A great English tradition.

One essential aspect of my evening paper round when I was a kid was to check the daily JAK cartoon in The Evening Standard. Raymond Jackson (JAK) was their political cartoonist and from that paper round through my emigration many years later all I can remember is permanent labor discord in a nation soon to have its manufacturing base destroyed by its unelected representatives. So JAK was always a reassuring spot of sanity in a world gone mad.

His work covered all aspects of life but it was when he looked at the labor movement that he was at his best. You can see more of his work here.

When the electrical unions went on strike in mid-winter many old people died from hypothermia and JAK was there, in December 1970:

That one had the print unions refusing to run the day’s paper until an apology was published alongside. It was about then that I started having the first inklings that England was not to feature strongly in my future plans.

JAK was one in a long line of English political satirists which started with William Hogarth (1697-1764). Hogarth’s brand of social commentary was typified by Gin Lane (1750) where he graphically illustrated the depredations of alcohol on the poor. The woman on the steps is so soused she fails to notice the dog gnawing on her foot.

After Hogarth, David Low (1891-1963) became the mantle bearer for those with a heart. No more need be added to the fact that Low’s cartoons were banned in fascist Germany.

The contemporary descendant of these great satirists is the English graffiti artist Banksy. His carefully concocted schtick of secrecy and anonymity is in keeping with his art (“Once we catch you we’ll throw the key away”) and disguises one of the world’s highest earning artists. His image would never survive the money. Indeed, go to his web site and click on “Shop” and you are rewarded with …. a blank page!

What prompts these ruminations is that while the work of Banksy is in a line of direct descent from Hogarth, Low and JAK, his is the only genre that cannot survive without photography. You see, the people running The System are so threatened by Banksy’s work that no sooner than a new batch is spotted than it is painted over. So most of it survives only in photographs. You can see why from the following images.

There’s a very funny documentary on US Netflix titled Exit Through the Gift Shop which claims to show a competitor of Banksy’s vying for recognition; the whole thing is a spoof but so well done that you are fooled into thinking it’s a real piece of reporting. Right in keeping with Banksy’s man-against-the-system mindset. Check it out if this is your sort of thing. And keep a camera handy to record Banksy’s ephemera for posterity.