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LONDON DAILY · EDITORIAL ART

Caricature archive

The news in caricature, with the stories behind each illustration.

A satirical 3D caricature shows Rachel Reeves switching railway points towards the North and Midlands. A locomotive marked ‘PRIVATE CAPITAL’ pulls towards the new route, dragging an enormous iron weight labelled ‘BANK RATE 5%’. Transport and energy infrastructure stand in the distance.

New Points, Same Drag

The Chancellor can change the points. The cost of money is another matter.

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In a satirical public-service entrance hall, an NHS clinician welcomes a patient through a broad doorway propped open by a wedge marked ‘WEEKENDS’. Nearby, a suited official politely holds open a tiny door labelled ‘LEGAL AID’, through which an ordinary adult carrying legal papers cannot fit.

Open, in Principle

One door opens wider. The other is technically open.

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In a deliberately surreal caricature, John Swinney and two generic politicians work shoulder to shoulder, pushing an enormous green electrical plug towards a socket marked “SOUTH”. Its cable leads back towards Scottish coastal wind turbines. Swinney looks sideways at his unexpectedly helpful colleagues. The plug is not yet connected: political agreement has opened the possibility of transmission, rather than completed it.

A Useful Power Struggle

A power struggle in which the public might actually get the power.

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A weary shopper clicks a computer mouse shaped like a leather wallet, squeezed between the jaws of a vice marked ‘BANK RATE 5%’. A composed bank official holds the adjustment handle steady. On the monitor, three almost-level bars labelled ‘RETAIL SALES’ show a small increase.

Clicking Under Pressure

A modest click upwards. Still precious little room for manoeuvre.

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A sheepish government official struggles to assemble a giant green emissions-reduction arrow from flat-pack components. A stern judge points to the inadequate assembly instructions in a booklet labelled CARBON PLAN. Beside the unfinished arrow stands a carefully constructed offshore wind-farm model marked APPROVED: a specific project has progressed, but the wider plan still needs its workings.

Some Planning Required

A downward arrow is not an instruction manual.

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In a symbolic flooded Welsh field, a weary farmer is supported by a substantial orange lifebuoy labelled ‘WELSH AID’. From the dry bank, a government official presents a sheet headed ‘UK CARBON PLAN’: an unfinished technical drawing of a lifebuoy, marked ‘REVISE’ in red. The farmer gives the paper version a magnificently unimpressed look. Flattened crops and a waterlogged feed bale surround them.

Lifeline, Outline

Wales supplies a lifeline. Whitehall must show its workings.

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At a motorway charging bay, an electric car is plugged into a green-lit charger. Its suited government driver looks sheepishly at an enormous satnav labelled ‘CARBON PLAN’, displaying ‘RECALCULATING’ above a barely detailed route. A stern judicial figure points out the missing detail with a red pencil. The charging equipment works; the government’s directions need revision.

Range Anxiety

Ultra-rapid charging. The carbon plan is still recalculating.

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A Northern Ireland Executive representative shakes hands with a relieved healthcare worker beside a civil servant holding a multi-year pay agreement. Immediately behind them, an enormous personified household bill patiently extends an open palm for payment. The satire contrasts the resolution of industrial disputes with continuing inflation pressures.

The Next Handshake

The dispute is settled. The bills would like to be next.

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In a satirical obstacle course representing proposed settlement rules, Shabana Mahmood operates a crank that lowers one section of a towering red hurdle to five years for a care worker and their child. The adjoining section remains at ten years, confronting other lower-earning applicants.

An Adjustable Principle

The principle is firm. The bar is adjustable.

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At a rain-soaked container port, three generic government officials shelter beneath separate sections of an umbrella labelled “CHINA POLICY”. Their sections almost fit together, but leave a large opening directly above a drenched British business owner and her boxed goods.

Separate Cover

Every department has its own cover. British business gets the gaps.

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A Russian intelligence vessel is caricatured as an enormous pair of binoculars afloat in the North Sea. Its captain has stopped looking ahead and is glancing backwards at a Royal Navy frigate and monitoring helicopter. A British officer watches through an ordinary pair of binoculars: the watcher has become the attraction.

An Attentive Following

The intelligence-gathering vessel has picked up a rather attentive following.

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A meticulous official checks a spirit level marked ‘FISCAL RULES’ across Lady Justice’s perfectly balanced scales. Beneath her, a hollow, crumbling plinth labelled ‘LEGAL AID’ is giving way. Two ordinary litigants struggle to hold the statue upright while a child waits beside their case papers.

Balanced, but Unsupported

We’ll attend to the balance. Kindly support the justice yourselves.

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A City executive rotates sections of an elaborate puzzle-shaped model bank beside an open Budget rulebook. An ordinary saver attempts the same manoeuvre with a small, solid ceramic piggy bank, which stubbornly refuses to turn.

More Moving Parts

Some taxpayers are rather more adjustable than others.

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Two peers scrutinise plans for a full-sized entrance labelled “Votes”. Beside it, an ordinary woman carrying case papers faces an absurdly tiny doorway labelled “Legal Aid”. Both sit beneath the word “Representation”, contrasting attention to electoral safeguards with restricted access to legal representation.

A Narrow Definition

Representation of the people. Entrance requirements vary.

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A meticulous central-bank official hesitates at the wheel of an enormous press labelled ‘Bank rate’. Beneath its raised plate sit a tough walnut labelled ‘Services inflation’ and two fragile eggs labelled ‘Jobs’ and ‘Budget’. The eggs would meet the descending plate first.

Different Breaking Points

The nut may not be the first thing to crack.

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Rachel Reeves prepares to divide a red Budget-box cake between a weary nurse and an infrastructure engineer, measuring the remaining cake with a ruler marked ‘FISCAL RULES’. A slice already served on a plate marked ‘BORROWING COSTS’ dominates the foreground.

The Service Charge

Before we get to the services, there's the service charge.

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In an imagined NHS winter ward, newly arrived clinical staff gather behind a patient’s bed. A senior nurse measures an absurdly tiny doorway marked ‘DISCHARGE’, while an NHS administrator lowers a staffing plan and takes in the problem. The patient waits calmly: extra staff cannot, by themselves, widen the route out of hospital.

An Exit Strategy

The extra hands are welcome. Could we have a way out as well?

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In a satirical armourer’s fitting room, British and EU officials stand behind a proposed shared defence shield. Its broad upper section narrows absurdly at the waist, where Rachel Reeves pulls a measuring tape marked ‘FISCAL RULES’. The officials glance down at their exposed sides. A paper tag identifies the shield as a draft.

A Tighter Defence Partnership

Broader shoulders. Mind the fiscal corset.

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Two enormous executives labelled AI and CLOUD sit comfortably together on a cloud-shaped sofa supported by server cabinets. Their cosy partnership leaves a small technology entrepreneur perched on a sliver of cushion, holding a laptop sideways to fit. A CMA investigator carefully measures the remaining space. The satirical scene illustrates the concentration risks under examination, not a finding of wrongdoing.

A Very Close Partnership

Do make yourself smaller.

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A self-satisfied regulator cuts an approval ribbon across an athletics starting line on the Scottish coast. Behind it, an enormous wind turbine crouches like a sprinter, facing a distant finish marked 2030. An electric car and an architectural model of a data centre stand beside the course, representing growing electricity demand.

The Ribbon at the Starting Line

Splendid. Now for the 2030 bit.

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