By the bonnie bonnie Banksy of the BBC News website

 

I may have lost touch somewhat in the earlier parts of this year but one quirk of the BBC News website that even I spotted throughout the entirety of this year - possibly, but not definitely, one that even some of you eagle-eyed types might have missed - has been the BBC's continuing willingness to report every single burp of graffiti artist Banksy on their news home page.

He's been their favourite artist. He can no do no wrong. His every doing must be reported...and has been.

And Banksy's back there again, yet again, this very afternoon, right there among the BBC News website's top headlines. 

The BBC's headline story today is obviously there to pander to both the BBC's and Banksy's would-be woke allies in the 'culture wars' - Queues form as Banksy Colston statue trial T-shirts go on sale.

The BBC piece begins:

Large queues formed as limited-edition T-shirts made by anonymous street artist Banksy went on sale.

The Bristol-born artist announced on Friday night that the shirts would go on sale at locations in the city.

He said they had been created to show support for the four people about to go on trial accused of pulling down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston.

Now, if that sounds like PR rather than reporting [#prasnews], well, what follows is even more so - and frankly one of the oddest BBC News website pieces I've ever read. I'll continue from where the last 'block quote' left off:

The shirts quickly began appearing for resale online, with one seller asking for £9,000.

Local radio station Ujima began announcing the sale points on its breakfast show from 09:00 GMT.

Once the locations were made public hundreds of people quickly formed a queue at one of them - That Thing on Stokes Croft.

Similar queues appeared outside Friendly Records in Bedminster and Rough Trade on Nelson Street.

And the BBC piles on photos galore of happy, shiny people laughing and holding hands with happiness as they queue up or jubilantly brandish their Banksy t-shirts.

And the following paragraphs quote from people who are overjoyed to be lining up for Banksy, plus a quote from Banksy himself.

It's purely a puff piece and reads like it's been written by a BBC ultra-fan. And yet there it is, top headline news on the 'impartial' BBC News website.

The piece ends seriously however: 

The statue of Edward Colston, a 17th Century slave trader, was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol in June 2020.

Is the BBC acting as Banksy's agent? It certainly reads like it. 

Whatever. Put it in your heart where tomorrow shines...

THE ‘BRAND BANKSY’ CONNIVANCE (BBC) - Part Two

 An update from Arthur T...

 

There is an update on the misadventure on the high seas where migrants had to be rescued from his rescue ship on Banksy’s BBC news pages:

Louise Michel: Migrants rescued by Banksy boat to disembark in Sicily

What’s interesting is that there is no mention of the LM vessel getting into difficulty - only a stuttering story along the lines that:

The group was transferred to a quarantine vessel off Sicily's coast, rescue organisation Sea-Watch said. The migrants include 150 people rescued by the Louise Michel, a 31m boat funded by British artist Banksy. On Saturday, the UN's refugee agency issued an urgent appeal for those onboard the rescue vessels to be allowed to disembark safely.

This from the Press Association provides a little more clarity:

https://www.rhyljournal.co.uk/news/national/18685260.banksy-funded-refugee-rescue-boats-calls-help-being-ignored/

There seems to have been a rapid descent into victimhood by the crew of the boat - blaming ‘Europe’ for their difficulties. The BBC reports don’t tell us much of this.

This doesn’t change my view that for the BBC Banksy can do no wrong, and it is their promotion of a commercial enterprise that should be under the spotlight.

There’s also an excellent piece at The Conservative Woman by Ollie Wright. He looks wider, at the potential for increased cross-Med migration, saying Banksy’s publicity is giving increased hope to would-be migrants. He also gives the cost of the boat as £800k, that’s before crewing and other operating costs. This possibly gives an insight as to how lucrative Banksy’s work has become - and therefore how BBC’s promotion has been of benefit.

THE ‘BRAND BANKSY’ CONNIVANCE (BBC)

 

Guest Post by Arthur T

Charlie posted the following on the OT a couple of days ago: 

The BBC are displaying their hero worship of Banksy again today. 

Banksy, African migrants and his rescue boat adrift in the Med. It’s a story made in heaven for the BBC metro-liberals. 

Just what is it about Banksy that so attracts the BBC above all other artists?

It’s staggering to find out just how much attention the BBC pay to the day-to-day activities of Banksy, when they hardly ever report on the subjects of any other artist’s work - unless of course their work carries a highly politicised message like Banksy. Even then, by comparison it is a drop in the ocean. 

