There are over 100 of these Wildcats, all differently painted, scattered around the village of Newtonmore;

The Wilcat Experience

Boris's ambition seems to have rubbed off on his mouser-in-chief, Palmerston has had to be escorted from from No 10 after sneaking in when no one was paying attention. He doesn't look at all chuffed.

Did they frisk him first though? He could have been carrying hidden recording equipement.

Islanddawn wrote:

Did they frisk him first though? He could have been carrying hidden recording equipement.

There were questions asked in the House about Palmerston as a security risk. He has apparently been vetted by MI5, but you never know. Moggies as spies have been known. Here are details about the "Acoustic Kitty" used by the C!A at the height of the Cold War:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1361462/CIA-recruited-cat-to-bug-Russians.html

I'm worried about where all this will end. I warned in an earlier post on this thread that there would be trouble between Palmerston and Larry, but my anxieties were ignored. There have been several unseemly and undignified brawls in the corridors of power (also outside on the pavement) recently, one actually filmed by the BBC Political Editor. Palmerston intends to oust Larry. The latter was badly beaten up last week. He was photographed limping back to Number 10: his collar had been nearly torn off, and he had an injured paw. He had to be taken to the vet's who ordered him to rest for several days. The official story was that Larry had had a go at an urban fox and lost. Don't know about London, but you certainly don't get black and white foxes down here in Devon.

One day all this will be mine...

But they are infinitely more entertaining (and intelligent) than the human occupants of Downing St.  
Governments the world over should adopt their own and if I could I would vote for them, rather than the governments we have.

The Downing Street police seem quite helpless: this evidence of an impending coup d'écat has just been released (taken just hours after Palmerston's failed reconnoitring foray into Number 10):

In case we are accused of bias, we can't forget Jeremy Corbyn's cat which, it appears, he hasn't got round to naming yet. He just calls it 'el Gatu'.






Owen Smith also has a cat - no photos yet but he says it's 'normal'. No cat is 'normal' This man is not to be trusted.




This however is Ned, he is a registered mamber of the Labour Party.



Bernie Saunders has a cat too and it's a shame it won't get to play on the White House lawns as not only didn't he get nominated, the photo is a photo-shopped fake. Cats matter in politics.





The Donald, however, has a cat as a style adviser.

Socks Clinton is no more, having passed away in 2009 at the age of 20;

El Gatu looks like his master: an idealistic dreamer, politically naïve and without natural authority, whereas Palmerston seems to have Visconti blood -  he has both strength and political cunning. A Machiavellian through and through. If El Gatu comes near P. (fat chance), he'll get slaughtered.

However, that said, Larry, a true Cameroon, is no walk-over: he is proving a formidable opponent. The Telegraph online yesterday published a "shocking" photograph of Palmerston. He now has a bald patch. The Telegraph's article suggests that Larry has had his revenge for the injured paw and for the humiliating loss of his collar:


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/28/shocking-photograph-shows-palmerston-with-missing-fur---is-this/




The unsightly bald patch on Palmerston's neck may be viewed by following the link.

To add insult to injury, body-shaming comments are being made about Palmerston. He has put on a bit of weight since moving into the F.O. and is now being described by some commentators as "fat".

And now a third contender - Gladstone has joined the treasury team. I trust he has not been caught peeing in the red box.






http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/29/gladstone-the-cat-comes-to-government---but-will-he-get-along-wi/

He looks more like a Disraeli to me.

I wish they wouldn't put those ridiculous bow ties on moggies.

Complaints now that the Treasury post wasn't advertised, and that it's jobs for the Battersea boys yet again.

Operation Dauphin, my project to find an heir apparant to my reigning top cat, Mama Poes, (who will be 24 years-old this year although thankfully still in good health), is proceeding ... slowly. The stray I've got lined up and who has worked it's way into the household seems to be now largely accepted by the cats and dog. I'm still not allowed to get closer than about 3m but it happily accepts the food handouts from me and promptly joins the evening dinner queue. Here it is patiently waiting for Mama Poes to finish before tucking in from the same bowl.



As I can't yet get close I'm still not certain if it's a girl or a boy ... but I suspect, from a certain, shall we say plumpness under the tail, that it's a boy, but as I say even with my glasses I can't yet be certain. And so I can't really decide on a name, but it's got to be something with good hard constonants, for when i call it. As it sneaks around silently - a little black face suddenly appearing amongst the tomato plants or peeking over the woodpile - it's like a little imp, so I wondered about Boggart, ... but for something more historical I'm also considering Tostig (after the 11th century Earl of Northumbria who also had pretentions to the throne). But as I say I'm still not sure that it's a boy.

