There are few places left in central London that are not under surveillance. The rise of CCTV in the UK has been exponential over the past two decades. The ‘War Against Terror’ has been used to justify this extensive intrusion on the privacy of ‘consumers’ on an unprecedented scale. Surveillance cameras are used on public transport, retail outlets, all major throughfares and in protection of private property. It seems Big Brother is more than a TV show.

This famous Banksy piece was located on Newman Street just off Oxford Street, under the ‘ironic’ gaze of a Royal Mail security camera.

After persuading the Royal Mail that they were there to undertake legitimate construction work on a wall backing on to a postal distribution depot, Banksy and a team of ‘workmen’ set up a scaffold and went about creating this masterpiece back in 2008. Six days later the scaffolding came down and one nation under CCTV was born, never to be forgotten.

The piece was painted over by Westminster Council in 2009.