“The society which has abolished every kind of adventure makes its own abolition the only possible adventure.” Paris, May 1968


Thursday 26 May 2011

Bell Epoque


Surely the two best things about The Guardian, some would say the only things worth bothering with, are the resident cartoonists Martin Rowson and Steve Bell. I have been a fan of Steve Bell since the early days of if... and before that his work for Time Out and The Leveller. His mad eyed Thatcher, equally mad eyed Blair and the hapless Major with his underpants over his trousers all went some way to raising a smile during the grimmest of political times. I was lucky enough to be able to attend the preview of the new Steve Bell exhibition at the Cartoon Museum last night and it really is well worth a visit. In real life Bell is a good natured Falstaffian figure, but once he grips a pencil he gives no quarter and no member of the ruling class can expect to be treated as anything other than totally risible. It was a packed house last night but not a politician to be seen - I wonder why?

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