Skip to main content
The Morning Star 2026 Conference
Barbed commentaries from a master satirist
TOM KING recommends Martin Rowson's latest unfettered assault on personal and political pretence

MARTIN ROWSON, in referring to Boris Johnson as a “Cloying Classical cum-stain of Cataline Calamity,” is both an excellent judge of character and in possession of an admirable aptitude for acerbic alliteration.

Perhaps better known for his brilliantly derisive cartoons, in Pastrami Faced Racist — a collection of poetry about the farcical realities of modern Britain — he casts his satirical gaze over contemporary political and literary life, swapping brush for pen and witty and absurdist verse.

Martin Rowson
The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
(L to R) How many Aunties?, Back Hares Mount, Leeds, 1978; M
Photography / 14 April 2025
14 April 2025

Peter Mitchell's photography reveals a poetic relationship with Leeds

The crowd at Manchester Punk Festival 2024
Culture / 11 April 2025
11 April 2025
Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
Tower of Babel, 1982
Culture / 10 April 2025
10 April 2025
This is poetry in paint, spectacular but never spectacle for its own sake, writes JAN WOOLF
Second Cumming - Bella Caledonia 2020, by Lorna Miller
Exhibition review / 21 March 2025
21 March 2025
In an exhibition of the graphic art of Lorna Miller, MATT KERR takes a lungful of the oxygen of dissent