An artist trying to wipe out his student debts by using his nose to push a monkey nut seven miles to Downing Street says the stunt has got off to a "slow" start.

　　Mark McGowan wants the Prime Minister to waive his￡15,000 debts if he can make it from Goldsmiths College in New Cross, south-east London to 10 Downing Street. Both Tony Blair and Education Secretary Charles Clarke have refused to cough up the cash.

　　He hopes to finish the journey on September 12. "My plan is to do about three quarters of a mile a day but it's slow. I think it will take me the full eight hours to do three quarters of a mile."

　　Mr McGowan, 37, of Peckham, south London, previously rolled himself across London for four-and-a-half miles singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas to highlight the work of office cleaners. And he once walked for 11 miles around south and central London with a turkey strapped to his head in a bid to persuade fat people to eat less and thereby cut obesity rates.

　　He has warned police in advance of the fact that he will be crossing roads, presenting motorists on busy south-east London streets with a hazard they will not have encountered before.

　　Mr McGowan has written to both Mr Blair and Mr Clarke to tell them about his protest and asking them to pay off his debts. Both replied, he disclosed. Mr Blair's office apparently thought what he was doing was "really funny" but referred him to the Department for Education and Skills.

　　The DfES told him that if he succeeded, it would be a "remarkable achievement" but that its spending limits had already been set for this year.