This could be the first word “arbitrary” has been used in an act of vandalism:
Victims of graffiti commonly find themselves painting over misspelled profanities or scrubbing out obscene drawings.
But when the residents of Northumberland Gardens woke to find their luxury cars had been vandalised, the tone was rather more – polite.
Words including ‘very silly’, ‘really wrong’ and ‘arbitrary’ had been scratched into the paintwork with a screwdriver.
Not that the choice of vocabulary will be much consolation. The late-night wrecking spree caused £20,000 damage to the 24 cars targeted in the affluent suburb of Jesmond, Newcastle.
Hours later, Professor Stephen Graham, 47, was arrested and questioned by police. An academic at Newcastle University, he lives in the next street from Northumberland Gardens, where most of the attacks were carried out.
Professor Graham, a graduate of Southampton University, is based at Newcastle University’s school of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, and specialises in the study of cities and society.
The author, editor or co-author of seven books, he also looks at the sociology of technology, researching urban aspects of surveillance.
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