Germaine Greer, the old devil, wades into the Robert Hughes/Damien Hirst feud in today's Guardian. For fear of oversimplifying, this particular spat trades on the fact that Hughes's artistic sensibilities have been roughed up by an upstart who doesn't even make or paint his own works. And then ships slipshod products to a gullible marketplace.

As Greer says: "His undeniable genius is to get people to buy them. Damien Hirst is a brand, because the art form of the 21st century is marketing. To develop so strong a brand on so conspicuously threadbare a rationale is hugely creative - revolutionary even."

I've always been a bit of a fan of Hirst's work. At times it can be cynical, superficial and shoddy, even. But it's never dull. And I reckon Greer got it right. There's fun to be had watching someone play the market with overvalued, messy, misunderstood products. And certainly a darn sight more harmless than events in the financial system last week.

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