Believe it or not, Banksy has his own page on the BBC News website telling us the latest: 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cp7r8vglgj1t/banksy

Entries here are as follows: 

• 29/8/20 Migrants evacuated from overloaded Banksy ship 
• 28/8/20 Banksy funds boat to rescue refugees at sea 
• 28/7/20 Banksy’s works fetch £2.2 m to aid Bethlehem hospital 
• 15/7/20 Cleaners remove Banksy tube art ‘unknowingly’ 
• 14/7/20 Banksy dons cleaner disguise to spray paint Tube 
• 17/6/20 Banksy? Yeah I know who he is ‘Louis Theroux and street artist Banksy had a day out watching Peter Crouch play for QPR.’ 
• 16/6/20 When Louis Theroux went to a QPR match back in 2001, he met an aspiring street artist called Banksy, and they both saw a 'lanky, ungainly' young forward called Peter Crouch play for the home side.
• 10/6/20 Banksy artwork stolen from Bataclan found in Italy 
• 9/6/20 Banksy has put his suggestion forward for what should happen in the wake of the toppling of Colston's statue at Sunday's protest. 

etc etc 

Away from his own BBC News web pages, Banksy also features strongly elsewhere across the BBC - let’s look at Newsround (aimed at youngsters): 

24/2/20 Banksy: Who is the famous graffiti artist?  

Banksy is a famous - but anonymous - British graffiti artist. He keeps his identity a secret.

Why does no one know who Banksy is? His identity is unknown, despite lots of people trying to guess who he is.

Why is Banksy controversial? His artwork can be rebellious and is known for delivering political messages.

2 Comments ‘Woah!’ and ‘I think Banksy is Awesome!’ 

In the Arts and Entertainment pages of the BBC News website: 

6/5/20 Will Gompertz has a say: 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-52556544 

 ‘New Banksy artwork appears at Southampton hospital’ 

Here, we have the semblance of an art critic’s opinion from our Will, who as we know at ITBBCB? rates art works firstly on their political message (just so long as it’s the correct message), and secondly and then only occasionally, on their artistic merit. Here are some extracts: 

The largely monochrome painting, which is one square metre, was hung in collaboration with the hospital's managers in a foyer near the emergency department. 

It shows a young boy kneeling by a wastepaper basket dressed in dungarees and a T-shirt. He has discarded his Spiderman and Batman model figures in favour of a new favourite action hero - an NHS nurse.

So much for the description. The story moves straight on to the political message:

Paula Head, CEO of the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust said: "Our hospital family has been directly impacted with the tragic loss of much loved and respected members of staff and friends.

The fact that Banksy has chosen us to recognise the outstanding contribution everyone in and with the NHS is making, in unprecedented times, is a huge honour.

She added: "It will be really valued by everyone in the hospital, as people get a moment in their busy lives to pause, reflect and appreciate this piece of art. It will no doubt also be a massive boost to morale for everyone who works and is cared for at our hospital.

 As far as it’s possible to tell from the above image, this isn’t spray painted. The denim effect would be almost impossible to recreate other than by a transfer print taken from a photograph. The 2 D basket, which doesn’t show the return banding, has a lack of perspective to match the figure. The basket also looks out of scale in relation to the size of the figure. We shouldn’t expect the BBC arts correspondent to give his view on the technical aspects of a work, should we? 

In reply to Charlie’s question, from OT comments, 

Banksy, whose real name is Robin Gunningham, is so liked by the BBC because his work carries a political message more than it does an artistic one. He is a political cartoonist - bang on message for the BBC's narrative. His work is easily reformatted for printed or webpage imagery. It doesn't require a second look - there are no details worthy of closer study. His air of secrecy and derring-do seal the deal. He would be the go to number one person to invite to the average Islington dinner party hosted by the Metro LibLeft Beeb programme commissioner. To change the old adage slightly - his work is 90% indoctrination, 10% inspiration.

 All of the above doesn’t say much for the BBC’s integrity when they promote to youngsters through Newsround that Banksy’s identity is secret - self-evidently a lie. They say ‘His identity is unknown, despite lots of people trying to guess who he is.’ What a falsehood to promote to young viewers!

Perhaps when the time is ripe, there will be a great reveal in a feature length documentary by Louis Theroux. He is probably staking his claim to that high-earning nugget right now. In the meantime, no doubt the mystery is inflating prices for off-the-cuff napkin sketched by Banksy made during his circuit of north London Beeb dinner parties. 

