mackaycartoons

Graeme MacKay's Editorial Cartoon Archive

  • Who?
  • Archives
  • Sharing
  • Boutique
  • Kings & Queens
  • Prime Ministers
  • Presidents
  • Special Features
  • Young Doug Ford

zoo

Saturday January 7, 2023

January 7, 2023 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 7, 2023

The enduring anguish of being the royal ‘spare

September 30, 2022

“Wonderful. Now you’ve given me an heir and a spare, my work is done.” That was the conversation that Prince Harry claims marked the day of his own birth, with the then Prince Charles joking to the Princess of Wales about the arrival of their second son.

The story is told in Harry’s memoir, called Spare, and he says the term was often used to describe him, within his own family.

“They would say it without a spirit of judgement, but straight out. I was the shadow, the supporting actor, the plan B,” he writes, in a translation of the book’s Spanish edition.

“I was brought into this world in case something happened to Willy,” he writes, using the nicknames that saw Prince William as “Willy” and Prince Harry as “Harold”.

The saying “an heir and a spare” refers to aristocratic families needing an heir to inherit a title or an estate, and the “spare” as the younger sibling who could be the replacement if anything happened to the heir before he or she has their own children.

It clearly annoyed Prince Harry enough to use it as a title for his book, and it taps into the longstanding difficulty of this uncertain royal understudy role, where there’s wealth and privilege but no obvious sense of purpose.

March 9, 2021

“It’s a non-position,” says royal expert Professor Pauline Maclaran, from the Centre for the Study of Modern Monarchy, Royal Holloway, University of London.

“There’s no clear role apart from shaking hands and being pleasant to people,” says Prof Maclaran.

A life of pointless luxury might have its decadent charms, but it also carries a heavy risk of unfulfillment and lack of direction.

So much so that Prof Maclaran says that a modern, slimmed-down monarchy should either find better defined roles for such individuals, or else release them from any royal expectations, once they’ve slipped down the pecking order of succession.

Royal historian Ed Owens says Sweden and Denmark are examples of where such an approach has been taken, “downsizing” the royal families, so that individuals who might have been marginal “spares” can have their own private lives “unfettered by royal responsibilities”.

Mr Owens says that Princess Margaret, younger sister to the late Queen Elizabeth II, is an example of the pressures put upon such siblings, in a way that remains relevant to the problems raised by Prince Harry.

January 15, 2022

Prince Andrew is another whose attempts at finding a role have not exactly ended well. Even before the scandal involving sex assault claims, which he denied, he had gained the nickname of Air Miles Andy for his many overseas trips.

But there have been positive outcomes. George VI, a shy and initially reluctant monarch, had been Edward VIII’s younger sibling but stepped up to the plate as King after his childless brother abdicated, and proved to be a leader in wartime.

Letter to the Editor, The Hamilton Spectator

His father, George V, had been another second son who came to the throne. His older brother had died at the age of 28 in an outbreak of flu in 1892.

There are also historical templates for the younger royal being cast in a negative light, accused of dissolute and disreputable behaviour or as a rival threatening to undermine the authority of the elder.

Think of Bad King John versus Good King Richard, in the 12th Century power struggle between brothers, that was depicted in a 1970s Disney movie. (BBC News) 

From sketch to finish, see the current way Graeme completes an editorial cartoon using an iPencil, the Procreate app, and a couple of cheats on an iPad Pro …

https://mackaycartoons.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2023-0107-NATshort.mp4

 

Posted in: International Tagged: 2023-01, Feedback, Great Britain, history, International, letter, Monarchy, Prince Andrew, Prince Harry, Princess Margaret, procreate, royalty, spare, succession, United Kingdom, zoo

Tuesday November 10, 2020

November 17, 2020 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 10, 2020

Trump’s narcissism has become the GOP’s Achilles’ heel

October 10, 2020

President Trump, days after losing the presidency by millions of votes and by a significant margin in the electoral college, still cannot admit he lost. There are a number of possible explanations for this. He may be such a raging narcissist that he simply cannot recognize failure and rejection. He may see the legal attacks as a money-raising venture (solicitations for the lawsuits in fine print reveal he can use the money to pay off campaign debt). He may see this as a financial strategy as he returns to the business world (no one wants to stay at Loser Trump’s hotels, but Martyr Trump has some brand appeal). As a political strategy, rejecting the election results keeps deluded supporters in a frenzy over a “stolen” election that was not stolen at all. (Have we found any shred of evidence of fraud or error that would change thousands of votes? Of course not.)

January 8, 2020

In any case, a range of conservatives — from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to talk-radio hosts to evangelical Christian patsies for Trump to potential 2024 Republican candidates — evidently think there is value in keeping up the pretense, which they know to be insane and anti-democratic. McConnell probably thinks it will juice up Georgia voters for the Senate runoff elections and stoke fundraising. The talk-radio jockeys and the rest of the unhinged right-wing media need new outrages to feed viewership. Trump-friendly evangelical Christian leaders have been selling white grievance for decades and likely see this as the latest reason to instill in their followers a sense of injustice, loss and anger. (It will also be fodder for arguments to intensify voter suppression based on the myth of rampant voter fraud.) And the 2024 contenders want to be seen as the heirs to the MAGA crowd, so they imitate Trump’s delusional refusal to accept the results.

