Shropshire Star

Mark Andrews on Saturday: Banksy, Insulate Britain and Chancing with Wolves

Wolves could be making a comeback, if a pressure group gets its way.

Published
Insulate Britain protesters

Not the football team, but real wolves. Furry predators which are not particularly fond of human beings. Campaigners for 'rewilding' – which I thought was just an excuse for councils leaving the weeds to grow – are now calling for wolves to be re-introduced to Britain's countryside for the first time since the 18th century.

To be honest, I'm not terribly keen on having wolves roam around my back garden. In France and Germany, the authorities have already started to cull the creatures after they started breeding like, well, wolves.

According to campaign group Rewilding Britain, the wolf is "a vital top predator that can have a major impact through influencing the behaviour of herbivores".

That's some euphemism. I suppose Jack the Ripper did a lot to "influence the behaviour" of East London prostitutes.

Fancy some of these in your back garden?

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I've never disguised my scepticism regarding street artist' Banksy, who as far as I can see is just another vandal inexplicably promoted by annoying pseuds who would be horrified if their own neighbourhoods were blighted by his daubings.

But there is a part of me which was quite amused when he concealed a shredder in the frame of one of his paintings, which then destroyed it the moment some pretentious mug agreed to pay £1.04 million.

Now it seems the pretentious mug has had the last laugh, as somebody even more gullible has paid £18.4 million for the half-shredded artwork.

It speaks volumes about modern art if a painting is worth 18 times as much if it is ripped to shreds. What would it have fetched if it was burned to a cinder?

Banksy's painting is worth 18 times as much now it has been shredded

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Broadcaster Julia Hartley-Brewer questions Greta Thurnberg's credentials for dismissing the Cop 26 summit before it has even begun, asking which university issued her meteorological qualifications. Oh, come on Julia, be reasonable. She didn't even go to school that often.

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While the Insulate Britain headbangers wreak more misery with their super-glue, it appears to have slipped their minds that the Government was actually trying to meet its demands last year, before Insulate Britain had even taken the Loctite out of the tube.

While it was largely overshadowed by the Pig Out To Help Out debacle, Rishi was also offering insulation grants to anybody who fancied them as part of his 'money for nothing and chips for free' splurge.

The problem was, hardly anybody did fancy them, the take-up rate was pitiful. And after the cladding crisis, do you really blame people for being cautious about what they stick in their walls?