Fans of the
"Alex" Cartoon in the Daily Telegraph will be disappointed to learn that the long-running daily strip has today been axed by the newspaper's owners. In today's Daily Telegraph,
Alex disappears into the Matrix, never to return - unless of course the owners of newspaper see sense and bring back one of Britain's best and most popular daily cartoon strips.
"Alex" the Investment Banker
I've been following "
Alex" since I was at university in the 1980s; the strip was part of what inspired me to get into cartooning, showing the possibility of creating a stable of characters and shining a satirical light on the professional world.
For Charles Peattie and Russell Taylor, it was banking, for me, it was the law. "
Alex" satirised the go-go world of 1980s City bankers and bonuses as London's financial district embraced Margaret Thatcher's "
Big Bang".
Affectionate Satire
As a university student, aspiring to draw cartoons, I loved the way that authors
Charles Peattie (who does the drawings) and Russell Taylor (ideas man) would poke fun at their characters - but in an affectionate way. We might not like bankers, but they are still human, and we might even admire them enough to want one to marry into our family - especially a successful one.
Queen's Counsel
Inspired by "
Alex", I tried to do the same with my cartoon strip "
Queen's Counsel", whose characters might be venal and greedy but - in the end - they are just doing what we ask them to do. If we spend too much time with expensive lawyers, then maybe we only have ourselves to blame. Could there be a better way to settle our differences?
Save Alex
Who will poke fun at The City now? A solitary ray of hope remains - a campaign to save "
Alex". It's time to start writing a strongly-worded letter (do they still exist?) to The Telegraph.
Fans of "Alex", Unite! You have nothing to lose but your subscriptions. Find out more at
"Alex Online.
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