The big story in cartooning this week unfolded in the US, as a large number of editorial cartoonists took issue with The New York Times for soliciting cartoons on-spec (see No!Spec for useful background on this issue).

Aardman Animations, the studio behind Wallace and Gromit, has denied it is unhappy with comparisons between their hapless inventor character and Labour leader Ed Miliband in cartoons by Times cartoonist Peter Brookes. Responding to press reports that had claimed it was concerned about damage to its brand, Aardman said the cartoons are ‘great fun’. A piece in The Telegraph goes further, suggesting that Miliband should be flattered by the comparison.

When singer-songwriter Ryan Adams banned photography from his latest tour, the St. Louis Riverfront Times sent an illustrator along instead.

In Morocco, an 18-year-old has appeared in court after posting caricatures of King Mohammed VI on Facebook.

Royal Mail has unveiled a new set of Roald Dahl stamps, with illustrations by Quentin Blake.

And there’s more on the Cartoon Museum‘s alternative Jubilee show, Her Maj, as curator Anita O’Brien guides Culture24 though the exhibition.