Matt Buck's Hack Cartoons

If you are one of the people who kindly linked to me and my drawings over the past two and a bit years, I'd be very happy if you would update your links to my new site at http://hackcartoonsdiary.com. Reciprocal linkage will be supplied in return. Many thanks :-)

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

I hope an automatic redirect will take you to my new blog home, if not, please click here.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

When the official UK economic world is falling down around you, why not go down the pub and add to the national problem with alcohol? Click the picure or go to C4 News.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

After two and a bit years, it is time to finally move this bloggery-tinkery into the world of grown-up blog concerns. Please click the picture to take the trip.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

The government has launched a green paper on welfare reform targeted in part at removing incapacity payments from one million people. The devil with these sort of uncosted and 'bold' initiatives is always in the detail and how they might be administered to take account of individual circumstances. Often, this results in the employment of many new civil servants to administer all the new regulations and systems required. After a while the government discovers it needs to cut costs and these new civil servants return to the ranks of the not-technically-fully-employed. At this point we rediscover the initial problem is much as it was before.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Who can save the national economy? Click the picture for the animated political cartoon at Channel 4 News or, go here.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Coming on Friday...

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Drawn in the wake of the release of the first Guantanamo Bay prison camp interview video. You can see the images all over the web now, or go here, now.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

This is one in a long series of posts which tend to crop up at times during which political people are engaged in building their public profiles. I imagine the New Yorker will be just delighted with the semi-hysterical response their mgazine cover which features both Othe Obama's in mildly satirical poses, has got.

The would-be president, who likes to be compared to JFK - John Kennedy - won't be too unhappy either. Why? Because it allows him to define what he clearly isn't. And he is doing this early, well ahead of the John MCCain's Republican attack dogs of the fall.

Clip from Channel 4 News

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

No, no, I am Banksy!

You get the point, the identity of the artist formerly known as Banksy, described by one of my professional colleagues, as the great visual satirist of our generation has been outed by the Mail on Sunday (oh, the glamour.)

It turns out the elusive artist is called Robin and went to to a nice school. It’s a shame the paper couldn’t bring itself to talk about what Robin of Banksy draws because the message is really more important than the medium - or the artist.

I'd like to encourage everyone reading this to claim to be Banksy too and then, perhaps, we can confuse the Mail on Sunday and help the artist retain his desired wealthy anonymity. The clever so-and-so.


Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Click the picture, or here, for the animated political cartoon for Channel 4 News on the start of the official recession.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

After two and a bit years, it is time to move this bloggery-tinkery into
the world of grown-up blog concerns.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Coming soon...

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

The G8 summit in Hoikkaido, Japan, during July 2008. This is a cross-posting with Tribune.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Sketchbook drawing of President Nicholas Sarkozy of France and Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the G8 summit in Japan in July 2008. The finished drawing is coming soon.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Robert Mugabe was lambasted (no, really) by Foreign Secretary David Miliband yesterday. Miliband was on an official visit to South Africa. The reporting of the visit was interesting, focusing as it did, on a headline 2,000 Zimbabweans sheltering in a church in central Johannesburg. It was as if this was the entire migration problem in South Africa, the 2 million, or more, Zimbabweans scattered across northern South Africa in the past five years appear to have been overlooked. However, the recent riots confirm they are still there. (In this report, foreigners mainly means Zimbabweans.)
Click the image, or here, for the animated political cartoon

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Coming here at Channel 4 News sometime before Robert Mugabe leaves office.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Cartoon about the stand Conservative MP David Davis is taking on resigning his seat in the house of commons and refighting a by-election at Haltemprice and Howden. This cartoon made for campaign group No2ID.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Retail price inflation arrives at the Bank of England, for the immediate attention of the governor, Mervyn King. Click the picture or go to Channel 4 news.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