Judging by the size of the head it looks like a boy MM, males with the family jewels intact and still getting the full testosterone treatment usually have bigger heads and thicker necks than the females. Then it could be just the way the cat is sitting and I could be wrong...

The puss looks in good health for a stray though, nice glossy coat and not too thin. Pickings must be good in the area.  Love black cats, always excellent natured for some reason. I have one myself, a female though.

For a name I'll throw Vagabond into the ring for a male and Contessa for a female.

Larry has his own Twitter account;

Number10cat


as does Palmerston:

PalmerstonFOCat

Larry has also just submitted an article to the Guardian which was published yesterday. I am glad to say his prose style there was rather more dignified than in one of his recent tweets wherein he called Palmerston "a dick". Palmerston immediately responded with, "You're cruising for another bruising, sunshine."

This is not language we expect from top Civil Servants.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/02/larry-cat-prime-ministers-laws-out-top-dog-no-10-downing-street

Actually the fighting between Larry and Palmerston has got beyond a joke. Even the paparazzi have been shocked by the ferocity of the encounters: one photographer indeed was badly scratched when he intervened to separate the battling felines who were locked in deadly combat.

Where will it all end?

A fourth cat is about to join the élite band of mousers: Cromwell. He is to be brought into the Cabinet Office very soon.

Cromwell is an excellent name, although I am not sure whether the new moggy has been so called in honour of the fearsome Lord Protector, or after Henry VIII's equally ruthless fixer. Either way, Cromwell will no doubt soon sort the others out, and put an end to the disgraceful in-fighting we have seen in recent days.

I predict he will soon be Our Chief of Mousers.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/03/cabinet-office-set-to-appoint-cat-called-cromwell-as-chief-mouse/

Cromwell is indeed an excellent name for a cat and I considered it for my new interloper, along with Wolsey, another good feline name IMO. But in the end I dismissed both for simple reason that French speakers, like Anne Boleyn, would have trouble pronouncing and spelling them ... eg "Cremeuil" et "Ouellsée" etc.

Meles meles wrote:

Cromwell is indeed an excellent name for a cat...

Yes - in fact, when Bosworth goes to the great Meow Mix factory in the sky, my next moggy will be a Cromwell (Crum for short, which is what Henry VIII called his chief mouser minister). But not everyone approves the name. The historian, Joan Redmond, is apparently appalled. This is from the link I give below:



Number 10 has one; the Treasury and the Foreign Office both have ones; and now the Telegraph reports that the Cabinet Office is getting its own mouser.

And continuing with the endearing tradition of naming Whitehall cats after great Brits from history, the Chief Whip is apparently planning to call it…Cromwell.

Yes, that Cromwell. The genial father of British democracy who headed England’s most brutal military assault on its neighbours, but still has a statue on Parliament Square, alongside Nelson Mandela and Gandhi.

‘First reaction is just omg,’ commented Cambridge historian Joan Redmond, who recently completed a PhD on popular religious violence in Ireland from 1641-1660.

‘Second is that it’s an example of acute historical insensitivity and ignorance.’   

So, ahead of the heated debate that will undoubtedly rage over this matter, here are our five reasons why Cromwell is a really, really dreadful name for a cat.



1. Because pets should not be named after mass murderers

It’s a simple rule. No Miaow Zedong’s, No A-dog Hitlers, no Kim Jong-Bunnies — no kitty Cromwells.

While there is continuing historical debate about using terms like ‘ethnic cleansing’ or ‘near-genocide’ in relation to Cromwell’s Irish campaign, it’s well-established that he and his forces massacred Irish civilians. Lots of them.

So, while the Chief Whip reportedly disclosed the planned name in a ‘tongue-in-cheek manner’, it’s a joke that will fall as flat as the town of Wexford…in 1649…after Cromwell’s troops burned it to the ground.

2. Because of “the precious, precious bond between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland”

Remember this? It’s what Theresa May said on the steps of Downing Street on her first evening as Prime Minister, reminding us all that her party’s full name is ‘The Conservative and Unionist Party.’

It would be odd then for a Conservative government to commemorate, in its feline nomenclature, an English despot who hated both Scots and Irish and did all he could to stamp out their cultures and replace them with a greater England.

3. Because Ireland is angry enough already

Brexit is really bad for Ireland, both north and south. It’s bad for their economies, bad for the peace process, bad in basically every way.

