The invention of the printing press, the widespread use of paper and the import of caricature or parody from Italy resulted in drawings and caricatures booming in London. An exhibition at The Museum of London opens our eyes to the inner workings of London over the last three centuries. Through caricatures which where first displayed in press shop windows in the 18th century, then in newspapers and magazines such as Punch and finally on television programmes such as Spitting Image, the social concerns and affairs of Londoners over the last 300 years are revealed to us through the eyes of those who experienced them and felt the need to criticise them. Satirical London is a collection of cartoons and prints which commentate on social fads, fashions, politics, culture - all topics which occupy Londoners today as much as they did then.

Viewed on their own they might not be masterpieces, but as a whole they are a whirlpool of sketches which document, in not altogether flattering ways, social changes. One 19th century sketch mocks the growing pollution in the Thames. The problem is not a new one. This sketch is just as relevant today, for the river remains far from clean. But pollution was particularly topical then as it came on with the onset of the industrial revolution.

The social norms of the19th century upper classes are mocked when London's tailors unexpectedly went on strike. The ladies and gentlemen are depicted out and about as usual, but all in patches and rags, mocking the class's need to be seen as well as their vulnerability when there isn't someone to look after them. The lower classes get similarly brutal treatment. William Hogarth's Gin Lane depicts in no kind terms a scene from late 18th century London of whores and drunkards, perhaps exaggerated but nonetheless socially relevant. It is echoed by Cocaine Lane, a pun on the widespread use of the substance in our time. The times and the drugs change, but the need to make a point, to mock it, exaggerate it, make it into something which is at the same time comical and depressing remains.

Politics can never escape the sharp eye of cultural observers with a talent for caricature. Rubber dolls of Margaret Thatcher from Spitting Image, Harold Wilson tea-pots and Charles and Diana matching slippers are all indicative of the impact these people have had on Londoners' lives. And though it might seem disrespectful to some to merge a politician's face with a chamber pot, it is a satire on how at least some of us perceive this person's role not in our personal lives, but in the life of London as a whole.

Caricature and satire are forms of peaceful protest. Though these artists might mock and at times seem inordinately cruel they are also brave enough to point out the imperfections of reality, to scratch beneath the thin veneer of respectability and expose society's ills through the use of humour. "Whilst it is ostensibly criticising the failings of the Big City, it does it with a vitality and exuberance that can seem more like a celebration", says Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye, of the exhibition. Satirical London is a window in time which opens up the lives and loves of Londoners like no history book ever could.

Satirical London is open until September 3rd at the Museum of London. For more information visit the museum's website.