Editing Colonel Blimp (section)

==Character==
Blimp issues proclamations from the bath, wrapped in his towel and brandishing some mundane weapon to emphasize his passion on some issue of current affairs. Red-faced with rage and emotion, he often makes confused pronouncements.<ref>{{Citation | publisher = Cartoons | place = UK | title = David Low biography | url = https://www.cartoons.ac.uk/cartoonist-biographies/k-l/DavidLow.html}}.</ref> Blimp's phrasing often includes direct contradiction, as though upon starting the sentence he did not know how the sentence was to end.  His initial words were always a part of an emotional catchphrase. For instance: "Gad, Sir! Mr Lansbury is right. The League of Nations should insist on peace &mdash; except of course in the case of war.", or: "Gad, Sir! Lord Bunk is right. The government is marching over the edge of an abyss, and the nation must march solidly behind them." Blimp is usually depicted speaking to a cartoon version of David Low, the cartoon's creator, and Blimp's comments are not infrequently directed at the opinions of [[Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook|Lord Beaverbrook]], the owner of the newspaper in which the cartoon appeared.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Crouch |first=Tom |date=5 February 2012 |title=Blimp! |url=https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/blimp |access-date=7 December 2023 |website=National Air And Space Museum}}</ref>

Blimp was a [[satire]] on the [[reactionary]] opinions of the British establishment of the 1930s and 1940s.  The cartoon was intended to criticise attitudes of isolationism, impatience with the concerns of common people, and a lack of enthusiasm for democracy.  These were attitudes which Low, a New Zealander, considered as being common in British politics.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk" /> Although Low described his character Blimp as "a symbol of stupidity", he lessened the insult to the British upper class by adding that "stupid people are quite nice".<ref>'The new pictures'. [[Time (magazine)|Time]]. (2 April 1945)</ref>