Return to sender?

David Cameron may be months away from Downing Street but he has already done his bit for the arts. The airbrushed Cameron posters have unleashed a wave of creativity ultimately paid for by Tory donors.

Some in the blogosphere would deny Welsh graffiti artists the chance to deface posters in devolved areas.

The first poster message may strictly be true as the Tories see it but the argument goes along the lines that health is devolved to the Welsh Assembly, so this poster should not be put up in Wales: an argument was put to Mr Cameron himself by "Grangetown Paul" during his recent online chat at the Media Wales multi-media nerve centre in Cardiff.

This was the would-be PM's response: "The posters we have put up are a strong and positive message which is a bit of a contrast with our opponents. The decisions about health spending at Westminster do have an important impact on Wales because of the operation of the Barnett Formula and so our decision to protect the NHS will have benefits in Wales."

The NHS may be devolved, although I would guess that it will still be an election issue for many voters in Wales when they choose a new UK Government this year.

Perhaps the real significance of the Cameron response is that Tories who hope or expect their leader to change the Barnett formula, which dictates slightly more than half of all public spending in Wales, may have a long wait. Worth remembering next time someone wearing a blue rosette tries to tell you that a Conservative government would divert spending from England to Wales.

The writing on the wall

Last month I revealed, as we say in the trade, that Media Wales plans to adorn the glass internal walls of its new offices with inspirational quotes.

I have now submitted my entry - the prize of a tour of Cardiff Bus Station was too great to resist.

They are:

1. "Y Gwir Erbyn Y Byd" (the truth against the world) - as used by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright in his buildings.

2. "News is something somebody doesn't want printed; all else is advertising."

I think they're pretty good quotes for a news organisation although I could understand why Media Wales might not go for the latter.

If they need a third, there's Alexander Pope's " To wake the soul by tender strokes of art, To raise the genius and to mend the heart", the first half of which is displayed above the stage at Richmond Theatre.

I e-mailed my suggestions to the company but have yet to receive the courtesy of a reply, which probably means it's going to opt for some ghastly management speak culled from the wisdom of David Brent. What a shame.