This cartoon was drawn the day that the Guardian introduced its new guidelines for the "Opinion cartoon". , whereby the cartoonists working in that slot are required to submit all ideas, and potentially controversial jokes, to the editorial committee by 10:30am. Finished cartoons were to be delivered by 4pm, or at the very latest 4:30pm (the deadline had hitherto been around 5pm). Anything delivered later than this would be replaced by a cartoon by another artist. These guidelines were imposed, entirely without discussion or consultation, in blatant contradiction of the way I had always worked, and been trusted to work.
As it turned out I got it in at around 4:50pm, ten minutes before my usual deadline, only to be informed that, because I had missed the 4:30pm deadline, the cartoon would not be published. This is the first and only time that I have had a cartoon spiked for disciplinary reasons.