Nicholas JonesA journalist of fifty years standing offers a personal and independent assessment of the often troubled relationship between public figures and the British news media.

My aim is to try to monitor events and issues affecting the ethics of journalism and the latest developments in the rapidly-changing world of press, television, radio and the Internet.

Expect too an insight into the black arts of media manipulation. So spin-doctors, Beware!

Looking back at the year-long miners’ strike of 1984-85 through the images and caricatures of news cartoonists presents a vivid interpretation of an industrial dispute which tore the country apart.

From opposing media perspectives of left to right, the graphic portrayal of a confrontation which traumatised the mining communities is like an angry, unfolding tapestry.

Hundreds of illustrations were published including cartoons, caricatures and cartoon strips.

Their impact is explored in a new book, The Art of Class War: Newspaper Cartoonists and the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike, by journalist and broadcaster Nicholas Jones, with a foreword by the cartoonist Steve Bell.

The book will be on sale from 28 February. ISBN 9781898240020 Price £10.00 (see further details below and information about book launch)

Jones, who reported the strike for BBC radio and who was keen commemorate its 40th anniversary, became gripped by the challenge of relating illustrations and punchlines created by cartoonists to the drama of the dispute.

Alongside his reflections on the miners’ struggle against pit closures, Jones assesses the pressures faced by cartoonists in contributing to the wider commentary about events which dominated the news for months on end. 

Lined up against the National Union of Mineworkers was the full force of the state and the way the pit dispute was portrayed by press and television remains as controversial today as it did 40 years ago.

While reporting the strike for BBC Radio, Jones amassed a vast accumulation of scripts, notes and press cuttings which included countless cartoons and illustrations from both the pro-Thatcher national press and a wide range of newspapers and magazines published by trade unions and organisations on the left.

Such was the impact and potential influence of cartoons, that they seemed worth preserving, not least because the cartoonists presented their visions of heroes and villains, police brutality, working class solidarity, and the growing despair of coalfield communities as they were starved back to work.

Jones has donated his extensive personal collection – all in chronological date order – to Sheffield University Library which is building up its own archive on the strike.                               

In the mid-1980s, well before the concept of rolling news and the turmoil of social media, the national newspapers sold almost 15 million copies a day.

Vivid black and white cartoons, which stood out with great clarity amid endless pages of smudgy text, are reminder of the provocation and abuse which once appeared regularly in the printed press, but much of which has since migrated to the internet in today’s online free-for-all.

Book on sale from 28 February. ISBN 9781898240020 Price £10.00

Copies can be ordered by BACS transfer from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Add £2.00 for P&P. Bank details CPBF North Sort Code 08-92-99 A/C No 65796090. Please include address for book delivery.

Book Launch with author Nick Jones and cartoonist Steve Bell (who wrote the Foreword) City Room, Leeds Playhouse Quarry Hill, Leeds, LS2 7UP Saturday 1 March 2.00pm

Eventbrite link https://www.eventbrite.com/e/book-launch-the-art-of-class-war-tickets-1125228762519?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=1