'A Wider Pail of Shite'

Dave Brown's cartoon from The Independent • 15 November 2006

In the UK The Independent's contentious political cartoonist, Dave Brown, conflates the two great stories of the day ... Prime Minister Tony Blair's final State Opening of Parliament, and the 'Writer's Share of Pale' litigation unfolding in Court 56.

Blair, recognisable by his one eye staring, generous ears and extravagant dentition, is depicted at a synth of improbable design, singing (into an ill-placed mic) some kind of parody of the contentious 1967 smash: 'And so it was that later / as the PM told his plight / That we're all up to our necks / In a wider pail of shite.' Arguably 'pile of shite' would have been neater, but it's still a great cartoon.

Blair is famously known to doodle on electric guitar, but isn't noted as an amateur of the keyboard: perhaps that's why he's shown fingering an F minor chord, which scarcely fits into the music of the song (whoever is ultimately deemed to have written it).

Should Blair be invited to join Procol? Well there isn't a vacancy at present, thank Zeus, but if the incoming Leader of the Free World once inflicted his sax jamming on The E Street Band, why on earth shouldn't the outgoing Leader of Airstrip One follow his rôle model, and come to the rescue of Procol Harum? [that's enough satire (Ed.)]