Newspaper cartoonists – an undervalued aid to surviving that commute?

I laughed out loud when I saw Peter Brookes’ cartoon in The Times yesterday morning – and that’s quite something at 07:30 on a packed Northern Line train.

In case you missed it, the cartoon was of Her Majesty The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh doing Riverdance, with The Duke saying “This might just be an atonement too far…”  With very few words, the cartoon illustrated the momentous nature of the visit whilst, in my opinion, in no way denigrating this historic occasion.

This made me realise that we don’t give enough thought to the ability of national newspapers’ cartoonists – all with very different styles to meet the needs of their audiences – to decide which news story can be brought to life day after day, against what may well be incredibly tight deadlines.  It also made me wonder if there are times when they have to draw another cartoon because a bigger story takes precedence at the last minute.

Cartoonists are valued by their newspaper editors but are they appreciated by us, the readers?  I do hope so because whilst some are serious others really will make you laugh out loud, even when crushed on the underground.