Politics

Banksy exhibition

Banksy exhibition disrupted by Just Stop Oil protester – cartoon.

The cartoon shows a Just Stop Oil protester disrupting the Banksy exhibition in the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), Glasgow.

The Banksy exhibition is titled Cut and Run. 18 June – 28 Aug 2023.

Drawn: July 2023

Cartoon reference number: a949
Nicola Sturgeon resigns

Nicola Sturgeon resigns as leader of the SNP”.

The cartoon shows that this may be the death of the possibility of Scottish independence.

There is no clear candidate to replace Sturgeon who would be capable of leading the Scottish National Party towards its aim of achieving independence from the UK.

Drawn: 15th February 2023

Cartoon reference number: a941
“On the right side of history” cartoon

A cartoon about the expression “On the right side of history”.

The cartoon hopefully points out the nonsense of the expression along with its preposterous self-regard by applying it to the Taliban, who I’m sure think that they are right.

In fact, beware those who have the over-confidecnceof thinking that they are “on the right side of history”!

Drawn: 27th December 2022

Cartoon reference number: a940
Art gallery repatriation cartoon

A cartoon about repatriation and reparation by art galleries and museums.

A cartoon concerning the return of works and items from the collections of museums and art galleries that are now judged by some to have been obtained by inappropriate means.

The cartoon is about the fact that the definition of ‘inappropriate means’ can be widened until it encompasses almost all transactions.
Currently it is chiefly applied to works that fall into the decolonisation category.

Drawn: 24th December 2022

Cartoon reference number: a939
The certainty and arrogance of youth

A cartoon about the certainty and arrogance of youth.

Cartoon showing a young person who is convinced of the rightness of her attitudes because she is of an age at which she doesn’t realise how little she knows.
I remember being the same.

Drawn: 25th December 2022

Cartoon reference number: a937
Unconscious prejudice cartoon

A cartoon about unconscious racism, sexism, homophobia or transphobia.

The cartoon shows a social gathering at which a person is wearing a T-shirt with the message:
“I’m one the lookout for unconscious racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia”.
Everyone at the gathering is giving a wide berth to the T-shirt wearer.
As a result the T-shirt wearer is seeing the other people as racist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic.

One of the points of the cartoon is that if you look for something you may see it even of it isn’t there, especially if you are observing through the filter of ideology.
Another point of the cartoon is the divisive nature of excessive ideological zeal – in this case the way that the people at the gathering shy away from interacting with the T-shirt wearer for fear of being over-scrutinised.

Drawn: 8th January 2023

Cartoon reference number: a935
Empowered by ideology – cartoon

A cartoon showing political activists or protesters who feel empowered and motivated by their ideology.

The cartoon is a comment on the way that people who hold ideological beliefs feel a sense of empowerment, motivation and identity (If you’ve ever been on a protest march you’ll know the feeling).

This can have the downside of blinding them to alternative ways of seeing the world.

Drawn: 28th December 2022

Cartoon reference number: a933
Return the Elgin Marbles – cartoon

A cartoon about the campaign to return the Elgin Marbles, or Parthenon Sculptures, to Greece.

It’s argued that the Elgin Marbles or Parthenon Sculptures should be returned to Greece because of the much debated manner in which they were removed from Greece by Lord Elgin.

This cartoon points out that the Parthenon sculptures were created in the first place by a civilisation that was heavily reliant on slaves.
In the current political climate there have been many statues linked to slavery that have been pulled down.
The comment about returning the sculptures to the bottom of the Aegean is a reference to the throwing of a statue of Sir Edward Colton in to the sea in Bristol here in the UK

Drawn: 8th January 2023

Cartoon reference number: a934
Art gallery self-censorship

A cartoon showing an art gallery removing ‘inappropriate’ art from its displays.

The cartoon comments on the way that in recent years art galleries have started to display works on an ever decreasing number of subjects and by an increasingly narrow range of types of artist (although in the past there were definitely too many works created by other types of artist).

The currently preferred themes for works are those associated with the social justice, or woke, movement – predominantly race, slavery, gender and sexuality.
The cartoon depicts the way in which artworks that are interpreted as going against the ethos of the social justice movement are being removed from galleries.

