Pen is mightier than sword for the satirical spokesman

摘要

'Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit', they say, and libel will not be tolerated, but satire has its own particular set of rules. Cartoonists are paid to stick thorns into the flesh of the establishment and win plaudits when they do it well. However, as Louis Hellman revealed in his talk, 'All Hellman Let Loose', at the Bartlett on 15 May, celebrating 40 years of cartooning, they do not go uncensored. Indeed, he has had 'continuous trouble with censorship' since starting his weekly cartoons for the AJ in the 1970s, especially when advertisers have been on the receiving end of his humour. That, it seems, is beyond the pale as far as the publishers of commercial magazines are concerned.