The middle classes let Banksy get away with vandalism

This is a tale of two murals: one painted on the side of a building in Greenwich by an artist commissioned by the owner, the other scrawled on a building in Finsbury Park by a fly-by-night graffiti artist. You can probably guess which one the local authority has ordered to be removed under threat of enforcement action and a large fine, and which one has been welcomed by the local MP Jeremy Corbyn, who said he was ‘delighted’.

Once again, the law has been shown to be blatantly on the side of middle class taste. Chris Kanizi, who owns the Golden Chippy in Greenwich, just wanted to brighten the area up a bit with a painting of a bag of chips, a Union Jack and the words ‘a great British meal’. Many would argue that Banksy, too, has succeeded in cheering up a dull street in Finsbury Park with green paint splashed over a wall to imitate the leaves of a bare, pollarded tree.