In the podcast “In Disgrace”, I used the word “graffiti”. Do you know what it means? It is an Italian word, which [bad word] into English. It means “things which are written” generally on an outside wall, or on some other public surface such as the side of a bus or a train. Graffiti became a big problem in British cities when shops started to sell aerosol cans of spray paint. With spray paint, it is quick and easy to cover a whole wall with a picture or writing. Many people say that graffiti make our towns and cities look ugly and uncared for. If there are lots of graffiti, it encourages other sorts of anti-social behaviour, such as litter, fly-posting, abandoning old cars and drinking alcohol in the street. Many local authorities spend a lot of money removing graffiti, and most people probably think that they are right to do so. But are all graffiti bad?
Let me introduce you to the controversial British graffiti artist, Banksy. We are not certain what his real name is – maybe he is called Robert Banks, probably he lives in Bristol in the south west of England, and people say that he is around 30 years old. He has painted some very famous graffiti in some very famous places. I have put a few examples on the website, and I hope you can see them on your iPod screens as well. Most of Banksy’s art is political and subversive. That means, it is intended to annoy governments and powerful people and to undermine them. Sometimes, his art makes people think differently about the world; very often it makes them smile. 
Banksy has for example, painted pictures on the concrete wall that the Israeli government is building between Israeli and Palestinian areas. These pictures look as if they are gaps in the wall, through which you can see beautiful things on the other side. Banksy has smuggled fake pictures into art galleries and museums and stuck them on the wall alongside the real exhibits. One of these was a piece of rock, carved like a caveman painting, but showing a person pushing a supermarket trolley. Last year in America, he painted an elephant – yes, a real live elephant, so that it looked as if it was covered in wallpaper. You remember the podcast about the elephant in the room? Banksy’s elephant was a real elephant in the room – he was trying to tell people that global poverty was the big, important subject that no-one wants to talk about. At about the same time, Banksy smuggled an inflatable dummy dressed as a Guantanamo Bay detainee into Disneyland in California. My favourite however is this – in London there is a famous statue of the ancient British Queen, Boadicea, and her chariot – Banksy put a wheel clamp on the chariot, so that it looked as if as if it was illegally parked.
Why is Banksy in the news at present? Well, Transport for London, which is the organisation responsible for buses and underground trains in London, has recently painted over a famous Banksy graffiti near Old Street tube station. It shows a scene from Quentin Tarantino’s film Pulp Fiction, with Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta. Only, instead of guns, they are carrying bananas. Transport for London said that they had to take a tough line on graffiti because they create an atmosphere of social decay. What do you think?
Incidentally, if you are interested in modern art, you may like to visit the BBC or Guardianwebsites after 11.30 tonight (British time). You will be able to download and print an artwork called “Planed” by the artists Gilbert and George. But hurry – “Planed” will be available for only 48 hours.