Banksy Ripped Off?

I read this story the other day about the owners of a pub in London waking up one morning to find someone had "vandalised" a wall of their premises by painting a picture of a lion and a girl holding a heart-shaped balloon. They were furious, until someone told them it could be a one-off piece by the mysterious street artist Banksy.

Much as I want to believe it is genuine, I can't help but be cynical about the story. But hey, we're in a recession and whether it's real or not, it can't have been bad for business.

Their CCTV managed to record footage of the graffiti artist at work in the early hours of the morning. It just seems a bit too fortunate for me.

Anyway, I was doing some further reading about Banksy to see whether he has made any comment on the story (I don't think he has), and whilst browsing all the brilliant pictures on his website I noticed this little statement:

"Banksy does not produce greetings cards or print photo-canvases or paint commissions or sell freshly baked bagels. Please take anything from this site and make your own (non-commercial use only thanks)."

Which I thought was really cool. I think I want to track down Banksy and force him to become my friend, and paint pictures of me with a hamburger on my head.

I've already thought of a Plymothian project for him:

Anyone remember that "Stan N Lil" graffiti on a wall by Cattedown roundabout? It was there for about 20 years and every now and again somebody would go over it to make sure it was legible. I loved that, and now it's gone.