to put up animations or images that make people ponder a bit, considering a lot of virals are essentially quick-fixes (nothing wrong in that), but that’s what I prefer.
It’s an interesting idea, brave even, because it’s not an easy approach. Even less so given the limited tools and time he has at his disposal as a one-man-band doing animations about current affairs. It’ll be very exciting to see more – with or without birds!
I’ve just received my copy of the ideal Christmas present for anyone with any interest in politics, history, cartoons, culture, art and so on…
On 25 October, Random House publishes a stunning book by Dr Timothy S Benson – or Tim as he is more affectionately known to those whose work he has included in the book.
The Cartoon Century: Modern Britain Through the Eyes of Its Cartoonists is a fantastic collection of cartoons covering events of the last hundred years.
For a better description than I can give, read the blurb:
Cartoons have the astonishing power to encapsulate a historical moment or popular mood, and this magnificent new survey tells the story of modern Britain through hundreds of the finest examples. Year by year, from the death of Queen Victoria to the downfall of Saddam Hussein, it shows the views taken by the nation’s leading cartoonists of the issues and personalities that dominated the news – some of worldwide significance (the outbreak of the Second World War, for example), some of major social and political importance (for instance, the rise of the Suffragettes), some reflecting more parochial obsessions (as, for example, the Edwardian cartoon bemoaning the presence of foreign players in English football teams). Some show a nation united (the outbreak of the First World War); more often they reveal where battlelines have been drawn, whether they’re cartoons supporting or attacking appeasement, trade unions, the EU or contraception, or seeking to praise or bury Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair or the Archbishop of Canterbury. Many have achieved iconic status (David Low’s savage attacks on Hitler; Steve Bell’s portrayal of John Major with his pants over his trousers), but the majority of the cartoons shown here have not seen the light of day since they were first published, or were rejected or censored by contemporary newspapers. Together, they offer fascinating and revealing snapshot views of Britain over the course of a tumultuous century.
It truly is a fabulous piece of work, for which Tim deserves a lot of acclamation.
There’s an exhibition at the Political Cartoon Gallery to go with the launch of the book, in which you’ll be able to see many of the cartoons in the flesh. A good day out if you ask me.
The exhibition runs from 25 October to 22 December.
Two days in a row!
Just thought you might be interested in seeing how the Lib Dem leadership hopefuls are being welcomed into the cartoon section.
Peter Brookes has taken it upon himself to say what we’re all thinking.
I rather like his caricature of What’s-his-face Clegg. He’s obviously had a better crack at it than I had a couple of days ago.
I still think Clegg’s problematic though. Not a face cartoonists will approach with any great enthusiasm…
Or is it? Let me know if it’s just me.
Dave Brown has decided that Chris Huhne was the one who finished off Ming. I suspect you could probably add a small crowd of knife-wielding lib-dems (well, you wouldn’t have a big one, would you), but then again it’s the cartoonist’s prerogative to single out the most appealing target.
On a non-lib-dem subject, Steve Bell’s cartoon in the Guardian sees a return of one of Steve’s favourite characters – the penguin.
In the Telegraph Garland looks at Turkey’s seemingly splendid insanity in wanting to launch attacks in Iraq.
They should listen to George W. Bush:
“There’s a better way to deal with the issue than having the Turks send massive troops into the country.”
Indeed.
I can see a Peace Prize coming his way next year.