Another benefit of this secrecy is the ‘one stage removed’ strategy adopted by the BBC when they want to avoid scrutiny of their output. Independent think tanks, Cardiff University research or ‘a spokesman said’ are all familiar tactics. The extra plus with Banksy is that his work has to be posted, publicised and then authenticated as a ‘genuine Banksy’ giving ample wriggle-room of deniability should the publicity turn nasty. 

All in all, the conclusion must be that the BBC is assisting a commercial enterprise. Books calendars, posters and other memorabilia must rake in funds for the Banksy brand. The air of mystery, or should we call it deceit, is promoted by the BBC, giving this artist his own pages on their licence-payer funded website, as well as plenty of news and local news coverage.

Every nozzle stroke

Arthur T, in his guest piece earlier, remarked that at the BBC "every nozzle stroke of Banksy is revered". 

Scroll forwards a few hours and what do we see 'BBC News (UK) on Twitter' promoting on the BBC website? 

Yes, (Wiley) Banksy has done something again, and the BBC immediately stands to attention:

30 Conservative MPs spurn Radio 4's 'PM'

It's a while since I've listened to an episode of (The Evan Davis Show) PM all the way through. 

Does it always have two items on climate change these days?

I learned along the way that Our Evan is quite the Banksy fan. He declared the graffiti artist to be "a national treasure", and wished aloud that Banks would do something on the wall of his house some day. (And so say all of us).

Meanwhile Polly Toynbee revealed that the programme had called up to 30 Conservative MPs to come on and discuss the Government with her, but none of them accepted. A chap from Unherd (Freddie Sayers) appeared instead. 

Annual occurrence

There are so many things I would have blogged in the last few days /weeks. But I couldn’t.  

The worst thing (for me) was the BBC’s oh so predictable Christmastide anti-Israel emoting based on the BBC’s (and Sky’s) saccharine and weirdly sentimentalised portrayal of the Plight of the Palestinians - and at this time of year, of Palestinian Christians. If Palestinian Christians are beleaguered, it’s due to the ongoing persecution of Christians that the mainstream media persistently ignores, (because it’s) perpetrated by their favourite peaceful religion.

The BBC must know is going on, but they just ain’t interested. Only when they believe that Israel can be blamed by insinuation do the Beeb’s ears prick up and its eyes light up. The BBC must feel that the current climate offers a safe space for unsubstantiated innuendo and their special brand of passive-aggressive reporting.

BBC Watch has been on the case - does the BBC even bother to look at these painstakingly researched articles?

https://bbcwatch.org/tag/barbara-plett-usher/

https://bbcwatch.org/2019/12/26/the-bbcs-biased-bethlehem-binge-continues/

https://bbcwatch.org/2019/12/25/bbc-politicisation-of-christmas-continues-on-ws-radio/

https://bbcwatch.org/2019/12/22/bbc-news-again-self-conscripts-to-banksys-israel-delegitimisation/

https://bbcwatch.org/2019/12/23/bbc-ws-radio-airs-anti-terrorist-fence-falsehoods/

https://bbcwatch.org/2016/12/22/documenting-five-years-of-bbc-politicisation-of-christmas/ 

........and here’s a comprehensive summary of the Banksy nonsense by Camera. 

The way the BBC magnified Banksy’s tiny wee nativity scene is beyond (even my own) belief. I mean they’ve surpassed themselves. 

“Has the opening of any other art exhibit – never mind a single small installation – ever garnered so much interest before in Israel or the West Bank, warranting headlines in numerous leading news organizations? None of the aforementioned media outlets which covered the opening of “Scar of Bethlehem” gave any coverage to the graffiti murals painted on Israeli bomb shelters by visiting international artists.” […] 

“By giving the small installation such disproportionate coverage, journalists have provided an unfortunate platform to propagate the falsehoods.
Moreover, the suggestion that the Israeli military is firing on Jesus evokes ancient antisemitic charges of deicide. The widely-accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism includes the following:
Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
Instead of exploring and exposing the antisemitic canard behind the installation, or choosing not to give the vitriolic message a platform, media outlets uniformly provided warm, approving coverage. 

As you know, Craig took up the baton on behalf of  ITBB. 

The BBC sticks to its agenda, year in, year out. Surely they must know what’s going on. If they don’t, they must at least know there’s another side to the story. 

