Banksy: Cock.

Good God Banksy is a tedious cock whose art work is predictable and obvious. Take his intro to The Simpsons - described by The Guardian as follows:

The minute-long opening sequence begins almost as usual, but with Banksy's tag being sprayed across Springfield monuments, and a masked Bart writing "I must not write all over the walls" over the walls of his schoolroom.

It then pans to a dark, dilapidated factory where dozens of workers animate sketches of the family. Cats are shown being thrown into a wood chipper to create stuffing for merchandise such as Bart Simpson dolls. A unicorn, chained to the factory wall, is used to punch holes in DVDs.

The titles end with a grim image of the logo of the show's owner, 20th Century Fox, guarded by searchlights, a watchtower and a barbed wire fence.

Ooo, how original - how cutting edge. No-one has ever called 20th Century Fox bad before now, and no-one has ever pointed out that sweat-shops are appalling places to work. Hang on, what's that you say? People have made those points before now? Really? So Banksy isn't a cutting edge, subversive artist but actually a bit of a cock who makes really tedious points through his "art"?

Rather like The Simpsons these days, Banksy is a subversive icon only for middle class types who don't really like subversion but want to appear hip to their friends. At best, Banksy is well past his sell-by date and at worst, his "art" never really had a point beyond saying in a really obvious way "ooo, look - some stuff's bad".

The new Olympic logo: Simpson pr0n

See the new logo here.

As a mate of mine described it, 'it looks like Lisa Simpson giving head.'

RIP Gerald Ford

I am not going to speak ill of the dead and offer my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Gerald R. Ford. But he was one of history's also-rans - he came after two Presidential giants and lost the one Presidential election he stood for (against the man The Simpsons once called "history's greatest villian"). His claim to fame is that he is the only President not to have been elected to national office. Arguably, through the Betty Ford clinic, his wife has made a more lasting impact on America than he has.

But let's take a moment to celebrate history's great also-rans. We need people to keep government ticking over, we need people who don't make a spectacular impact on history. For every Ronald Reagan, we need a Gerry Ford. For every Margaret Thatcher, we need a John Major or a Jim Callaghan. It may not be the most striking of tributes, but it should not be under-estimated - Gerry Ford did his best, and managed not to do anything too damaging to the country. Just compare him to the incumbent President if you want an example of how much damage one president can do.