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By Royston Robertson
When I looked back at a year of cartoons last December, I noted that the previous 12 months had been dominated by Brexit, so you’ll forgive me for feeling deja vu right now.
The never-ending Brexit saga has kept cartoonists across the country busy once again, to the point that even when I’m asked to draw for non-Brexit stories – such as traffic jams or the schoolboy who wrote a letter to the PM – it inevitably led to jokes about you know what.
There was another big B-word early in the year, though: the Beast. From the East, apparently. It’s what we used to call winter. People were getting stranded in their cars, but as everyone is now connected to the internet these became mobile offices. Or rather immobile ones.
When the weather warmed up, there was a royal wedding. Enthusiasm for Harry and Meghan’s big day seemed to be somewhat less than for royal weddings of old, so instead of a bustling street party I drew a traffic-island party for two.
There was more interest in England’s progress through the World Cup, though brides-to-be were worried that if the team made it to the Saturday final it would ruin their big day. I drew a cartoon about that but, of course, it turned out to be a fictional scenario.
Another big moment was the celebration of 70 years of the NHS. It was nice to commemorate that with a cartoon about Margaret Stevens, a retiring nurse who played her part for 53 of those years.
Summer always brings out the sillier stories. I imagined a Jaws sequel when sharks were apparently reported off the coast at Chatham. The Archbishop of Canterbury visited in the autumn, wisely touring via the region’s pubs.
And so the festive season is here – along with the now traditional complaints about council decorations, which inspired a cartoon – so have a great Christmas period everybody, and I’ll see you in the new year for the season finale of Brexit.
You can follow Royston on Twitter at @roystoncartoons and roystoncartoons.com