June 4, 2019

The interesting question is not whether these people are behaving undemocratically, dishonestly and immorally; we know that to be the case. What we should be asking is why they are playing along with Trump. After losing a presidential election based almost entirely on conspiracies and white grievance, they seem determined to do it all over again.

January 11, 2016

The interesting question is not whether these people are behaving undemocratically, dishonestly and immorally; we know that to be the case. What we should be asking is why they are playing along with Trump. After losing a presidential election based almost entirely on conspiracies and white grievance, they seem determined to do it all over again. (Continued: Washington Post) 


Depicting Trump as an animal was going too far – Tuesday, Nov. 10, editorial cartoon

Letter to the Editor, The Hamilton Spectator, November 17, 2020

This editorial cartoon went too far and was unbecoming of a Canadian newspaper. I agree that American President Donald Trump has lost the respect of other world leaders, and that the entire world is watching his childish and unethical behaviour with disgust. He is racist, sexist and xenophobic. He fans the flames of unrest and inequity in his country. He is attempting to dismantle the very democracy that is the basis of American citizenship. However, he is not an animal; he is a very flawed and dangerous human with too much power. It is beneath The Hamilton Spectator or any respected Canadian newspaper to engage in the same kind of dehumanizing humour that has marred Trump’s presidency.

Laura Wolfson, Dundas


Cartoons are not a popularity contest – Tuesday, Nov. 10 editorial cartoon

Letter to the Editor, The Hamilton Spectator, November 24, 2020

I see that some readers are upset by Graeme MacKay’s Nov. 10 cartoon showing Trump (and a couple of other Republican leaders) as orangutans. I’m not sure why that’s necessarily worse than portraying him as a spoiled, squalling baby (which has been done a lot by other cartoonists too). In any case, for comparison it’s worth looking back in history to the work by Thomas Nast in the late 1800s. He is the father of all modern political cartooning and to say the least, he didn’t hold back.

He drew political leaders of the day as overstuffed vultures, bumbling rhinos, two-headed tigers, donkeys and much else. By today’s standards a lot of his work would probably be called vicious.

I take it that the whole point of political cartooning is simply to disrupt and challenge as cleverly as possible. It’s not a popularity contest.

In the end, a mark of just how bad Trump has been is to see how scathing the cartoons have become. Nast would have had a field day with him. This outgoing U.S. president has richly earned the judgment of history that he is now going to get.

William Harris, Hamilton

Posted in: USA Tagged: 2020-38, ape, Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., election, Eric Trump, exhibit, Feedback, monkey, narcissism, orangutan, USA, zoo

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

March 26, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

Tuesday, March 26, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Er Shun and Da Mao arrive in Toronto for start of 10-year stay in Canada

Prime Minister Stephen Harper greeted a pair of giant pandas at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport today, marking the start of their much-anticipated 10-year stay in Canada.

Er Shun, a five-year-old female and Da Mao, a four-year-old male, arrived in Toronto from China aboard a FedEx flight that landed Monday morning.

For the next five years, the pandas will be at the Toronto Zoo, where it is hoped that Er Shun and Da Mao will be able to reproduce. They will spend the final half of their Canadian visit in Calgary.

2011-2015

2011-2015

The Toronto Zoo has not hosted giant pandas in almost three decades, the only prior occasion taking place over a few months in 1985.

Police helped control traffic as the furry visitors made their way to the zoo. And when the small convoy of four vehicles rolled into the zoo with Er Shun and Da Mao, staff and volunteers cheered their arrival.

The CBC’s Aaron Saltzman reported that Er Shun and Da Mao will undergo a 30-day quarantine and will then spend a few weeks out of the public eye before their exhibit opens.

Saltzman said the zoo has high hopes for the panda exhibit, which is expected to formally open in May.

“Zoo officials are telling us that they expect the pandas to bring in an additional 300,000 to 500,000 visitors,” Saltzman reported. (Source: CBC News)

Posted in: Canada Tagged: Canada, China, Editorial Cartoon, panda, panda diplomacy, Stephen Harper, Toronto, zoo

Click on dates to expand

Please note…

This website contains satirical commentaries of current events going back several decades. Some readers may not share this sense of humour nor the opinions expressed by the artist. To understand editorial cartoons it is important to understand their effectiveness as a counterweight to power. It is presumed readers approach satire with a broad minded foundation and healthy knowledge of objective facts of the subjects depicted.

  • The Hamilton Spectator
  • The Toronto Star
  • The Globe & Mail
  • The National Post

Social Media Connections

Link to our Facebook Page
Link to our Flickr Page
Link to our Pinterest Page
Link to our Twitter Page
Link to our Website Page
  • HOME
  • Sharing
  • The Boutique
  • The Hamilton Spectator
  • Artizans Syndicate
  • Association of Canadian Cartoonists
  • Wes Tyrell
  • Martin Rowson
  • Guy Bado’s Blog
  • You Might be From Hamilton if…
  • MacKay’s Most Viral Cartoon
  • Intellectual Property Thief Donkeys
  • National Newswatch
  • Young Doug Ford

Your one-stop-MacKay-shop…

T-shirts, hoodies, clocks, duvet covers, mugs, stickers, notebooks, smart phone cases and scarfs

2023 Coronation Design

Brand New Designs!

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets
Follow Graeme's board My Own Cartoon Favourites on Pinterest.

MacKay’s Virtual Gallery

Archives

Copyright © 2016 mackaycartoons.net

Powered by Wordpess and Alpha.

 

Loading Comments...