People Get The Politicians They Deserve A Survey Of The Black Arts

Are we ill-served by our current politicians?  This course of four lectures seeks to examine aspects of politics that may explain why we feel that our parliamentary representatives are regarded as untrustworthy and serially incompetent. Are they “just in it for themselves”? To what extent is it personality over substance?

Historically, Kings and dictators have been happy to utilise art to extend their power and destroy their enemies.

Politicians enter the democratic process professing altruism as a motive, but the ego gets ahead of the servant and produces the sleep of nightmares. Getting power is relatively easy but holding onto it is altogether a different matter. Policies fly out of the window and self-preservation negates political imperatives. The trick is to know when to leave the stage with the reputation intact.

Of all the political personalities perhaps the Populists are the most fascinating. They claim to be outsiders, promising to “drain the swamp” and care for the little people. The charisma of the personality carries their followers with unswerving faith to believe what is often the incredible and almost certainly the unattainable. In the pursuit of the radical remodelling of society they frequently feather their own nests and flatter their own egos.

And thus “conscience doth make cowards of us all”…..and the cartoonists throughout the ages have been our social, moral and political conscience, holding up a mirror to the failings of our politicians and speaking truth to power. The pen is indeed mightier than the sword and many a reputation has perished at the inky stroke of the graphic observer whose eye is keen and brain is sharp

Politics is indeed a slippery pole from where the only way is often down……….

16 November -The Weaponing of Art   1540 – 1640  -  Art in the name of politics

23 November -The Demise of Prime Minsters - A study of Hubris did they fall or were they pushed?

30 November - If it’s too good to be true then it’s probably Populism -  From Rome to Trump 

7 December - Getting the Low Down - a history of Political Cartoons