🇮🇱 BBC and Sky News demonise Israel for Christmas. 🎅

RT if you're sick of the medias anti-Israel bias. pic.twitter.com/82U4oXtQFk

— Israel Advocacy Movement (@israel_advocacy) December 26, 2019

Who is ‘they’? I don’t know if it’s the on-the-ground personnel, from Jeremy Bowen and downwards and onwards through the ranks, or maybe it's in accord with a directive from on high. It’s relentless. Wherever it comes from, it plays a significant part in the current outbreak of overt racism. It all adds up.

Silent night.

"Silent Night": Persecuted Palestinian Christians Kept Out of Sight

by Raymond Ibrahim

"In short, Palestinian Christians are suffering from the same patterns of persecution — including church attacks, kidnappings and forced conversion — that their coreligionists suffer in other Muslim nations. The difference, however, is that the persecution of Palestinian Christians has "received no coverage in the Palestinian media."

[...] 

"The bread and butter of the PA and its supporters, particularly in the media, is to portray the Palestinians as victims of unjust aggression and discrimination from Israel. This narrative would be jeopardized if the international community learned that Palestinians are themselves persecuting fellow Palestinians — solely on account of religion.

It’s not reported in the Palestinian media? Nor is it reported in the British media. 

Meanwhile, the BBC is busy promoting Banksy’s annual Christmas stunt, which has been elevated to the main news bulletins.  The website even shoehorns the year-before-last's promotional video about Banksy's elaborate agitprop project - the repulsive 'walled-off hotel', into the 'report'.  

The BBC acts as if nothing has changed. It’s high time Boris’s new-fangled government appointed someone like David Collier - or actually David Collier - to apply his expertise and tenacity to the BBC’s antisemitic bent. Taking Collier's forensic study of Amnesty International as the operational model would be a start.  When staff recruitment comes solely from a single source, there's bound to be trouble. 

It seems the Balen report will never see the light of day; it must be obsolete by now. The Labour Party’s overt antisemitism played a part in its own downfall. The BBC should heed the warning and start watching points.

Tempting fate

Literally, about a quarter of an hour after Sue wrote, "Come to think of it I haven’t noticed as many of the traditional yuletide Palestine-victimhood stunts this year. Wot, no Banksy? No Lucy Winkett? No Danny Boyle? What’s going on?", the BBC News (UK) Twitter feed announced a brand new BBC News website article: 

Banksy 'nativity scene' appears in Bethlehem hotel https://t.co/DsAJXxxhw7

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) December 21, 2019

Deck the halls

Deck the Halls! ’tis the season to broadcast a bit of anti-Israel agitprop.

This morning on the iPlayer I caught up with the BBC’s hour-long documentary about Banksy’s and Danny Boyle’s much hyped “Alternativity" stunt. When that ended, the film went straight into the Alternatively “play” itself. 

It was what it was - i.e., a common or garden school play with a musical bent - after all, the revered filmmaker Boyle delegated the actual production to a local drama teacher, which accounts for the fact that it wasn’t especially well conceived or executed.    Of course the quality of the play itself was neither here nor there,  because the whole point of the project was merely to remind the world about The Wall, (which is evil.) That’s it. 

There was a Mary, a Joseph, a doll for the baby Jesus and a real live donkey. Mysteriously, Joseph was played by a female wearing a kind of gent’s jacket and a moustache. Also slotted in were three female rappers,  rappin’ a  “Free Palestine” rap. Near the end of the story, a scary baddie with a giant papier-mâché head that looked like “Mr. Punch-as-a-Jew” made a brief entrance in search of the New King, but was sent packing to much applause in true panto-baddie fashion.

Banksy must have chucked in a tidy sum to set it up; the rig and some of the staging looked more elaborate than your average school production.

The most offensive content was within the documentary. The voice-over narration was particularly troubling, one-sided and inflammatory in a passive-aggressive way. The BBC would call it  (did call it) “controversial” 

In fact the project was nothing more than a vehicle for political agitprop. So blatant was this, that, in the light of her reaction to Jon Snow’s Gaza antics, which she declared would never have got past the impartiality monitors at the Beeb, it’s truly a wonder Fran Unsworth let it through. 

Maybe she and the head honchos at the BBC were bedazzled by the eminence of The Great Man - or rather men. The Great Artist and the Great Filmmaker.

"Cool"

The documentary featured the Great Filmmaker as he strode out purposefully beneath the Great Apartheid Wall, looking meaningfully upwards.  The Great Filmmaker gazed out of the window from the Walled Off Hotel at its famous ‘view’, the Jewish watchtower. Filmic prompts, echoing you-know-what, are a filmmaker’s tool of the trade.  A brief foray into a Jewish-settlement-in-occupied Palestinian-land produced another symbolic, filmic echo; a Magen David on a door, this time underlined with a verbal innuendo from a serious-faced Doyle. 