Drawn: 1st October 2020

Cartoon reference number: a932
Woke ‘useful idiots’

A cartoon about woke fellow travellers.

The cartoon’s caption reads:
“Did you know that there’s a name for the well-meaning people who, in a misguided attempt to be tolerant and respectful, promote the authoritarian and censorious ambitions of the woke movement?
Sleepwokers.

A pun on the word sleepwalkers.
The term useful idiot refers to naive followers of a political cause who aren’t fully aware of the harmful nature of the cause. It is often associated with the followers of communism the mid twentieth century.

Drawn: December 2022

Cartoon reference number: a930
Ban humour!

A cartoon about censorship and proscriptions on humour.

The cartoon reflects an aspect of the “hate speech” laws (which state that anything that may cause offence is prohibited).
Humour by its very nature frequently sets up a tension that may be misinterpreted by the more earnest and humourless amongst us (he says, patronisingly), opening it up to be a target for censorship.

A cartoon about censorship, censoriousness, woke earnestness.

Drawn: September 2022

Cartoon reference number: a999
Dictatorship or tyranny cartoon

Human rights cartoon.

A cartoon about oppressive regimes, dictatorships or tyrannies.

The cartoon shows a person in a prison cage with a dictator or tyrant sitting on top of the cage
A cartoon about human rights, freedom, oppression, repressive regimes, dictatorship.

Drawn: 2017

Cartoon reference number: a909
Human rights cartoon – imprisoned artists

Human rights cartoon.

This cartoon was drawn for an exhibition of cartoons about the treatment of dissident artists and cartoonists who live in countries that are governed by oppressive regimes.

The cartoon shows a cartoonist or artist drawing an image on the outside wall of a prison cell of a person escaping from the cell.
A cartoon about human rights, freedom of expression, free speech, repressive regimes, dictatorship.

Drawn: 2017

Cartoon reference number: a915
Human rights cartoon

Human rights cartoon – freedom of speech.

This cartoon was drawn for an exhibition of cartoons about the treatment of dissident cartoonists who live in countries that are governed by oppressive regimes.

The cartoon shows a cartoonist drawing a cartoon on the outside wall of a prison cell. The cartoon bears the message “Free speech”
A cartoon about human rights, freedom of speech, free speech, repressive regimes, dictatorship.

Drawn: 2017

Cartoon reference number: a916
Shame on you – woke shaming cartoon

Woke shaming cartoon

A cartoon about the tendency among some of the woke to attempt to humiliate and belittle those who think differently to them by ‘shaming’ them. The process of shaming is a convenient way to dismiss other points of view without engaging with it, and of dismissing the person whose view it is.

A cartoon about wokeness, tolerance, intolerence, shaming, shame culture. Published in the Critic magazine, June 2021.

Drawn: October 2020

Cartoon reference number: a900
Missing Donald Trump outrage cartoon

Politics isn’t the same without Donald Trump

Although it’s generally agreed that the defeat of Donald Trump in the US elections was a good thing, his outrageous behaviour as president was a perversely energising occurrence during the doldrums of the Covid-19 restrictions.

Drawn: January 2021

Cartoon reference number: a897
Commercial branding and political activism

Branding cartoon

This cartoon was drawn at a time when political and social causes were in decline and individualism and consumerism were on the ascendant. It shows a teenage girl (who is very concerned about fashion and branding) asking her mother (who in her youth was a social activist) which brand the CND logo represents, as the girl doesn’t recognise it as the symbol of a campaign group.

Now (2021) there is a resurgence in social and political activism, however some of the campaigns are deliberately adopted by commercial organisations to boost their profile in the social concern stakes. A typical example is the commercialisation of Gay Pride.

Drawn: 2003

Cartoon reference number: env0027a
Critical Race Theory cartoon – crt applied to a snowman

Critical Race Theory cartoon.

Critical Race Theory (CRT) applied to a snowman.

A person is asking why the snowman is white. One of the points of the cartoon is that once a social theory has been formulated (any theory, not just crt) it is often used to interpret matters to which it does not apply.

Drawn: December 2020

Cartoon reference number: a886
Cartoon predicts riot on Capitol Hill

Trump encourages riot on Capitol Hill.