Irish people are frustrated that, after a century of trying to resolve the tensions that exist with their slightly overbearing neighbours, the neigbours have decided to set both our houses on fire.

And now they’re planning to buy a cat, give it offensive name, and allow it to claw apart the tapestry of our shared history.

4. Because Scotland is angry enough already

With insult heaped on top of injury, we can definitely expect Nicola Sturgeon to find a Highlands Wildcat, name it William Wallace and let it loose on Cromwell.

5. Because the Tories are supposedly the party of gender equality — surely they can promote one female cat?



Oh dear - Cromwell "an offensive name". Is it really? I rather agree with this message, sent in response to Joan Redmond's - and the article's - po-faced admonitions:

Brigantian
August 4, 2016 (2 weeks ago)
I disagree and think Cromwell is an excellent name for a scheming furry psychopath with whiskers, a tail and propensity for sadistic violence (aka a cat).



https://leftfootforward.org/2016/08/__trashed-2/


PS  I note the suggestion of a Scottish wild cat called William Wallace that Ms Sturgeon could send to London to take on the entire Whitehall team of Larry, Palmerston, Gladstone and Cromwell. Such a confrontation doesn't bear thinking about.

Wee Wullie is not not quite ready to take on the opposition in that there London yet but we're training him up - along with the other three kittens who were born earlier this summer.




However Robert Bruce who's a year old now is showing clear signs of being a bonnie wee fechter.

I know nationalist triumphalism is not to be encouraged (much), but Larry has recently tweeted this:

Larry the Cat ‏@Number10cat  · Aug 14  

Things above China:
- Mongolia
- Team GB

Not bad for a rainy little island adrift off the European mainland -  we are second in the medals table.

How do we do it? Seems we Brits are really good at sitting-on-or-in-something sports: give us a boat, a bike or a horse and we can still beat the world.

But it won't last.

Temperance wrote:

But it won't last.

Thank goodness for that, next Sunday can't come soon enough. I've exercised iron self control and kept off the 'Rant' thread but really, can't anyone find a better use for all the money, effort, attention and pharmaceutical ingenuity that's wasted on sodding professional sport?

Explosion over, I'm off to try to work out what the blinking cat wants, she's sitting on the table staring at me with that "Why  don't you understand and just do it?" look.

Bosworth has slept through it all, although, like Palmerston below, he does do some occasional warm-up stretches.


Palmerston last week, although he could be practising his diving technique again.







I wish there were a men's synchronized swimming event. The BBC Sports people had one of their chaps giving it a go with the girls (who to me always look like the corps de ballet drowning) and it was really funny watching him lumbering about underwater. He was hopeless -  looked like an ungainly baby hippopotamus It's a very difficult activity. I didn't know they can hear the music in the depths of the pool, but they can: I  was amazed to learn there are underwater loudspeakers.

But yes, it has all got a bit tedious now, as, no doubt, some would say about us posting endless pictures of various felines and their stupid pretend "tweets" - anthropomogism run mad.

To be honest, Temp, I find most animals a lot more appealing than many humans these days.

Mens synchronised swimming? Thank heavens the men seem to have more sense and we are spared that, watching women's feet flap above the water is bad enough.

Ferval, did you see the programme about the Scottish Highlands on Friday night? One part of the programme showed a fearsome moggy called Hamish who is being encouraged to father Scottish wildcat offspring, young felines which, hopefully, are to be released into their natural habitat soon. Hamish is a superb specimen and would put the fear of God into the pampered gang at Whitehall. I'll see if I can find a picture of him.

Despite his tough appearance, Hamish is apparently a tender and hands-on father: the commentator said he has often been seen carrying and cleaning his kittens.

EDIT: Can't find a picture of Hamish, but here is an article about him and the breeding programme.


http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13065214.Can_Scotland_s_wildcats_be_saved_from_extinction_/


EDIT 2: One can't imagine Hamish posting nonsense on Twitter:

Well it's still officially summer and "the silly season" - not that it looks like it, it's very damp and miserable out of doors in my neck of the woods today.  Now I don't seem to have an awful lot of luck posting Youtube here is my bit of silliness (though I didn't make up the Youtube video of course) where somebody has re-imagined Game of Thrones characters as cats; I like the Samwell one.  There was one version of the video with Grumpy Cat as Lady Lyanna Mormont but I couldn't find that.

I'm really so sorry, I did try to be serious, but this made me laugh out loud - especially the rapid cat deployment.





