The Art Of Politics: October – The Merry Go Round Goes Faster And Faster
by Richard Bruton
The Art of Politics, Comicon’s monthly look at the very best of political cartooning – powerful, incisive stuff and usually way more sharply focused than the news.
To say it’s been a busy month is a bit of an understatement and never more than in Britain. And as usual, the political cartoonists have been covering it all. We’ll begin with Britain, because, well, it’s been a month and then some…
In what we used to know as Great Britain…
Have you ever wondered what a government in crisis looks like? Not if you live in Britain for the past few days months years… but never more so than this month.
We had a government in absolute and total chaos, the pound and the economy in the toilet, more and more people wondering whether they feed their kids or heat their homes this winter while the energy companies release record profits news, possible energy blackouts this winter, warnings of benefit cuts for the poorest in society when the richest are getting ever more richer, and a health service with longer waiting times than ever before.
And that’s not even talking about the revolving door of politics in the UK. If you’re looking in from overseas and it seems like we have a new Prime Minister or two every months – well, there’s a good reason for that.
So, here’s Morten Morland on the chaos…
The Ballad of Liz and Kwazi… Prime Minister number 1 for October…
Well, after being given the reigns of power in September, then getting effectively 10 days off for the official mourning period for the death of the Queen, Prime Minister Truss began October in chaos and ended October out of a job… 6 September 2022 to 25 October 2022 was her official term, shortest in British history. Her Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarting, didn’t even last that long, although he did manage to completely destroy the economy in just a couple of weeks – it would be impressive if it wasn’t so damn destructive.
But let’s zip back to the beginning of October, when it appeared the word was out on Liz Truss. And that word was variously that she’s incapable, idiotic, delusional, despotic, out of control, out of ideas – and that’s just what her fellow Conservatives were saying about her at the recent Tory Party Conference.
Anyway, here’s a little bit of what Brit political cartoonists were drawing…
Ben Jennings on the growth plan wheeled out by Liz Truss, our glorious leader, and Kwazi Kwarteng, our man with no financial plan…
Chris Riddell on that same growth plan…
Although a lot of that plan appeared to be simply to do U-turns on previously announced budget things… Martin Rowson on that…
And Morten Morland on the U-turns…
Brian Adcock on Kwasi Kwarteng being shown the door…
And Ella Baron on new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt doing a quick u-turn on a lot of the financial policies that saw the Truss/Kwarteng rule absolutely tank the economy…
Steve Bell – Death on a Pale Truss…
And then it was the end for Truss… 45 days and then she’s gone…
Meanwhile, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the world’s number one Walter from The Beano cosplayer (see here for that one) and a man who once went campaigning with his bloody nanny (again, see here) has come out in favour of fracking… because we all know that’s a good idea.
Henny Beaumont on that…
Martin Rowson on possible energy blackouts this winter…
And finally, from last month but I missed it, this is the PERFECT description of Liz Truss’ time as Prime Minster – from Stephen Collins –
A second PM for the month – oh, we’re being spoilt…
So, in a move that surprised no-one, Liz ended up handing in her cards by the end of the month. Time for a new leader of the Conservative Party and a new Prime Minister. Yes, the entire world is laughing at us.
It was a three-way race between Rishi Sunak, Penny Morduant, and… in an audacious move that surprised no one in politics, the return of (well, I was going to say disgraced but this is a man who doesn’t have it in him to feel such emotions as shame or disgrace) former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Although after just a few days, it became a done deal, Boris pulled out (add in your own joke there) after lying about how many MPs he had that would back him, and Penny didn’t get the numbers needed.
All of that meant that the coronation of the next PM was in order as Rishi Sunak, multi-millionaire, married to a multi-millionaire, a man who wouldn’t know the common touch if someone hit him with it. Although, there was a certain level of celebration in that he was the first British Asian Hindu Prime Minister and a certain nice timing that his ascension took place on Diwali. (More on Rishi Rich right here)
Anyway, the first PM in history to be richer than the Monarch headed to say hello to King Charles.
Russia and Ukraine – the nightmare continues
In world news, the war in Ukraine continued, another bloody month of fighting as Russia and Vlad Putin kept on the pressure and the disinformation campaign, up to and including the idea that Ukraine would go so far as detonating its own dirty nuke just so they could blame Putin and Russia for it. Yes, you couldn’t write this stuff in a Bond movie could you?
But more than that, the casualties and the deaths just went up and up, in a war that just doesn’t seem like it’s got any chance of ending this year, or even next year.
Kal –
The Iranian Problem…
Oh, there are many – if you want a round-up, see this from the BBC – but it boils down to the Government crackdowns on protests that have broken out across the country. They began after the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, who had been detained by the country’s morality police for not fully complying with Iran’s veiling laws. The subsequent demonstrations in the country have led to over 40 deaths (which could well be way higher), arrests and detentions, beatings, Internet outages and disruptions to isolate the wave of protestors.
It’s a shocking and bloody but quiet revolution that’s going on over there. Or it may be. Foreign media is all but absent, relying on citizen journalism and brave Iranians willing to take a stand and speak out. Right now, it could lead to regime change or it could simply lead to further clamping down on freedoms, particularly those of women in the country. And there’s certainly the feeling that it will definitely lead to further bloodshed.
And over in the good ol’ US of A
Just for once, not that busy a month over in the States…
We did have Pres Biden legalising pot (well, issuing pardons to people with nonviolent federal marijuana convictions at least – this at Politico). Frankly, in a country where more and more states are legalising marijuana for personal use, this is a smart move and nothing more, not to mention one that frees a lot of people who just shouldn’t have been in jail in the first place. And it appears America agrees, with nearly two-thirds of voters indicating that they support issuing the pardons.
Gas Prices are everything…
After OPEC decided to cut oil production, gas prices in the USA were on their way up again. And nothing bothers Americans more than gas going up, with a scary number of people believing that the President actually has something to do with gas prices. (Although, if you live in the UK, where petrol is something like £6-7 a gallon, seeing the Americans bemoaning that gas is over £5 a gallon does seem a little much.
The other terrifying thing is that there’s a real correlation between the price of gasoline and the way people will vote in the mid-term elections that are coming up in November, where there’s Senate, Congress, and State representative seats up for grabs. (see this from The NY Times for a good overview)
Elections are coming – more of the same…
Yes, as we said, it’s mid-terms time in the USA in November, when Americans vote in elections for Congress, Senate, and State representatives. But all around the country it just feels like the divisions are getting wider and wider.
Trumpian politics abounds, difficult candidates like Dr Oz and Herschel Walker are everywhere, controversy, shameless electioneering – just everything you expect really…
And finally… a bit of good news about Alex Jones…
Yes, Alex Jones, vile conspiracy theorist who went so far as to claim that the Sandy Hook massacre of children was nothing more than a hoax. The bile he spewed, the torment he caused the parents of these children who died in America’s insane obsession with guns – it will never be made better perhaps, but it’s only good news that he’s been told he has to pay $965 million to the victims of his lies and crimes. (More at the BBC)
Christopher Weyant –