This cartoon was drawn on 4th November 2020, to express concern about the possible direction of the US presidential election, with specific concern about the way that Trump was encouraging his supporters.

Drawn: 4th November 2020

Cartoon reference number: a859
Fishing quotas after Brexit

A cartoon about the fishing quotas following Brexit.

The cartoon shows a UK fishing boat and seagulls that are trying to take some of the fish.

Drawn: December 2020

Cartoon reference number: a885
Covid effect on economy cartoon

Covid threat to economy cartoon.

The coronavirus as a sea mine threatening a ship.

The ship represents the economy.
A cartoon about the pandemic caused by the covid-19 virus.

Drawn: 5th November 2020

Cartoon reference number: a860
Contested election result cartoon – Trump-Biden US election 2020

Contested US presidential election result cartoon.

The count in the Trump–Biden presidential election 2020 is under way, and it’s looking incendiary, hopefully not literally.
Hopefully there won’t be any violence due to overheated demonstrations by the more fanatical factions involved, although Trump hinted at unrest on the streets.

Drawn: 4th November 2020

Cartoon reference number: a859
Trump v Biden US election 2020 cartoon – predicting explosive consequences

US presidential election 2020 cartoon.

This cartoon was drawn in September 2020 with the following commentary: The Trump–Biden presidential election in November may turn out to be an explosive affair (hopefully not literally).
With luck it will only be Trump’s personality that’s explosive, however a close result may cause fireworks, and hopefully there won’t be any violence due to overheated demonstrations by the more fanatical factions of the left wing or right wing movements that are evident in the run up.

Drawn: September 2020

Cartoon reference number: a848
Who is right and who is wrong?

Who is right and who is wrong? Cartoon.

The term “right-thinking people” is used by people who think that they are right, or more accurately, that other people are wrong.

A cartoon about the delusion of moral certainly and political certainty.

Drawn: September 2020

Cartoon reference number: a853
QAnon cartoon

QAnon cartoon.

QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory grouping that is currently gaining followers, possibly due to the influence of the US presidency of Donald Trump.

Followers of QAnon believe in a wide number of far-fetched conspiracy theories, which seem to be growing all the time.
Hence the punchline of this cartoon: “Join the Q!”

Drawn: September 2020

Cartoon reference number: a847
Hate crime cartoon or hate speech cartoon

Hate crime cartoon or hate speech cartoon.

In the UK there is a law protecting five groups of people, such as ethnic minorities or gay people, from crimes that may be linked to hatred of their group. The government is thinking of extending the definition to include more groups, such as women and old people.
The concept of hate crimes sounds a bit Orwellian to me, but if there is such a law I don’t see why it can’t just include everyone.

There’s also an argument that the entire hate crime rationale is flawed (other than by its Orwellian overtones) and that no-one should be protected in this specific way – is beating up a gay man because he’s gay a worse crime than beating up a straight man because of his accent (which nearly happened to me once)? Now you’ve got to guess what sort of accent I’ve got without seeming prejudiced.

Drawn: 23rd September 2020

Cartoon reference number: a846
Covid cartoon – the ‘Rule of Six’ social distancing

The UK government has stated that people must not congregate in groups larger than six – the ‘rule of six’.

In an attempt to stop the cover-19 virus spreading more due to lax adherence to social distancing rules the UK government has introduced a new rule to prevent large groups of people meeting up.

The cartoon depicts the characters from the famous Hollywood Western film the Magnificent Seven adhering to the new rule.

Drawn: 10th September 2020

Cartoon reference number: a844
Ethnic diversity cartoon

Diversity and inclusion cartoon.

The cartoon shows a lecture about the desirability of ethnic diversity. Almost the whole audience is white.

The inspiration for this cartoon came from the phrase that performers at some events use when describing the audience as ‘a sea of white faces’.
Of course the audience at some events may be predominantly white because that reflects the ethnic mix of the locality or because of the differing interests of different ethnic and cultural groups, however sometimes it is a result of issues around discrimination concerning opportunities and access, as is implied in this cartoon.
A cartoon about race, racism, bame issues, discrimination, unconscious discrimination, cultural discrimination, racial bias.

Drawn: 8th Sept 2020

Cartoon reference number: a843
Cartoon – what art is offensive?