I happened across it while looking for this tale of an alpine rescue cat that was mentioned on the radio.

http://distractify.com/animals/2016/09/01/hiker-cat-hero

To continue the saga of 10 Downing Street, typical government they've put an end to all the fun. No more ambushing Palmerston. I hope the bell isn't merely silver plate, that wouldn't be keeping up with the neighbours. A solid silver one surely?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/14/larry-the-cat-given-shiny-new-bell---now-palmerston-will-hear-hi/

It's not just on this forum that all things feline are on occasion dismissed as being, well, not quite a proper subject for inclusion; in academe the study of the genetics, domestication and dispersal of the moggy is well behind, and less well funded, that of the mutts. Hardly surprising I suppose given that these topics have for so long been dominated by men who traditionally prefer the unquestioning devotion of dogs to the cool appraisal of cats. However things are changing and felis catus is finally getting mire attention.

http://www.nature.com/news/how-cats-conquered-the-world-and-a-few-viking-ships-1.20643

Larry has posted this picture on Twitter. It is the moggy of some disgraced football manager or other.




PS A political tweet from Number10 Cat:


The year is 2183.
Cats control Earth having enslaved humanity and eradicated all dogs.
Jeremy Corbyn remains the leader of the Labour Party.

Anyone else ever read The Far Side by Gary Larson ?:

Maybe this should be in the Art thread............






The New Yorker has many wonderful cat (and dog) cartoons.

LiR, I thought this might cheer you up: I spoke too soon when I said things had quietened down. Larry posted this picture earlier today with the rather challenging tweet: "I'm watching you, Palmerston."

The F.O. mouser, obviously tutored by his Etonian masters, has not deigned a reply (yet). Note Palmerston's body language - that slightly amused tilt of the head.

Some serious errors of political judgement revealed here:


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/03/theresa-may-reveals-she-is-a-dog-person-as-she-gives-lukewarm-re/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter


An immediate tweet - with Mori poll results -  from Larry:

Are you a Larry the Cat person or a Theresa May person?


05%Theresa May


95%Larry the Cat



Vote

3,487 votes

Acoustic Kitty, a CIA plan to use a cat as a spy;



The cat had other ideas and the whole thing was scrubbed.

Drone rescues cat:

High Rise Rescue

The BBC has been rather coy this morning, declaring that some parts of Donald Trump's so-called "locker-room banter" were "too lewd" to broadcast on British TV. Larry must have read all of Trump's dreadful comments, however, including the particularly vulgar one about "pussies" (perhaps someone left the Washington Post lying on one of Larry's chairs at Number 10), because our favourite political feline immediately sent an alarmed tweet to the Republican candidate:


Larry the Cat ‏@Number10cat  · 11h  

@realDonaldTrump Don't you dare try to grab this pussy...

What a mess the world is in. I suppose we get the politicians we deserve. Bring back Gladstone and Disraeli - and not just as moggies' names.

Temperance wrote:

I suppose we get the politicians we deserve. Bring back Gladstone and Disraeli .....

Gladstone, that serious statesman, even when he was the aged 'Grand old Man of Politics', was still not averse to wandering the streets of the East End of London in search of "fallen women" ie prostitutes. And by his own admission, after his nightly perambulations he often took his new-found female friends home, (to No.10 ?!?) to give them spiritual guidance and restorative cups of tea (Gladstone was a bit of a tea addict). It all sounds a bit dodgey but I actually believe his actions and intentions were entirely honest, well-meaning and sincere.  And the press at the time always remained very quiet about it all.

But can you imagine how the modern press would treat it?

Incidentally - and perhaps this should really go on the 'strumpets and ninnycocks' thread ..... but I wasn’t previously aware that Lily Langtrey, the well-known mistress of Edward VII (well, one of them anyway), had also been a very close friend of Gladstone. Their relationship was again just friendship I’m sure, but they did nevertheless rather hit it off. She got invitation and entry into high-society, and he (Gladstone) seems to have appreciated her gentle advice and instruction in how he might better deal with people (because he was, notoriously, a rather bluff fellow) ... even Queen Victoria said that discussing things with him, even in private audience, was akin to , "being addressed like a public meeting".

... but i'm rather wandering away from matters feline.

Gladstone was a good egg. But we don't do good eggs these days, do we? Everyone is suspect. I blame Freud.



Back to Larry. He's a witty moggy:



Larry the Cat ‏@Number10cat  · Oct 14  

Today is the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings; these days it would have been shortened to "Brentry"



"Brentry"

18 October 1963, Parisian stray Felicette, becomes the first cat in space:

After the News Bunny, we now have the News Kitty, a wee stray kitten that wandered onto a live Turkish news bulletin.

