Scottish independence referendum cartoon

"That Mr Cameron reckons ah can hae a cushion for mah bucket if ah dinnae vote Aye."

A referendum of cartoon editors voted "No", either because they didn't get the reference or because everyone is doing Scottish independence cartoons. 

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A place in A Cartoon History

I've got three cartoons in the new coffee table book Private Eye: A Cartoon History, including this lemmings joke from earlier in the year.

It's a thumping great doorstep of a book, so make sure your coffee table is sturdy.

Waterstones took a unique approach to displaying the book, above. I'm fine with the "silly drawings" bit, but Private Eye might question the "pretend newspaper" part, bearing in mind how many genuine news stories they've broken over the years.

Last week I went along to the launch of the book where they got the assembled cartoonists drunk so they could take this photo. I'm in there somewhere. At the centre are the Eye editor Ian Hislop and the cartoonist Nick Newman, who edited the book.

Click to enlarge. Photo © Philippa Gedge

We all wore name badges. Here's mine. Luckily, as a cartoonist I am only known by my first name!

Political cartoon: The swivel eyes have it

The Kentish Gazette asked Nigel Farage, the UKIP leader, if the rumours were true that he is to run in Canterbury at the next election. His response: "There is always so much flying around about what I might or not be doing. My advice is don’t get too excited about it.”

The latter part struck me as a particularly appropriate UKIP election slogan ...

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Cinema cartoon coming at ya

"Wow! The devastating satire on the failure of the American dream just LEAPS out of the screen at you!"

I haven't seen the new Gatsby, but I'm baffled by the idea of it being in 3D and I'm wondering if they have put in some kind of aerial chase scene. Every film I see with my kids has a scene, or several, involving falling from planes or climbing cliffs, cranes etc. It's getting old.

This can be seen in glorious 2D in the new issue of Prospect magazine.

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Topical cartoon: Closure of The Dandy

Topical gags can sometimes fall victim to the twin perils of print deadlines and other cartoonists coming up with the same idea.

This one, about the closure of The Dandy comic after 75 years, was accepted by Private Eye last Thursday but they phoned today to say that regrettably they won't be using it in the new issue, which is out tomorrow, as two similar cartoons have since appeared in national newspapers.

Such situations do crop up from time to time and a daily publication is always going to have the advantage. All is not lost, however, as the Eye still pays a (smaller) fee in such circumstances and I can still give it an outing here on my blog.

I was a little unsure about doing a cartoon on this subject, as my son is a Dandy fan and I know people who work for it, but I aimed for poignancy rather than a cheap shot.

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Olympics cartoon: Step away from the TV

It's all over. And yes, like most cynics, I watched it and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. But now it's time to switch the telly off and get some fresh air.

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Private Eye cartoon: TV times

From the current Private Eye. I'm not much of a box-set junkie, though I could easily become one, given more time and money. This might be a good time to start, as there is little on the telly other than Olympics right now.

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Olympics cartoon: Flame on

"This is the 'Mother Flame' – three for a pound down the market."

This is a rejected Olympic Torch cartoon. Too cynical? Maybe, but cartoons don't really work when they celebrate something. Or they are not funny, at least. Cynicism is kind of the default position for cartoonists.

The Torch came down our way this week, just a couple of streets away, so I popped out to see it and posted a rubbish photo of it on Twitter.

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Private Eye cartoon: Tall order

"I can't see the point of it."

This cartoon appeared in Private Eye on Wednesday and the following day the point of this very large, empty skyscraper became clear: it's for the Duke of York to abseil down. Now that's a cartoon for another day.

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Cartoon advent calendar: Day 23. Making a list

Today's advent cartoon is another from the Christmas Private Eye.

I did one similar to this a few years ago, which didn't sell, where he had three lists: Nice, Naughty and Misunderstood. But it seemed right to rework it this year in the light of the riots across England, after which people were searching for reasons for young people going on the rampage.

"Alienated" and "disaffected" were words used by Tony Blair in a post-riots speech.

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