Not a Banksy, I don't think, but cool none the less. Unfortunately it looks like the uber-efficient Wandsworth Borough Council anti-graffiti squad have removed all traces of it, which is a shame. I bear no grudge against the squad - who I must owe a bottle of wine to by now for the number of times they've responded to my pleas regarding graffit on our estate - but a part of me wishes they could make a distinction between art and vandalism.

On an entirely unrelated note, here's a nice chirpy song for you - "Youkou Yeah Yeah !" from Vulsor's The Project. Keen followers of my last.fm profile - which records for posterity what I listen to at home - would have noticed this getting a few plays since I found it in my collection. I'd recommend "Mushroom" from the same album, except I hate how it ends. When I get a chance (and err, learn how...), then I'll remix it and give it a proper conclusion....

The book contains a wonderful collection of journalist's stories, rather than the reports that would find their way into a newspaper. Most of the reportage (which I like to think is pronounced as the French would - rhyming with montage, not cambridge) is regarding conflicts, and the stories of being a reporter trying to get close to the action - but not too close. One stand-out piece for me is the investigative journalism behind Operation Flavius, an IRA bomb plot foiled by the SAS controversially shooting the suspects. Compared with reading (not-so-)broad-sheet newspapers, I normally prefer to cut the waffle and read the Economist for getting the facts on what's going on. However, I would love to have a source of journalism like this book - almost by necessity it would be non-timely, but nevertheless fascintating, almost behind-the-scenes reading, where the subject merely provides the context for the experiences of the journalist.

Recommended.

The Granta Book of Reportage (Classics of Reportage) on Amazon.