The Art Of Politics: July — The Worlds On Fire, Let’s Rename A Lake
by Richard Bruton
The Art Of Politics, where the greatest political cartoonists prove just how powerful the image can be …
So, here we go, into the depths of the political cartoonists … and we’ll start, as always, with the Donald …
Trump doing his Trump things…
Trump actually had, for him, a rather quiet month. There was only the national debt passing the 40 trillion mark, the falling out with Canada, the whole Lake Ontario to Lake America ridiculousness, the swapping planes without warning the press corps and his cabinet on board Air Force One, the ongoing war in Iran (that was going to be done in days of course) … yes, just your typical month for the orange one …
And on the President of the USA making a swift and embarrassing exit from a threa … Morten Morland
As for the whole Lake America thing … Peter Brookes …
And Dave Rowe…
And then we had the spat with Canada …
Martin Rowson on Trump and the climate crisis, and Trump sleeping on the job, doing the silly shit (Lake America indeed) whilst things go to shit …
Oh, and of course, there’s still the whole Iran war thing going on. Wasn’t this meant to be done by now?
Over in the UK, things can only get worse…
The New New New New (I lose count) Labour Party, now under the leadership of Andy Burnham, King of the North as he was, is finding things really don’t get any easier for Britain.
We’ve had a summer of heatwaves, wildfires, criminality and just a feeling that everything’s not going to get any better any time soon.
Nicola Jennings on the continued cost of living crisis blighting so many lives across the country…
As for the weather, the series of heatwaves afflicted the country, terribly poorly built for extreme heat. Hot and humid, houses designed to insulate for the cold and the wet, not well suited for dealing with the heat. And the humidity, oh, the humidity. Basically, horrible most of the way through July, and into August. And next year, the biggest El Niño effect to date perhaps?
Of course, alongside the wildfires, there were also the droughts – although the water companies still keep posting record profits … Martin Rowson on that …
… and Nicola Jennings on the same …
Natalya Lobanova on the heatwaves:
Ella Baron on AI and the droughts …
Meanwhile, in the face of climate change and the possibility of resuming North Sea oil drilling, our King in the North Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, took the drastic measure of banning disposable barbeques to quell the wildfire threat… Nicola Jennings on that…
Martin Rowson on El Niño …
Meanwhile, over in Clacton … Binface vs Farage …
Well, the by-election in Clacton happened. This is the one where Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing, far-right Reform UK party, stood down as a member of parliament for Clacton in the wake of all those absolutely insignificant £5 million donations and his ties to some rather naughty people. He claimed it was him against the establishment, a chance for Clacton to decide, etc., etc. Alternatively, it was a last-ditch ploy to change the narrative as the media and the parliamentary enquiries got too close. Against him in Clacton was Count Binface, the latest in a long line of British comedy candidates. Except this time, the Count seemingly had a chance at making his mark. Hell, there was even talk of the Count getting the win.
Alas, that was not to be — I mean, who wouldn’t have loved to have seen him in parliament? As it was, Farage won the by-election, taking 63% of the vote. Binface came second with 27%. Of course, all that means that the British taxpayer just spent £350,000 for a by-election that changed nothing, as the Parliament’s standards commissioner fairly quickly updated things, saying the probe into Farage has been un-suspended. With Parliament off on its long summer hols, things will move slowly for a while, but they won’t let it lie…
And finally, the return of Prince? Harry, that is …
The spare royal and his family announced they were making the move from the USA to Blighty; it seems the California life didn’t quite work out for them after all. Shame.
And finally … Dolly …
The Queen of country died on my daughter’s birthday. It was not a good day.
Musically, she was a giant. I mean, just watch the Glastonbury footage of 2014, one of the biggest crowds the festival has ever seen, to get the idea of how beloved she was as an artist.
But she was so much more, a true humanitarian philanthropist who served as an example to all of us, using what she had for good, stepping up and spending her money on what she saw needed doing. Whether it was her Dollywood Foundation’s buddy system, funding a program that saw drop-out rates in Tenessee high schools fall from 35% to 6%; or her Imagination Library, mailing one book per month to every enrolled child from birth to kindergarten — some 850,000 children benefiting; her $1 million donation to COVID research; her generous donations to those affected by disasters across the USA, Dolly stepped up when she saw the need. Add to that her unwavering support for the LGBTQ+ communities over the years, and you have a truly wonderful human being, and one that today’s self-proclaimed Christian leaders should look to and realise that she was the one truly reflecting what their religion is meant to be. (They won’t, of course.)
The outpouring of love, grief, and just plain praise for an incredibly talented musician who always did what she could to help those she saw needed help was huge. She will be much missed.
And in sharp relief to all that Dolly was, we have the new breed of billionaires, who do nothing for the world, just keep amassing their outrageous wealth. Case in point, Zuckerberg’s $17.1 billion payout to settle a lawsuit about social media addiction in young folks.
The mega-rich have two choices. The Dolly way, which makes the world a better place, or the new way, where they sit, Smaug-like, atop their riches, doing nothing but growing their wealth.
