No graffiti, no comment….

Proving that no one is above cashing in, graffiti artist Banksy has a book out this Christmas. It’s a collection of some of the best work from the notorious “art terrorist,” (The Daily Telegraph’s one line descriptor, not ours).

Producing ‘graffiti art’ on a wide range of public spaces has won Banksy no favours with law enforcement officials, which led to a gorgeous piece of PR-related wit. Eschewing the usual sycophantic book cover quote, Banksy (or his publisher, at least) evidently decided it would be funny to ring the Metropolitan Police and ask for a quote for the cover of the book.

A ham-fisted plod Met press officer, straying from the usual “no comment” realms, underlined how unlikely it was that the Met would play ball with Banksy. And so on the back cover of Banksy’s book is a single endorsement quote:

"There's no way you're going to get a quote from us to use on your book cover" Metropolitan Police spokesperson

Banksy has a lovely, if somewhat small, website. Some of our favourites are here, here and here.