Every Monday we feature a favourite Alex cartoon selected by our readers.

We generally think of Alex as a light-hearted and rather jolly strip, so this cartoon from 1987, which was nominated by several readers, is probably among the bleakest jokes we’ve ever run.

Alex’s rejoinder to Clive’s question may seem cynical on the face of it, but it actually demonstrates his optimism: that in the event of a nuclear war he’d be able to find a buyer for all the stock that he was desperately trying to offload. There’s always a greater fool, hopefully, even during Armageddon. Or maybe the counter-party who bought the shares would just be displaying the spirit of eternal bullishness that seems to power financial markets ever upwards. It has been predicted that within a month of a nuclear war there would be a system of credit in operation among the human survivors (who on earth makes these predictions?). So perhaps within a couple of years there would be a stock market and all those unwanted shares purchased at rock-bottom prices would suddenly be valuable again.

Or maybe Alex was anticipating having some inside information about the timing of a nuclear war. That way he could sell all his soon-to-be worthless stock to some unsuspecting sap right before the warning sounded and enjoy the resulting profit and triumph for a full four minutes, before money and everything else was obliterated by the thermoelectric nuclear pulse.

This cartoon ran during the latter days of the Cold War when people worried a lot about humanity being wiped out by nuclear conflict between the superpowers. These days we’re much more relaxed about it and worry about being wiped out by AI or climate change instead.

Alex’s glib comment sums up the truth that there is nothing we could realistically do in the event of a nuclear war. It’s quite impressive that we still haven’t had one in the 39 years since this cartoon ran. One hears about “fat finger" trades in the City where some dealer hits the wrong button on their console and accidentally buys 2 million shares in a company instead of selling them. There was a Spitting Image sketch back in the 80s in which a gaga President Reagan had two buttons by his bedside: one marked Nurse and the other Nuke; and he accidentally pressed the wrong one. But maybe control of the nuclear button will soon be handed over to AI. Well, it wouldn’t want to destroy itself as well as us, would it?

The low word count of this cartoon gave Charles the space to depict the 1980s office in all its glory, with physical files, newspapers, boxy computer screens and other accessories unlikely to be seen on desks today. The plain white background suggests that the rest of the world might already no longer be in existence.

This cartoon features in Alex’s new book “The Best of Alex 1987 - 89" which is available for pre-order on our website now.

Click on the cartoon above to see it in its original 1980s context.

If you’ve got any suggestions for a favourite cartoon for future inclusion please email us. And do tell us if there’s a particular reason why it appealed to you.