The Spectator

The 2013 Michael Heath Award for cartooning

The winner of the first ever Michael Heath award for cartooning is Len Hawkins. One of his drawings appears below. He receives an original drawing by Michael Heath, a bottle of Spectator gin, a year-long contract with The Spectator and a pair of handmade shoes from John Lobb, who kindly sponsored the competition.

Hound

‘So you’re worried that you aint nothin’ but a hounddog, and you keep crying all the time…’

Stealing

‘Stealing from the rich is all very well, Little John, but the bankers, the energy companies, the water companies… I just can’t keep up!’

Hiding

'Yes all right, sir, you’re Charles Stuart, Prince of Wales, hiding from Cromwell’s Roundheads — now if you don’t mind, we just want to rescue this lady’s cat.’

Barometer | 28 November 2013

Third-class thinking A report by the Institute of Economic Affairs recommended standing-room-only third-class carriages as an alternative to longer trains and platforms. What was third-class rail travel originally like? — Until the 1844 Railway Act third-class travel generally meant an open carriage with holes drilled in the floor to let the rainwater out. The Act

Portrait of the week | 28 November 2013

Home Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland, outlined Scottish National Party plans for independence, which included keeping the pound and armed forces of 15,000, replacing the BBC with the Scottish Broadcasting Service and introducing random breath tests. The Ministry of Defence said it would investigate claims that in 1972 an Army plainclothes undercover unit