Graffiti artists or common scum ?

The latter most definitely, graffiti artists my derrière. That happened in Loughborough Junction, near Brixton which is not that far from me and there is graffiti all over the place in South London blighting walls, buildings, train stations and so on. Even the local delicatessen across the road got 'tagged' by these morons.If caught in the act or identified on cctv I'd give them 2 years custodial for criminal damage and 5 years for repeat offenders, that'll learn them.

Well said Slippy and the ex-TFL man.

The whole "luvvies fawning over Banksy legitimising vandalism" thing annoys me. I hate it as well.

And then you see what they get away with in Belfast. Entire sides of buildings with pictures of Citizen Smith and an Ak47, how do they manage it without anyone noticing?

I'm just taking Muttley for a walk in Dulwich Park and I'll take a note of just how much of hideous graffiti there is on my doorstep.

And then you see what they get away with in Belfast. Entire sides of buildings with pictures of Citizen Smith and an Ak47, how do they manage it without anyone noticing?


A combination of tribalism and intimidation maybe?

Common scum for me. Costing the companies and the taxpayers a fortune every year. Most will be on benefits as well.

Thanks lads once again you've excelled yourself with a fair and balanced view PS before I get accused of after timing. Gone with Egypt tonight

How dare you criticise Merde Khan's attempt at artistic diversification!

whats the problem if you can afford to live in london you can afford to get the tagging removed.

People get hit by trains in India a lot.  It makes a proper mess.  These images should be shown to youngsters so they know the true consequences of trespassing on the railways.  Images speak more than words do.

Hard not to laugh at this though.

The knockon effect is if you read twitter is the amount
of people complaining about short/delayed/slow running trains
The staff at stations are often assaulted because they have urgent meeting etc
to get to or having now to wait another hour for a train.All caused by these aholes
  And please check out Witham Whiteboard on twitter as you will see a lot
of Bigmo's jokes .

I like the ones in Belfast in truth.

Murals

Real eyeopener Derry/Londonderry when went with the wife
depending which way you look

Very bad taste to use the word scum in

Any context, let alone when 3 young lives

Are lost, thank goodness he is a former

Board member. Rip.

A Mackintosh mural was unveiled in Glasgow a few days before the fire !! its situated above the
helecopter crash pub.
https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/the-citys-community-spirit-14790395

Agree Glasgow and that is an incredible Mural Dan

We were all young Once and did mad things ,Hardly harming anyone with a Bit of Tagging Or Whatever ,Graffiti might not

be the way of most people  ,but you hardly need condones people's death Because of it ...

Has the former TFL board member ,made any comment regarding various other Incidents over the Years on TFL,  People being

Blown to pieces ,Murdered ,Raped or sexually Assaulted ,Robbed Mugged,ETC ETC

I don't wish to condemn anyone for wanting to express themselves but they should do it in an appropriate place.Turning a public space into an eyesore is not appropriate, however there are places where it is permitted and anyone can post stuff on the internet for all their friends to see,

I agree with Foinavon. I don't see much of it round here, but places like Rotterdam and Berlin are ruined by the amount of it.

Hard to muster up much sympathy from me.  Graffiti costs millions and millions to remove, and guess who pays for it in the end.  You and me.

Graffiti crime must be one of the most stupid in the book. I cannot think of any possible defence for it. "The environment provoked me into doing it" won't cut it in court.

Why on earth should the law-abiding public keep being saddled with the cost of removing it?  I'd like to see any convicted offenders have to pay the cost, if necessary take out of future earnings. Fraudsters and drug dealers have their assets confiscated, why shouldn't the graffiti halfwits?

The middle classes feel obliged to accept it as cool cos Banksy is so trendy.

How about "I had no male role mode to copy. That's why my artwork is crepe"!

Idiots, most likely.
Scum for a bit of graffiti, don't be silly.

I preferred the old School Graffiti..  George Davis is Innocent

'Scum' is a bit strong given they're not yet cold.

He has a point though. I hate graffiti. Wouldn't like it on the side of my house so why is it acceptable on public buildings? It's vandalism and the term 'graffiti artist' is rather silly.

One bit I did find funny was during the Ashes when Terry Alderman was getting rather a lot of LBWs. Maggie Thatcher had her detractors then too...

'Thatcher out!!!!'

Underneath someone added: 'LBW Alderman 0'.

I saw a great bit of graffiti earlier, it said "I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure"

Trespass. Vandalism. Possibly theft if they stole the paint in the first place. Endangering life, even if only their own. Sure there are potentially other crimes. Even bad spelling.

Scum I think qualifies.

Scum around this way would be drug dealers, house breakers, thieves, bag snatchers etc


A wannabe 'artsist' term used lightly, going about with a can of spray paint tagging trains would just be, well an idiot.

Perhaps those who think they are not scum, might perhaps volunteer a wall or two of their own, for these so called artists.

The media will play on sympathy but most members of the public will just feel it was a fair opinion but a poor choice of words given the circumstances.

the problem with all you knuckle draggers is you unaware of the contribution to society that these advanced and progressive persons deliver to the artistic conceptualisation of art and society

shame on you all!!!

I once lived with an artist

but that is another story

AND I read the guardian

Vandalism in the name of art is just vandalism at the end of the day.  Foolish but not scum. 

My punishment would be to divide the number of graffiti incidents by the number of people caught and prosecuted, then make them clean up that number of graffiti paintings.  Plus a fine of course for wasting the country's time and resources.  If they don't clean it up then send them to jail

I think the OP and a lot of replies reflect how people are drawn to black and white straight forward polarised opinions.  Rational simplistic populism and the Trump guide to diplomacy and deal making.  Start with an extreme unreasonable view and then negotiate a less unreasonable alternatives.

The only acceptable graffiti is something derogatory about Germans on the side of a tank heading eastward across Europe in 1945.

The guardianistas defending "graffiti artists" would probably say that's a hate crime :)

I wouldn't call them scum. I don't know if they were good artists. I don't particularly like graffiti but I don't mind something more interesting, muriels for example!

I do have faith in Charles Darwin. I think these deaths are proof that Darwin's theories are strong. Survival of the fittest and dumb people kill themselves. I don't have a problem with that.

The best that can be said is they died for their art or they died doing something they loved doing so well done to them!

Dying for their art seems to be a common thing these days, so many "selfie" deaths. Just yesterday was video of some idiot in india trying to get a good photo hanging on the side of a cliff with a waterfall .. needless to say it didn't end well. Unless you run a flower shop or funeral home.

Like I said. Well done Charles Darwin! I am ashley a big fan of Charles Darwin over the Health and Safety Executive!

Banksy rules OK

At least in this country it gets cleaned. Go to European city's in Spain, Italy, Greece and they just seem to leave it?! Makes otherwise beautiful places look awful.

Had to move my car this morning so the funeral cars of one of them could get down the road. Sad. RIP

Did you tag the hearse on the way through?

Crying shame, I haven't read the full story, were the lads in a tunnel and a train came along? Either way it was
A tragic accident. Scum ? Not in my mind when beating and robbing oaps in their own homes , and scamming vulnerable old folk
Over the phone, these are real SCUM.

For once we agree Glasgow.

Nobody wants their "art".
If they were any good they would create and sell art.
But they know they are no good.
The create their work when not observed.  Why?