The price of oil cartoon from Hack Cartoons.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Want to give a nod to the series of pen portraits by Simon Kuper on the politics of footballers which has been running on Channel 4 here. The last one has just been published. It is about Lilian Thuram, captain of France. There are ten others to enjoy too.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Click to enlarge the image.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Channel 4 News is running a season on being poor in England. Click the picture for the animated cartoon, or click here.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

The Shadow Home Secretary and Conservative MP, David Davis, has resigned from his seat in the House of Commons. He says he has done this to highlight attacks on the personal liberties of the British people by government legislation. To me, it appears many of his public concerns lie in and around information technology, its commercial and governmental uses and misuses. This is a subject about which parliament is notoriously badly informed. Privately, his reasons may well also be connected to internal strains in the Conservative party.
Having said this, I think it is interesting and laudable that any politician would choose to make a statement and take an action like this on an issue which is so difficult to explain clearly and well. You might also wonder how much of an influence the idea of the man-in-the-white-suit and Hamilton sleaze-buster of years gone by, Martin Bell, has also been on Mr Davis' chosen tactics.


Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Coming soon...

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

The Prime Minister's public willy-waving and incautious use of language (unprecedented threat*) is busy doing some of the terrorists work for them. Parliament is, clearly, in a right panic about a measure which many people* seem to think is currently unnecessary. Thus, we all move onwards towards hysteria junction again, via more unnecessary legislation.

* from rhetorically speaking. Ther is a very similar list at C4 News here too.

UPDATE: Government wins by 9 votes. Thanks to the Democratic Unionist party. Oh well, it will have to be thrown out by the Lords instead.


Matt Buck’s animated drawings

The government certainly seems to be putting up plenty of chaff to try and keep attention away from the detention without trial debate on Wednesday. Briefly, listing two eye-catching initiatives, you might notice the threats to close schools in poor parts of the country and the imminent departure of our troops from southern Iraq again. Clearly, these are happy days in the news management department.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Channel 4 News animated political cartoon on the end of Hillary Clinton and the beginning of Barack Obama. Click the picture to see the animation or press this

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Hillary Clinton has declared herself open to an offer for a vice-presidential running mate slot from her professional rival, Barack Obama. At the time this animation was made in January of this year, I thought she'd struggle to win against either Obama or Edwards and she has. Why, is more difficult to say. There are obvious and negative comparisons to be made between her skill at rhetoric and Obama’s and these do seem to have hurt her chances. However, I think there will be more than a few Americans who will feel, or come to, that a chance to advance one of America's less obviously oppressed groups, has also been missed. There is some thought on this theory from Frances Rosenbluth on the Politic blog from Yale University, which is well worth a read.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Cartoonist Dave Brown, of the Independent, is very good today (June 3rd 2008).

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Green politics and policies are at the whim of strange human forces, such as a lack of willpower and economic chance.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

The rising price of crude oil is connected to a lack of global refinery capacity, changing demand and good old traditional geopolitics. Why would a group of countries want to make their major economic asset cheaper, just to us please our domestic users?
Click the picture, or go straight to Channel 4 from here, for the animated cartoon.
Matt Buck’s animated drawings

There is an exhibition of work by Gustav Klimt opening in Liverpool.There's a little picture preview here from Channel 4 News.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Not all construction in the UK has halted in the difficult time/slowdown/crisis/recession (delete as appropriate.)

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

A predictably ugly result for Gordon Brown in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election. How he must enjoy being top man in the presidential style of politics which has been fashionable since late era Mrs Thatcher. (Apologies for the repost but it seems about where things are.)