To what extent should art galleries reflect contemporary concerns?

A cartoon about changing the exhibits in art galleries and museums to reflect contemporary society and to avoid offence.

It’s quite common in art galleries that exhibit contemporary art for the art to reflect contemporary concerns (or at least the contemporary concerns that concern the art world).
This cartoon shows a historical artwork being judged by contemporary mores (or rather, the mores of a particular sector of society that embraces ‘woke’ values).

Drawn: August 2020

Cartoon reference number: a841
Donald Trump schoolboy cartoon

The danger of the expression “You can be whoever you want to be”.

The cartoon shows Donald Trump in his school days listening to the expression. Maybe getting a few ideas.

In the USA the aspirational expression that anyone can become president of the United States has proved to be true, unfortunately.

Drawn: August 2020

Cartoon reference number: a840

Politics

Banksy exhibition disrupted by Just Stop Oil protester – cartoon.

The cartoon shows a Just Stop Oil protester disrupting the Banksy exhibition in the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), Glasgow.

The Banksy exhibition is titled Cut and Run. 18 June – 28 Aug 2023.

Drawn: July 2023

Cartoon reference number: a949

Nicola Sturgeon resigns as leader of the SNP”.

The cartoon shows that this may be the death of the possibility of Scottish independence.

There is no clear candidate to replace Sturgeon who would be capable of leading the Scottish National Party towards its aim of achieving independence from the UK.

Drawn: 15th February 2023

Cartoon reference number: a941

A cartoon about the expression “On the right side of history”.

The cartoon hopefully points out the nonsense of the expression along with its preposterous self-regard by applying it to the Taliban, who I’m sure think that they are right.

In fact, beware those who have the over-confidecnceof thinking that they are “on the right side of history”!

Drawn: 27th December 2022

Cartoon reference number: a940

A cartoon about repatriation and reparation by art galleries and museums.

A cartoon concerning the return of works and items from the collections of museums and art galleries that are now judged by some to have been obtained by inappropriate means.

The cartoon is about the fact that the definition of ‘inappropriate means’ can be widened until it encompasses almost all transactions. Currently it is chiefly applied to works that fall into the decolonisation category.

Drawn: 24th December 2022

Cartoon reference number: a939

A cartoon about the certainty and arrogance of youth.

Cartoon showing a young person who is convinced of the rightness of her attitudes because she is of an age at which she doesn’t realise how little she knows. I remember being the same.

Drawn: 25th December 2022

Cartoon reference number: a937

A cartoon about unconscious racism, sexism, homophobia or transphobia.

Drawn: 8th January 2023

Cartoon reference number: a935

A cartoon showing political activists or protesters who feel empowered and motivated by their ideology.

The cartoon is a comment on the way that people who hold ideological beliefs feel a sense of empowerment, motivation and identity (If you’ve ever been on a protest march you’ll know the feeling).

This can have the downside of blinding them to alternative ways of seeing the world.

Drawn: 28th December 2022

Cartoon reference number: a933

A cartoon about the campaign to return the Elgin Marbles, or Parthenon Sculptures, to Greece.

It’s argued that the Elgin Marbles or Parthenon Sculptures should be returned to Greece because of the much debated manner in which they were removed from Greece by Lord Elgin.

Drawn: 8th January 2023

Cartoon reference number: a934

A cartoon showing an art gallery removing ‘inappropriate’ art from its displays.

The cartoon comments on the way that in recent years art galleries have started to display works on an ever decreasing number of subjects and by an increasingly narrow range of types of artist (although in the past there were definitely too many works created by other types of artist).

Drawn: 1st October 2020

Cartoon reference number: a932

A cartoon about woke fellow travellers.

The cartoon’s caption reads: “Did you know that there’s a name for the well-meaning people who, in a misguided attempt to be tolerant and respectful, promote the authoritarian and censorious ambitions of the woke movement? Sleepwokers.

A pun on the word sleepwalkers. The term useful idiot refers to naive followers of a political cause who aren’t fully aware of the harmful nature of the cause. It is often associated with the followers of communism the mid twentieth century.

Drawn: December 2022

Cartoon reference number: a930

A cartoon about censorship and proscriptions on humour.

