BACKGROUND
Labour Party leader Ed Miliband has intensified his criticism of David Cameron for the prime minister's failure to condemn Israel's 'unacceptable and unjustifiable' killing of civilians in Gaza. Speaking on Channel 4 News, Miliband said politicians needed to be "speaking out without timidity and truthfully about what is happening" and warned Israel that its actions were counterproductive because every death of an innocent Palestinian could increase support for Hamas. Read more >>
CARTOON
The cartoon shows UK PM David Cameron as a father sitting in an armchair in the living room. HIs daughter, who is sitting on his lap reading a newspaper report about Gaza, asks him "Daddy, what did you do in the war." His son is kneeling on the floor playing with a toy tank and some soldiers. Outside the window, Ed Miliband, answers the daughter's question by saying, "Nothing!".
COMMENTARY
The cartoon is based on Savile Lumley's well-known 1915 propaganda poster "Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?", which used emotional blackmail as a recruitment tool. In the original poster, which is set some time after the war, the girl is looking at pictures of the Great War in a book, and asks her father the famous question. The father looks guilty because, we assume, he didn't volunteer to go and fight. The propaganda message to the public clearly is, do not become somebody like Daddy (see here for a more detailed analysis). This poster has been widely parodied (see here and here, for example). Finally, today is the anniversary of Britain's entry into the First World War, which adds another layer of meaning.
ALSO SEE
• Adams cartoon (The Telegraph)
