The less than super highway

Two stories of national importance landed on the Westmorland Gazette cartoon desk last week.

Local hotels are up in arms and down in the dumps because BT broadband failed, losing them millions of pounds of business (hyperbole added for optional excitement).

And after months of campaigning, the much-loathed on-street parking plan from Cumbria County Council has been buried due to a legal problem.

Here are the six ideas I submitted to my steamed editor. The winning entry is at the end, complete with crop marks (which the sub-editor always ignores). Which would you have chosen? Place your carefully-considered vote in the comments box below.

Sick as a parrot

Due to cutbacks and austerity measures from our Beloved Government, Cumbria County Council has been feeling the squeeze on its finances. It has recently proposed a way to gain extra income - on-street parking charges.

Specifically, on-street parking charges in Windermere, Bowness, Ambleside … the central Lakes honeypots famous for its tourist industry and therefore ripe for picking. 

Except they're not. Various interested parties have pointed out that on-street parking meters will deter visitors from stopping in those towns and villages. Visitors ill instead head straight for the nearest supermarket, such as Sainsbury's which is due to open in Ambleside. It has been pointed out that Cumbria County Council has few councillors actually from the central Lakes and therefore have little idea what impact this will have. Cumbria CC has countered by pointing out that they raised it for consultation by burying it as a one-line suggestion at number 97 in a general document sent round to households eighteen months ago.

With local meetings, campaign groups and letters to the press, this is an ideal subject for my Westmorland Gazette cartoon. Add in Cumbria County Council's further proposal to build itself a new £10 million HQ in Fiji Carlisle and it all starts to get fun.

Here are the cartoons submitted over the last two weeks. It includes some nonsense abut the World Cup (schoolkids build England Team scarecrows) but don't let those detain you. And a story about priests blessing loaves and fishes at Morecambe Bay for reasons which escape me.

To see which cartoons got into the newspaper, head over to my website.

click any cartoon to see a bigger image (although the handwriting remains a bit scrawly)