I think they’re for performing the vasectomies as alluded to in the second panel. I assumed the turps is for make-shift antiseptic.

Thank you! This is always the first thing that pops into my head whenever I read somebody using “females” instead of “women”

I love Edith Pritchett’s stuff!

D&D with the classic Heroquest DM screen? Colour me intrigued…

I’m British, and AC/DC are Australian so… I guess you’re right?

Edit (although I do kind of like AC/DC, so IDK)

NHS = National Health Service

It’s what we have in the UK, and essentially means that all your health care is free.

Vasectomy = free. Having a baby in hospital = free. CAT scan = free. Insulin = free.

Admittedly, it’s paid for in taxes, but at a small fraction of the cost of the American way of doing things.

Had mine done through the NHS. Basically two questions, “do you have children already” and “how long since your last child was born?”.

If you haven’t had kids yet, you just need to explain why you want a vasectomy, usually with a specialist. If your last child was born less than two months ago, they want you to wait (apparently a lot of men’s first reaction to the realities of having a baby is to try to ensure it won’t happen again).

Absolutely - if anything, there’s a reluctance to use formal titles in the UK in general.

I used to teach at university - students and staff alike just use first names when addressing each other. When signing emails, we just use our first name, no letters, job title, anything.

It’s even something specifically touched on in our orientation guide for foreign students.

As for newspapers and Prime Ministers specifically, one of the biggest newspapers, The Guardian, has a cartoonist who has always drawn David Cameron with a condom covering his head. There’s absolutely no deference shown to Prime Ministers here.

Welcome to your doom!

Garfield and Jon at hospital. Garfield, his pipe lit.

Is this pipe?

As a Brit, I always assumed the American system worked like that because of freedom or something.

Pic-er-nic baskets, specifically.