Alongside my favorite pubs and long walks in the countryside, I’ve just added a new, rather incongruous activity to my to-do list for our upcoming May visit to the Cotswolds: see the new Banksy that appeared last week in Cheltenham. Painted around a phone box, it shows three men in trench coats and sunglasses, tapping the phone.
The location was presumably chosen because of its proximity to the UK’s Global Communications Headquarters, more commonly known as GCHQ and the rough British equivalent of America’s NSA. It’s an industry that’s not exactly an obvious fit with with the image of arcadian bliss commonly conjured, including on this blog, to describe the Cotswolds. Then again, that may be exactly why GCHQ, and Banksy, chose this spot.