Last week's
Westmorland Gazette had a number of exciting stories to tempt a front page cartoonist.
A pair of capuchin monkeys had escaped from a local zoo.
A frustrated householder had painted her wheelie bin to prevent it being stolen (she said she had "pimped my bin").
And UKIP have announced their
parliamentary candidate destined to lose his deposit in the General Election next May. As those chaps at
The Apathy Party tweeted, "Cumbria has long been renowned for its wide variety of food. Now it's got fruitcake too."
Below are the ideas I pitched to my steamed editor. As upstanding journals like the Gazette have to remain firmly neutral (it was founded by a Tory), their front page cartoonist isn't allowed to poke fun at major political parties. Not even wacky, amusing chaps like UKIP with their jocular, off-the-wall views on
foreigners, Einstein's
theory of relativity and
climate change.
However, all was not lost. The drawing for idea number five combined with an idea about the bin to become the final cartoon. You can see it below. Feel free to vote for the one
you would have chosen by adding wise words to the comments.