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

A former Conservative MP, Quentin Davies, who defected to the Labour party last year has recommended Britain have a day of celebration for its armed forces. Click the picture for the cartoon or click here for Channel 4 News.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

The ancient battle of euphemisms about abortion was refought last night and sometimes one can only be grateful for parliamentarians who endured the rhetoric. The time limit for abortions remains unchanged as a result and the service survives. There is coverage available all over the media but two personal hat-tips, one to Evan Harris, MP for Abingdon and Oxford West and another to Tim' Bloggerheads' Ireland who is doing a thorough fisking of some of the more religiously inspired antis.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

A short video on a technology for looking at digital images. It's impressive stuff.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Political book serialisations and bitching bring this ancient caricature of Cherie Blair out of the drawing vaults.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

A Hack cartoons drawing from the archives about how to make cartoons.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Click the picture for animated political cartoon on the reclassification of cannabis for Channel 4 News, or go here.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Hack cartoons caricature of Mayor of London Boris Johnson.
Well, he made it. Taking the liberty of speaking for my professional colleagues, I think I can say, we are all delighted - a walking caricature does make life easier to draw.
UPDATE:
There’s a fascinating little piece of first-hand knowledge about Boris and one of his contemporaries here, courtesy of Adrian Monck.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Reaction to the scale of the Labour election disaster here from Septicisle, Schrodinger's Pig has a fine open letter to the government outlining more than a few home truths. Jonathan Calder offers a reasoned assessment of Nick Clegg's debut in political society, and then there is also excellent and sustained live coverage from Iain Dale, who must have drunk a lot of caffeine to keep reporting the way he has. Mind you, he has something to celebrate doesn't he? And it must have felt like a long wait.
UPDATED:
And Matthew Parris, as ever, puts it well.


Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Short animated Hack cartoons clip for Tribune newspaper, which to its credit has been predicting this Labour wipeout for some time.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Mick Fealty who writes Brassneck has an elegant summation here too.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

There has been a lot of news about abusive relationships this week. This Hack cartoons animation is now available at Channel 4 News.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

When bread gets expensive, any leader will find themselves in a fight.

Hack cartoons

Regrettably, my Hack cartoons Northern Rocky animated political cartoon for Channel 4 has run into some legal issues. Click the picture to see more.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Here is a clip of writer Barry Cryer talking about the late Humphrey Littleton. If you hadn't noticed previously, Mr Littleton was a cartoonist among his many other talents. He also used to work and play in a band with Wally Fawkes (Trog) who, to those in the know, is one of the country's finest artists since the last world war. Clip from Channel 4.


Matt Buck’s animated drawings

I heard the phrase 'summer of discontent' on the radio this morning...

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) logo has made it to the pages of the Daily Telegraph. So far, so what? I admired the spinning skills of the unnamed spokesperson who sought to justify the unfortunate cock up.

A spokesman for OGC said: “It is true that it caused a few titters among some staff when viewed on its side, but on consideration we concluded that the effect was generic to the particular combination of the letters OGC - and it is not inappropriate to an organisation that’s looking to have a firm grip on Government spend.”

There's talent in there somewhere. And a hat-tip to Mark Crail.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Click the picture for the Playing with money animated political cartoon or, just go straight to Channel 4 News.
UPDATED: There is a thorough Channel 4 Factcheck on the ins and outs of the debate here and what Mr Brown may, or may not, have done and then claimed.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Marvellous stuff from the Office of Government Commerce (via the observant Bloggerheads.) The original stuff comes from The Register; read the full gory story of design gone bad here.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Hack Cartoons sketchbook caricature of the Senator from Illinois and candidate for the Democratic party nomination as President of the USA, Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.
UPDATE: He's also finding it is hard work being a front runner in any contest.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

In this picture, I am precisely three-quarters of the way through the large drawing about drawing at the Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival. I should stress at this point, no hat was used in the manufacture of this cartoon (see blogs previous), but several pairs of Y fronts did make an unwilling debut.)

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

In this photograph I am precisely halfway through a large drawing about drawing at the Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Hack cartoons is performing in public this weekend at the Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is on a visit to America. Click the picture to watch an animated political cartoon about this, or go here to Channel 4 News.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings

Hack cartoons cartoon caricature of UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the occasion of his visit to the United States.

Matt Buck’s animated drawings