THE CONTEXT
Work and Pensions secretary Ian Duncan Smith has called for better-off pensioners to hand back benefits they don't need, such as winter fuel allowance and free bus passes. He said it was an "anomaly" that all pensioners receive universal benefits, no matter how wealthy they are. Read more >>
THE CARTOON
The cartoon by Dave Brown from The Independent portrays Duncan Smith as a crazed bus driver swerving off the road and mounting the pavement in order to knock down a horrified pensioner waiting at the bus stop. The OAP is holding a free bus pass and using a walking frame. The cartoon is a clear metaphor for Duncan Smith's attack on pensioners' benefits. There are some nice touches such as the number of the bus 666 (the biblical number of the beast), the desination Purley Gates (a play on Pearly Gates, an informal name for the gateway to heaven), and the bus route: Benefits Halt, Sickroom, Elder's End.
VOCABULARY
This type of bus with two levels is known as a double-decker.
NOTE
The red double-decker buses in London have become a national symbol of England and British Isles. A particularly iconic example was the Routemaster bus (shown in the cartoon), which had been a staple of the public transport network in London for nearly half a century following its introduction in 1956. Because of cited difficulties accommodating disabled passengers, the last remaining examples in use finally retired in 2005, although two heritage routes retain Routemaster operation in central London. [Source: Wikipedia]
