Regular readers will know that I am a big fan of Banksy, and all the moreso for his ability to pack three separate jokes into just two words, and use that to entitle a showing in a space the size of modest newsagents’ shop.

I arrived around 6pm and the queue was only 20 yards long, and comprising an eclectic mix – a large Euro-contingent (Germans, Swedes, French) and Brits of all sorts. The chap before me in the queue had a pair of rather fetching bone spears through his earlobes, pencil-thick and coming to a sharp point. It complemented his nose stud rather well, and the Vicar a little further along also seemed to be having a good time.

It boded well that those leaving the exhibition were all smiling, or laughing, or at least amused and thoughtful. It seems that the man has taken his rat motif to it’s logical extreme, and thus the exhibition floor is overrun by several hundred brown rats, variously scratching, preening, eating, drinking, or otherwise exhibiting themselves amongst the exhibits.

This is one of those aspects of the exhibition that is ripe for deconstruction by critics, but as The Guy In The Fez said: “the whole thing is a bit of a piss-take”, so let’s not do that, shall we?

You have to sign a disclaimer to get in (essentially: “I will not freak-out and kill the rats”) and because of the popularity of the show you only get 5 minutes to whip round the pieces – but it’s worth it, with commentary on everything from privacy to the environment to Guantanamo to the Web:

These are my photos of imagery which is copyright (c) Banksy. Go see the real things. They are much nicer.

I loved Madonna and iPod, and Warhol comes in for a certain amount of stick. I also suspect that I saw the man himself, but of course cannot be sure.

All in all it is a pleasant, fun, odd, but altogether too brief experience. Take advantage of the Starbucks next door and go round twice.

The gallery opened on Thursday 13th October and is only running for 12 days, so if you want to see it you had better get moving. Details at [www.banksy.co.uk]

In other news Page’s Bar seems to have died the death and become a boring pub. Most upsetting. It used to be jolly fun.