A cartoon about censorship, censoriousness, woke earnestness.

Drawn: September 2022

Cartoon reference number: a999

Human rights cartoon.

A cartoon about oppressive regimes, dictatorships or tyrannies.

The cartoon shows a person in a prison cage with a dictator or tyrant sitting on top of the cage A cartoon about human rights, freedom, oppression, repressive regimes, dictatorship.

Drawn: 2017

Cartoon reference number: a909

Human rights cartoon.

This cartoon was drawn for an exhibition of cartoons about the treatment of dissident artists and cartoonists who live in countries that are governed by oppressive regimes.

The cartoon shows a cartoonist or artist drawing an image on the outside wall of a prison cell of a person escaping from the cell. A cartoon about human rights, freedom of expression, free speech, repressive regimes, dictatorship.

Drawn: 2017

Cartoon reference number: a915

Human rights cartoon – freedom of speech.

This cartoon was drawn for an exhibition of cartoons about the treatment of dissident cartoonists who live in countries that are governed by oppressive regimes.

The cartoon shows a cartoonist drawing a cartoon on the outside wall of a prison cell. The cartoon bears the message “Free speech” A cartoon about human rights, freedom of speech, free speech, repressive regimes, dictatorship.

Drawn: 2017

Cartoon reference number: a916

Woke shaming cartoon

A cartoon about the tendency among some of the woke to attempt to humiliate and belittle those who think differently to them by ‘shaming’ them. The process of shaming is a convenient way to dismiss other points of view without engaging with it, and of dismissing the person whose view it is.

A cartoon about wokeness, tolerance, intolerence, shaming, shame culture. Published in the Critic magazine, June 2021.

Drawn: October 2020

Cartoon reference number: a900

Politics isn’t the same without Donald Trump

Although it’s generally agreed that the defeat of Donald Trump in the US elections was a good thing, his outrageous behaviour as president was a perversely energising occurrence during the doldrums of the Covid-19 restrictions.

Drawn: January 2021

Cartoon reference number: a897

Branding cartoon

Now (2021) there is a resurgence in social and political activism, however some of the campaigns are deliberately adopted by commercial organisations to boost their profile in the social concern stakes. A typical example is the commercialisation of Gay Pride.

Drawn: 2003

Cartoon reference number: env0027a

Critical Race Theory cartoon.

Critical Race Theory (CRT) applied to a snowman.

The cartoon is about the fact that the definition of ‘inappropriate means’ can be widened until it encompasses almost all transactions.
Currently it is chiefly applied to works that fall into the decolonisation category.

Cartoon showing a young person who is convinced of the rightness of her attitudes because she is of an age at which she doesn’t realise how little she knows.
I remember being the same.

The cartoon’s caption reads:
“Did you know that there’s a name for the well-meaning people who, in a misguided attempt to be tolerant and respectful, promote the authoritarian and censorious ambitions of the woke movement?
Sleepwokers.

A pun on the word sleepwalkers.
The term useful idiot refers to naive followers of a political cause who aren’t fully aware of the harmful nature of the cause. It is often associated with the followers of communism the mid twentieth century.

The cartoon shows a person in a prison cage with a dictator or tyrant sitting on top of the cage
A cartoon about human rights, freedom, oppression, repressive regimes, dictatorship.

The cartoon shows a cartoonist or artist drawing an image on the outside wall of a prison cell of a person escaping from the cell.
A cartoon about human rights, freedom of expression, free speech, repressive regimes, dictatorship.

The cartoon shows a cartoonist drawing a cartoon on the outside wall of a prison cell. The cartoon bears the message “Free speech”
A cartoon about human rights, freedom of speech, free speech, repressive regimes, dictatorship.

The ship represents the economy.
A cartoon about the pandemic caused by the covid-19 virus.

The count in the Trump–Biden presidential election 2020 is under way, and it’s looking incendiary, hopefully not literally.
Hopefully there won’t be any violence due to overheated demonstrations by the more fanatical factions involved, although Trump hinted at unrest on the streets.

Followers of QAnon believe in a wide number of far-fetched conspiracy theories, which seem to be growing all the time.
Hence the punchline of this cartoon: “Join the Q!”