If proof were needed that we are truly in a deep recession, then the "benefit quiz night" held last night
in Downing Street, to provide food and lodging for Larry, The Downing Street Cat, provides the evidence.
A rescue cat from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, Larry moved in last spring, and No 10 promised that he would be a "community cat", The People's Cat if you will and certainly not a drain on the public purse.
in Downing Street, to provide food and lodging for Larry, The Downing Street Cat, provides the evidence.
A rescue cat from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, Larry moved in last spring, and No 10 promised that he would be a "community cat", The People's Cat if you will and certainly not a drain on the public purse. Sadly, true to Catty "form", Larry (who came highly recommended as a "mouser") took more than two months to catch his first mouse, and the infamous rogue rat (that was seen nonchalantly wandering across the threshold of the No 10 doorstep, clearly visible in the background of a television news report!) is still at large.
Instead Larry, who spends a great deal of time asleep on or under a chair at No 10, has joined the growing ranks of the young NEETs, who are "Not in Education, Employment or Training" or contributing to the public purse. Worse still Larry, is said to be involved in a clandestine relationship with Maisie, the cat from the park keeper's cottage at St James', but thankfully we will not be hearing the patter of tiny "I-Don't-Know-My-Absent-Father" Kittens, since that possibility is believed to have been forestalled by Battersea before he was handed over.
So while I can be happy that hopefully the fundraiser will successfully keep Larry in tins and vet visits for the foreseeable future, I eagerly await the much needed positive news on Catty-Kin who, rather than need the kindness of benefactors, have instead contributed to democracy in the Arab World or sniffed out the whereabouts of Colonel Gaddafi!
