Most of the editorial cartoons in today's UK national dailies deal with David Cameron's long-awaited speech on Britain's relationship with Europe (see previous post), in which he promised an 'in/out referendum' on EU membership if he is re-elected in 2015. This one, by Dave Brown from The Independent, shows Cameron just before his speech taking a wrong turn, leaving through the exit and ending up in a back alley. The door slams behind him, and there is 'no readmittance'. However, Cameron does have an audience—UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, who is portrayed as a toad (he has been compared to a real life Mr. Toad of Toad Hall), and a savage-looking bulldog wearing a Union Jack coat and foaming at the mouth (representing the Eurosceptics?)
COMMENTARY
The cartoon is a metaphor for the situation Cameron finds himself in. By agreeing to a referendum on EU membership, Cameron is seeking to placate the Eurosceptic wing of his party and head off the threat from UKIP. But if Britain leaves the EU, there will be no way back in (the EXIT is Britain's exit from Europe, already being referred to as Brexit). The cartoonist clearly thinks that Cameron's strategy is risky and misguided since Britain could be left out in the cold, i.e., excluded or ignored (the snow is a reference to the current UK weather).
VOCABULARY
1. If you take a wrong turn, you follow a road or path which you did not intend to follow. This expression can be used in a literal or figurative sense. • I think we must have taken a wrong turn after the traffic lights. • The main idea of this book is about teenage girl who takes a wrong turn in her life.
2. If you slam a door or window, or if it slams, it shuts noisily and with great force. • She slammed the door and locked it behind her.
MORE CARTOONS
• Steve Bell (The Guardian)
• Adams (The Telegraph)
• Peter Brookes (The Times)
• Mac (The Daily Mail)
• Paul Thomas (Daily Express)
• Andy Davey (The Sun)
