The Art Of Politics: March Madness (As Usual)
by Richard Bruton
Welcome to the Art of Politics, the monthly round-up of what’s happening in the political world through the lens of the finest political cartoonists…
Well, here we go, time to drop into the political goings-on and we’ll start with the horrors of the Israel-Gaza war, the Israel-Hamas war, whatever you want to call it…
GAZA & ISRAEL…
Again, just so it’s clear – the hostages should be released, the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza need to stop, the war should be stopped. Yes, it’s incredibly complex on a political level but surely the situation just can’t go on this way?
Ella Baron – Ramadan in Gaza
Rebecca Hendin – on ‘Baby Bibi’ as the Israeli Prime Minister hits back at the UN security council after it demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. To no one’s surprise, the deaths keep coming.
Ella Baron – who really is doing powerful stuff right now – on US Aid drops for Gaza, falling alongside the US bombs from Israel…
Peter Schrank – on the same famine, food aid and missiles…
More Peter Schrank – on the promised ceasefire and the very real and now famine in Gaza…
Morten Morland – on the USA’s Israeli issue…
OVER IN THE U S OF A…
Martin Rowson – on the State of the Union address and Biden coming out swinging, albeit weakly…
AND TRUMP…
There’s a $454 million bail bond needs paying, later reduced to $175 million, the ex-Pres is holding rallies, hawking a Trump bible (genuinely, I thought this was a gag at first, but nope, A TRUMP BIBLE, oh FFS), and campaigning for the election. Incredibly, from me looking at it from the outside and in a nice blue state, he’s ahead in the polls and the US appears to be swinging his way. Apocalypse oncoming…
Morten Morland – wondering about Trump’s VP running-mate…
Morten Morland – on Trump’s Supreme Court decisions…
David Rowe – on Truth Social going public…
Bill Bramhall – on the latest bit of grift…
AND OUTSIDE OF THE BIDEN/TRUMP BUBBLE…
Whilst the State of the Union and Trump dominated the cartooning, there are other things going on in the USA that just aren’t getting the attention they deserve, particularly a state-by-state erosion of rights – womens’ rights, transgender rights, reproductive rights’ – that is particularly terrifying as it seems that the Supreme Court is stacked against freedoms and rights (unless those would be gun rights and the right to make money that is)…
And of course, we got the announcement that Mitch McConnell was stepping down at the end of the year…
NOT ALL THAT GREAT BRITAIN…
It was one of those months of bitty news in politics in the UK, no one subject dominated, just a series of small examples of the sort of screw-ups, outright lies, policy u-turns (that’s if they truly even know what their policies are), and general ineptitude from both Government and the opposition in the UK.
Frankly, if you want an idea of the state of Britain… try this from Stephen Collins for Prospect UK in the light of Gladiators being a big hit on the BBC…
THE RISHI PROBLEM…
A Prime Minister who’s never looked less prime ministerial or weak and a party gearing up for the General Election – not a good combination…
Ben Jennings – on Rishi’s continued frustration for the increasingly expensive and nasty Rwanda bill intended to ship refugees to ‘it’s safe because we say it is, despite all the evidence to the contrary’ Rwanda…
Sarah Akinterinwa – on Home Secretary James Cleverly’s rather expensive private flight to Rwanda to sign a deportation deal that shows no signs of getting passed in Parliament. Then again, compared to the overall cost, that’s a drop in the ocean…
Nicola Jennings – PM condemns ‘shocking increase in extremist disruption and criminality’ in the wake of the Gaza War.
Chris Riddell – on Sunak’s promise to crack down on protest…
Ella Baron – on another Banksy springing up against the news that the Court of Appeal has removed the ‘consent’ defence that means it’s far harder to environmental campaigners to protest climate change.
Martin Rowson – on Sunak’s mounting troubles at Easter…
Martin Rowson – on the Chancellor’s nothing budget in advance of the coming general election in the UK
Ella Baron – more on the budget and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt giving away almost everything he can…
Chris Riddell – Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor and fiscal drag queen?
Ella Baron – on Easter and the literal shit show of services in the UK, as record sewage discharges into waterways are reported by England’s water companies – raw sewage discharged into rivers and seas for mor that 3.6m hours in 2023, a 105% increase on 2022.
Racism Bad, Money Better – the problems of Tory donations…
Speaking of extremist disruption and criminality, there was a big race row when it came to Conservative donors.
Frank Hester donated £10 million to the Conservatives. The same Frank Hester then made racist comments about Diane Abbot MP at a meeting, saying that looking at Diane Abbott made you ‘want to hate all black women’ and said the MP ‘should be shot’. He said in the meeting that he did not hate all black women, but said that seeing Abbott, Britain’s longest-serving black MP, on TV meant ‘you just want to hate all black women because she’s there’.
Long story short, racism bad, say the Tories, but not bad enough that we’re going to send the cash back to the racist Tory donors, another case of Rishi really standing up strong there…
Finally – That Royal news…
Well, few cartoonists gave it a spin, but mostly concentrating on the media frenzy. Personally, I’m no royalist but there’s an element of a feeding frenzy and mock outrage from the press about said feeding frenzy that was particularly vile. End of the day, of course… Fuck Cancer.
RUSSIA
It seems Russia had an election – and in a shock result that literally everyone saw coming, we get more of Putin…
Ella Baron – The Crocis City Hall attack in Moscow claimed the lives of at least 40 people. Islamic State claimed responsibility but Putin was quick to put the blame eslewhere…
Rebecca Hendin – more of Putin pushing the blame onto Ukraine…