The rest of the film showed the Great Filmmaker smiling broadly at his hosts, giggling at everything and pronouncing it all “cool”  before departing and only reappearing on what seemed to be the day of the performance. 

During the development of the project, the Great Men had been corresponding. They had a couple of perplexing dilemmas. One of them concerned ‘exploiting children’, which they didn’t wish to do, and the other was a fear that the audience wouldn’t turn up at all, because Palestinians don’t like to be reminded of The Wall. Well, who does?

They needn’t have worried. The audience turned up in abundance, probably wanting to be on TV, just like the congregation on Songs of Praise.  

Pretty little white fairy snowflakes floated gently down from on high, covering the audience in artificial snow made from little pellets of polystyrene, the clingy stuff that’s normally used to protect fragile items in transit.  It sticks to everything and no doubt causes mesothelioma if inhaled.   On the bright side, that’s another grievance to air for fifty years hence. 

Deck the halls with boughs of holly, falalalala lalalala.

Least worst

At the time of writing there are over 12 jam-packed Google pages about the new Walled Off Hotel.  A brilliant propaganda coup for Banksy’s publicity officer. Does he have a publicity officer? 

On this occasion I have to report that the actual BBC was the least bad of a bad bunch because its report largely consists of those ghastly photos with captions, whereas the rest of the press obediently parrot the press release verbatim and at length. “The hotel with the worst view in the world” etcetera etcetera. 

The hotel is an amalgamation of Banksy’s dystopian (deliberately ugly) Dismaland  and assorted crass anti-Israel propaganda.  Completely one-sided, crude and inflammatory. 

Dispensing with even the most rudimentary attempt at wit or irony,  the famous BBC test-card is displayed; instead of those naughts and crosses, Banksy has chalked: “Free Palestine”.

The publicity for this  “hotel” is a masterpiece in PR. How on earth does he do it? Every news outlet in the entire planet and beyond has fallen for it.

Compared to Krishnan Guru Murthy’s oleaginous report on last night’s Channel Four news, the BBC’s restrained effort makes the BBC look like a beacon of impartiality. 

Tacked on at the end of most reports was something about encouraging “dialogue”. Those aren’t entirely my own scare-quotes so I don’t think I’m the only one who sees this as an afterthought, a last-minute attempt at damage limitation.  

You’d have to be even more dumb that your average sucker-for-this-kind-of-stunt if you believe this self-indulgent agitprop had anything to do with encouraging dialogue. Well, not the kind of dialogue that this is meant to imply.

Banksy is the Roger Waters of the “art” world. An even more overrated version. To paraphrase what someone once said of Stephen Fry (and someone else said of Aldous Huxley) “Banksy” is a politically and visually illiterate person’s idea of a cutting-edge visual/political satirist.

April foolishness

Poor Gazan family tricked into selling their Banksy for only $175 (£118) (which is about its intrinsic value) 

Banksy’s cartoons started off as graphic design in the form of the graffiti mural. Then he started incorporating enigmatic political overtones from the infantile school of pseudo political activism.

The inflated ‘art world’ monetary value of a ‘Banksy’ is a product of media-created mystique built around a sort of night raider persona. Your hooded graffiti artist stealthily posting his messages with the audacity of the man in the Milk Tray ad .

If anyone’s stupid enough to pay big money for a Banksy good luck. Too bad for the poor Gazan man diddled out of his rightful windfall. What could he have done with all that dosh, stuck in that open prison with no way of getting in or out, no water, electricity or concrete? Perhaps he would have donated it to Hamas.

 One might wonder what Banksy thought he was doing sneaking in to Gaza to paint poignant images of cute kittens. What a hero.

Talking of heros and Hamas, how about Jeremy Bowen. 

In Cornwall they have an expression for anyone ‘cute’. They say “Dear of‘n”. If you don’t believe me ask Cap’n Poldark.  

So, what can I say about Jeremy other than “dear of'n”.  

What a lovely interview he did with cuddly Khaled Meshaal the “political leader” of Hamas. As you know, we (Britain) regard Hamas as a terrorist organisation, but like the public’s admiration for naughty boy Banksy, the BBC has its own ideas. How sweet.  

“Netanyahu is the most extreme leader and the one who likes to shed blood the most.”  states Meshaal, casually.

