Matt Buck’s Hack Cartoons Diary

© Matthew Buck HackCartoons

A long running embarrassment to Liberal Democratic party has flared up again following publication of a report into allegations of sexual harrassment made against the  former Chief Executive of the party, Chris Rennard.

Despite the ‘broadly credible’ allegations of sexual harassment recorded in the report  which were made by several female would-be Lib Dem parliamentary candidates, party leader and deputy prime Minister Nick Clegg seems unable or unwilling to do anything.

If there’s much more of this, the story might start feeling like the broken promise on student tuition fees from the start of this coalition parliament.

As this pithy television interview makes clear, perhaps Clegg needs to ‘man up’ a bit. Mind, after you’ve read this, you’ll understand why politics is always a filthy business.

Updated: 21st August 2014. The suspension of Lord Rennard from the party has been lifted although the issues, the specific incidents and their legacy will linger.

There has been a lot of valid criticism of the very hight bar of criminal proof applied to the internal party investigations conducted by Alastair Webster QC.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, most of the ‘broadly credible’ victims have left a life in politics, leading, I speculate, many more bright, articulate and potentially useful people with them.

Screenshot of Bridget Harris speaking about the Rennard issue.

There is a good round up by James Kirkup of The Telegraph here if you would like to take a larger view of this long running mess.

© Matthew Buck Hack Cartoons for The Independent

Here comes 2014 according to Martin Wolf in The Financial Times. The article is worth registering for at the website of the news organisation.

© Matthew Buck Hack Cartoons for Hampshire Chronicle.co.uk

The new bridge for Winchester railway station is due to open. This is a cartoon that did not make the print edition.

Commuter report from @mpntod

© Matthew Buck Hack Cartoons for tribunecartoons.com

Celebrity Russell Brand made an ear-catching contribution to the national conversation during the autumn when he urged young people not to vote because the political system no longer represented their interests. You can read his words here.

Apathy is a rational reaction to a system that no longer represents, hears or addresses the vast majority of people. 

He might be right about that but if young people don’t vote, the one certainty is that the OAPs votes will rule. Hence, the cartoon.

Tobias Grubbe in the storm © Matthew Buck at Hack Cartoons

A new story at this place.

The annual ritual of  undisclosed conversations from thirty years ago is underway. To someone of my generation, this recalls the miner’s strike and notions of the so-called ‘enemy within’. The link to a report by Alan Travis, Home Editor at the Guardian. The coverage at the FT also makes a generous offer to any other with specific interest in the period. Paul Mason and crew deliver an audio-visual report here on Channel 4 News.

The cartoon draws a parallel with our own contemporary militant tendency.

© Matthew Buck Hack Cartoons

I have just finished an excellent six-week course in web science run by the University of Southampton.

The course gave a terrific overview of some major themes about the online utility that has changed much of my personal and professional life during the past 15 years.

I understand the course will be running again from February 10th this year and I would recommend it to anyone who can find a couple of hours a week in which to learn.