Source:
Coping with the Relations. Anglo-German Cartoons from the Fifties to the Nineties /Deutsch-britische Karikaturen von der Fünfziger bis zu den Neunziger Jahren, London und Universität Osnabrück 1993, pp.169-171
The Ridley Affair
Described as "the cartoon which won a Minister of the Crown the, sack" (Deedes, Daily Telegraph, 18.7.90).
In an interview with the editor of The Spectator in July 1990 the Trade and Industry Secretary in the Thatcher Cabinet, Nicholas Ridley, spoke contemptuously of the role of the Germans in the process of European development as well as the Brussels bureaucracy of the European Community. His anti-German and anti-European remarks (for example, he called the common European monetary policy a "German racket, designed to take over the whole of Europe") were taken up by the British and German press and led to a heated debate about both the attitude of the Thatcher Government towards Germany and the process of Britain's integration into Europe.
Assignment:
1. Describe the cartoon and its message.
2. From what you know about England's topical relation to the EU, has England's attitude to the EU changed compared to the 1990s?
|
