The Art Of Politics – July: Almost Like Climate Change Is A Thing

by Richard Bruton

Welcome once more to The Art Of Politics, Comicon’s monthly roundup of all that’s great and good in the world of political cartooning…

First up… the climate and the heat and the heat and the heat and the heat and the HEAT…

(Ann Telnaes)

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Yes, we know there are places that are way, way hotter but Britain having a heatwave when the previous record of 38.7 C (101.7 F) was broken by more than 30 places and a new record of 40.3 C (104.5 F) was set really is a big deal. Essentially, Britain’s a country not set up for this heat. Houses are built to retain heat, there’s no air conditioning in people’s homes, our roads melt in this heat, there’s worries over rail tracks and bridges, the London Fire Brigade was busier than at any time since WWII … basically it’s hellish.

Yet still, even as Britain, Europe, the USA all suffer under increasing heat events (MIT, Globe & Mail, Washington Post), there are still those climate change deniers out there. Morons.

Kal –

Peter Schrank –

Peter Kuper –

Lew Stringer summed it all up perfectly in his latest Dr Who Daft Dimension strip…

Or, putting it blunter… Sarah Gordon…

Mike Peters –

Bill Bramhall –

Tim Campbell –

Next up, news from the UK…

This month… oh boy, while Britain suffered under a heat wave, the country also suffered from the political leadership eating itself, as good old Boris Johnson was forced to step down as Prime Minister. So it’s time for a new leader, each prospective candidate worse than the last…

Bye Bye Boris…

In events that really didn’t surprise anyone apart from the fact that the mop-headed buffoon actually resigned, Boris Johnson came under more and more pressure to go as everything that could go wrong for him did go wrong for him.

The straw that seemed to break the camel’s back was their ex-deputy chief whip, Chris Pincher, problem (BBC). It wasn’t so much that Pincher was accused of molesting other MPs than the fact that Boris appointed him to his role even though he’d been told that Pincher had molested MPs.

Then came the resignation roulette of July. The first couple of big names to go were Chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid but after that it was like a torrent… we had a wave of Minister and parliamentary resignations meant that it looked like Boris wouldn’t even have the numbers to form a cabinet. (BBC) Eventually, even Boris managed to realise it was time to go…

Nicola Jennings –

Steve Bell –

Roger Langridge on Boris’ ending…

And Steve May on him as well…

You would let them run a bath… the Conservative leadership race…

So, following Boris going, it was time for all those MPs who’d previously pledged allegiance to the PM to step up and explain why he was actually crap and they’d be so much better… although of course we still have the problem of what Bozza may still do before he properly steps down in September…

Morten Morland –

And again for Morten Morland… in Wimbledon month…

Martin Rowson –

Nicola Jennings –

Steve Bell –

Ben Jennings –

Martin Rowson –

Ben Jennings on the leadership race and the heat wave…

Steve Bell –

Chris Riddell –

Peter Brookes –

Roger Langridge on the Conservative Party leadership election thing…

The final two…

In the end it came down to Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. Yes, something similar to choosing whether you want dog poop or cat poop in your sandwich for all the good they’ll do. Weeks of them slagging each other off…

Peter Brookes –

Ben Jennings on Rishi versus Liz…

Ben Jennings on Liz Truss and her ties to Bozza…

Steve Bell on Liz Truss denying the accusations she’s been modeling herself on Thatcher…

Matt –

Peter Brookes –

Meanwhile over in the USA… just your normal nightmare dystopian world…

Nothing really different in the US this month… just the whole mess of everything still.

Kal –

So there’s STILL the January 6th hearings going on with Trump STILL avoiding accountability some 18 months after the fact.

Bill Bramhall –

Ann Telnaes – some of the things he might have been doing on the day…

Ann Telnaes – all the evidence leads to Trump…

And Kal on who really runs America…

Then there’s the ongoing issue of the Supreme Court legislating from the bench, the attacks on women’s rights still carrying on with the disgraceful withdrawal of abortion rights across the USA with more and more states restricting abortion access.

And make no mistake, that won’t be the first freedom they go after – contraception, LGBTQ+ rights, same-sex marriage, mixed race marriage… all going to be on the agenda.

Jen Sorensen –

Chris Britt –

Adam Zyglis –

Fowl Language Comics –

Tim Campbell –

JD Crowe –

And then there’s still the issue over guns. Every day, every single bloody day, there’s another mass shooting. And yet the Republicans and the NRA keep on keeping on and denying there’s even any connection between guns and gun deaths.

This year, of course, we even had a mass shooting on the 4th July – how very American…

JD Crowe –