“It’s the responsibility of the International community to put a stop to his stubbornness and Israeli extremism. We’re not looking for any escalation, but we will defend ourselves.’

Jeremy is polite enough to let those outrageous little porkies pass. Isn’t that tactful? The dear fellow.

A winsome look. “Do you think a  two state solution is still possible between yourselves and the Israelis?”  

Note the word ‘still”, obviously one of those open-handed, reaching-out  gestures. It subtly implies that Hamas used to want a two state solution in the past, when any fule kno that is not necessarily so. Probably done so as not to cause unnecessary offence. Thoughtful or what? Considerate. Dear of‘n.

“....the new approach (the west) should take, should be pressuring the Israeli and not the Arabs. We are not the ones who are responsible.“

Well, that does have a ring of truth. They certainly are not responsible. Pretty irresponsible even.

Jeremy lets that go. “Netanyahu and others have associated Hamas with Jihadist groups like al Qaeda and ISIS - they tend to put you into the same category” states Jeremy with a mischievous look. “What do you think of that?” That’s one of those “How does that make you feel” type questions, very empathetic, cute and a little flirtatious. 

“There is no ‘daesh’, no al Qaeda in Palestine”  asserts Khaled. “There are some lone wolves, but they are isolated” then “We don’t allow such thoughts in Palestine. Palestinian people are in a movement for national liberation. It is a just cause, and it is certainly not terrorism. Quite the opposite.” 

Getting into his stride now. 

“the Palestinians have been victims of Israeli terrorism for decades. I condemn any side that is practicing extremism based on identity or affiliation.”

Hamas thinks ‘national liberation’ is a just cause for the Palestinians, but ‘quite the opposite’ for Jews. Never mind, Jeremy is too considerate to hint that he’s spotted a little hypocrisy. Too kind.  

Hang on, what’s this Meshaal is saying now? Muslim Brotherhood? Moi?

“We have a moderate ideology and an open mind. Others practice violence in the name of Jihad which we condemn and this is not Islam.”

Dear Jeremy is looking slightly perplexed. 

“There are plenty of people in America, Britain, Israel, other places, who would laugh when they heard you say that Hamas is a moderate organisation. That’s not how they’d describe you” 

Jeremy posits, cheekily, whilst distancing himself from such a laughable notion.

“The ones who are laughing at our logic today they should laugh at Mandela, and what the Vietnamese people have done, and what De Gaulle did when he led the liberation war against the Nazi occupation in the second World War. They should laugh at George Washington and the American revolution. The people of the world have been liberated from occupiers and the Palestinian people are doing the same, and so is Hamas.”

and on that bombshell, the video ends. Anyone would think it’s April Fool’s day.

Update: Read BBC Watch’s forensic analysis here.

Banksy gets the bird

Post this under 'It's a mad, mad world'....

Just before 4 o'clock this afternoon the BBC News website published an article about a new Banksy, which it doubtless considered germane to the Clacton-on-Sea by-election:

Banksy tackles immigration in Clacton 'birds' mural 

A new Banksy mural showing a group of pigeons holding anti-immigration banners has appeared in Essex.

The mysterious artist posted two photos of the work on his website, stating that it is in Clacton-on-Sea.

Four pigeons are shown holding signs including "Go Back to Africa", while a more exotic-looking bird looks on.

One hour later, that article changed and became:

Banksy anti-immigration birds mural in Clacton-on-Sea destroyed 

A new Banksy mural showing a group of pigeons holding anti-immigration banners has been destroyed following a complaint the work was "racist".

The mural in Clacton-on-Sea - where a by-election is due to take place following the local MP's defection to UKIP - appeared this week.

It showed four pigeons holding signs including "Go Back to Africa", while a more exotic-looking bird looked on.

The local council, which removed it, said it did not know it was by Banksy.

Tendring District Council said it received a complaint that the mural was "offensive" and "racist".

The artist, who chooses to remain anonymous, posted pictures of the work on his website earlier.

But by the time it had been announced, the mural had already been removed due to the complaint received on Tuesday.

Nigel Brown, communications manager for the council, said: "The site was inspected by staff who agreed that it could be seen as offensive and it was removed this morning in line with our policy to remove this type of material within 48 hours.

"We would obviously welcome an appropriate Banksy original on any of our seafronts and would be delighted if he returned in the future."

I'm with Ed West on this one:

Who is the more dull-witted? The equality/diversity council official who cant detect irony, or the lazily obvious political artist?
— Ed West (@edwest) October 1, 2014

No wonder people vote UKIP.