Bring Back The Birch

Drawing © Andrew Birch. @marshallcartoon writes: Our esteemed membership secretary Andrew Birch has been exiled from Twitter after complaints from Tory Chair Greg Hands. Hands had posted a photo opportunity of himself eating a fish and chip supper. Andrew had replied that he ”hoped his supper didn’t go down well (or words to that effect, […]
The PCO Cartoon Review of the Year 2022

Another year, another cartoon review featuring work from PCO members. As the world moves on from one disaster to another what more can you ask for than an emergency cartoon service attempting to defibrillate you at the start of the new year! Cartoon © Dean Patterson deAn set the tone for the year with this […]
The Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival comes to an end

Big Boards in the town square 2006. Photo © Roger Penwill. Roger Penwill writes: The old maxim that all good things come to an end has become true for the Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival. The sad and untimely loss of two key organisers just prior to the pandemic, Covid putting it’s oar in to disrupt planning […]
Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival Exhibitions 2022

Roger Penwill reports from Shropshire’s medieval county town: For its 19th year the Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival is represented by a collection of three exhibitions. At the Bear Steps Gallery, the festival’s spiritual home since the inaugural festival in 2004, are the Festival themed exhibition “Look and Learn” and an exhibition of work by the popular cartoonist Noel […]
The PCO Cartoon Review of the Year 2021

Cartoon by © Brian Adcock To quote the great Benny Andersson ‘Mamma mia, here we go again’ with another PCO members ‘Cartoon Review of The Year’. For the most part it’s been another %¢º€@$ one (Google Translate it) but once more cartoonists injected some humour into it….apart from the odd cartoonist injecting humour refusenik. The […]
Patron saint

Glory be! The PCO is delighted to announce that Marc Riley is to join our esteemed list of sainted patrons (Sandi Toksvig, Terry Gilliam, Libby Purves, Andrew Marr, Martin Wainwright) Marc is a Radio DJ, music critic and musician. For 14 years he worked (AKA as Lard) with Mark Radcliffe on BBC Radio 1. He […]
Can cartoons be both funny – and diverse?

Cartoon © Nick Newman By Nick Newman and courtesy of The Spectator. Of the many challenges cartoonists face — rejection, money, drink, or lack of — one of the trickiest is the growing pressure to depict diversity. Nowadays readers often write to publications complaining about the dearth of ethnic minorities in our drawings and demand […]
#threefingers for Myanmar campaign

The Surreal McCoy writes: In collaboration with artists and creatives in Myanmar (formerly Burma), PCO are running #threefingers a social campaign in support of local cartoonists and artists, and in recognition of the deteriorating situation there. A landslide election for the National League for Democracy party was overthrown by a brutal military coup on February […]
Draw The Coronavirus – The eBook!

The ‘Great’ Glenn Marshall (WINNER of Draw The Coronavirus competition) writes: Many cartoonists, illustrators, artists and fly-by-nights have been taking refuge from the cruel world by joining in Martin Rowson’s regular cartoon challenges. He sets a subject and we all vent spleen (most of us were in lock down and online twiddling our thumbs-up emojis anyway so […]