Muckraking

I’ve been drawing more Gillray-style political cartoons about the campaign to protect Old Oswestry Hillfort from the ravages of development. This – the most recent – was inspired by a truly grotesque spectacle at a Shropshire council meeting. At this meeting, local and community groups were given a brief opportunity to address the council about local issues of concern, such as railings along canal footpaths, preservation of leisure centres, or protests against planning decisions – like the houses around the hillfort.

But the “petitioners” were rudely and humiliatingly shouted down by the councillors with cries of “No!” and “No time!” when they dared talk past their allotted few minutes, and were then bullied and verbally hounded off the platform. It was a shameful and cretinous spectacle that made a mockery of the phrase “local democracy”. I’m sorry to say, I suspect scene in that chamber – with its reek of rotten boroughs and smug cronyism – would have been all too familiar to Gillray.

Anyway, that’s what inspired the cartoon. I hope Gillray would have approved.