Wootton Bassett Cartoon Sparks Outrage

A cartoon mocking Wootton Bassett's tributes to dead soldiers has been condemned by senior Conservative and Labour politicians.

After the Queen honoured the town by renaming it Royal Wootton Bassett, the Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell wrote in a cartoon: "Welcome to Royal Wootton Deathfest."

His cartoon also said the town is "not twinned with Fallujah", a reference to the Iraqi town where US forces were accused of killing civilians.

The town's residents have been widely praised for their silent roadside vigils as the bodies of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq return home.

Defence Secretary Liam Fox told the Sun: "It's tasteless and offensive. It shows a total lack of respect for our fallen.

"It's cowardly and bad taste which stands in stark contrast to the pride of the people of Royal Wootton Bassett."

A spokesman for Labour leader Ed Miliband told the paper: "There is no doubt that to the vast majority of people in country, Wootton Bassett deserves its Royal designation.

"It should be a matter for some pride and should not be denigrated in this way."

Many Guardian readers praised Bell's cartoon on the paper's website.

Several said it was "spot on", while one - using the name "Rather be red" - declared: "Our soldiers are not heroes because there is nothing heroic about this war."

The Guardian faced some complaints, however. One reader said it was "intensely disrespectful" and another said it was "offensive and moronic".

A third reader asked: "Why does Steve Bell hate Britain so much?"

Does anyone actually find Steve Bell funny?

It's an idiotic and offensive comic (not his first IIRC) but we can't curtail freedom of speech - it's a slippery slope.

Can't say I'm exactly fuming with rage. But of course this image does deserve criticism due to it's obvious attack on tory policies and therefore Britishness. It is after all everyones' patriotic duty to support David Cameron as after all he said so.



I do. I've quite enjoyed his recent Hague 'mojo' series.

Well done for missing why people are outraged by this.

Tool.

Reading a thread like this makes me a bit concerned about the apparant lack of critical thought that has gone into your responses. You say it is offensive, unpatriotic etc though you're completely missing the point of the cartoon, which is not to criticise the ceremonies at Wootton Bassett.

Steve Bell is articulating the irony of government powers which wish to promote life whilst simultaneously destroying it in pursuit of a 'greater good' that we'll never achieve. It's exposing political power today for what it is: hypocritical and contradictory.

If any of you have ever read any Giorgio Agamben, you might understand the many levels of this cartoon.

Check post dates.