More mundane than some of the amusing videos that have been posted - this morning my cat had her annual 'flu booster jab and the vet found that she had an abscess on a tooth.  She's been a bit subdued of late but I'd put it down to her being 13 now.  He says that apart from the manky teeth she is okay.  I feel a bit guilty that I hadn't realised she was suffering.  I had an abscess on a tooth - oh seems like back in the Dark Ages now - but I recall it was very painful and I wasn't very good company while I had it - not aggressive but not wanting to join in anything.  Anyway, I've arranged for her to have dental treatment at the vet's (I'll be public enemy number one with brass knobs on * for taking her to the vet's twice in a week) on Monday next.  She had had some dental work done five years ago just before I had her (she was rehomed as her original owner went into residential care) and I remember somebody from the pet insurance company going through what was covered by the insurance and what wasn't and I've a feeling dental treatment may not have been covered because it ranked as a pre-existing condition but I'll have to check with them. 

* In case anybody who  puzzled by the quirks of the English expression "with brass knobs on", it means - in this context - that the cat would view me as public enemy number one to an increased degree than she might normally consider me as such for taking her just once to the vet's.  I don't know if it's still used by youngsters but in my salad days one child might say "You're a dirty rascal" and the other child would retort "Same to you with brass knobs on".  Hope this explains things.

Right, I'm sure we could all do with a therapy session so here we go......





Has Larry made any comment yet? He's been very quiet recently.


Palmerston (allegedly) has been indiscreet though - is it the Boris effect?

https://twitter.com/palmerstonfocat

ferval wrote:

Has Larry made any comment yet? He's been very quiet recently.

The real Palmerston is never indiscreet; I suppose a diplomog can't afford to be: those unwise tweets are from an unofficial imposter. The real, official Palmerston messages are @DiploMog - very safe, very bland, a little bit boring. Palmerston is a lovely cat, but he is typically traditional F.O. (not Boris).  Larry, on the other paw, has been posting all sorts of provocative stuff, but again, I don't think his messages come from an "official" account. It's all very confusing.

Larry the Cat ‏@Number10cat  · 18m  



Theresa, there's some bloke called Don on the phone for you - he sounds like a bit of a tosser...

In future this thread may be conflated with the doggy one, Larry's got new neighbours at no 11.





For anyone wondering what the political pussies have been up to, (No, I don't mean you, Donald), here's some updates:

https://twitter.com/PoliticalPics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw


Oh. and the Chief Whip has a pet spider called Chronus.

Over on the 'Confused Christians History' thread:

Temperance wrote:

"Willibald and Winibald" - what wonderful names - MM take note for future moggies.

And so, while all the official Whitehall Moggies seem to be keeping quiet, now seems a good time as any to make this official announcement: The stray that has been hanging around my house for three years or so, and who I have gradually thought might one day take over the post of chief ratter from my two elderly cats, has now become an officially adopted, albeit still junior, feline member of the team.

Here he is:



And now that he'll allow me to get close - although we're not yet on intimate stroking terms - I can definitely confirm ID's suspicion from several months ago that he is indeed a boy. Indeed he's such a 'big boy' that he actually walks somewhat bandy-legged, like a saddle-sore John Wayne. But vocally he's a bit of a wuss. Whilst my two girls give vent to a full-throated "MEEAAARH" at supper time, he just squeaks with a tiny, demure little "meiuw". (Although in their defence my existing two cats are in their twenties and I suspect both are slightly deaf).

But now, knowing that he is definitely male, I feel I can finally give him a name. Apart from Temp's suggestion of Winnibald, there have also been various people's (historical) suggestions, of Cromwell (Crum), Wolsey, Gladstone, Bast, Hodge, Boswell, Catigern (remember him?), Darwin, Mo(u)seley, Trajan, Cranmer, Cogidubnus,  ... etc.

But I have decided to call him Tostig, after the somewhat treacherous/devious earl of Northumbria and brother of Harold Godwinson ... don't ask me why ... it's just a name that has sort of stuck.

He still doesn't really trust me and is wary if I get too close, but strangely he seems to be great mates with the dog. The two of them often wander around the garden together, side-by-side, black-and-white, little-and-large, with Tostig even sometimes rubbing himself up against my Pooch, or they'll quite happily spend a whole afternoon together simply watching the world go by:

Lovely picture, MM!

I think "Tostig" really suits him. He is most definitely not a Willibald.

T. is a very handsome moggy indeed. I'm glad he's found a good home with friends.

PS There has been more fighting at Whitehall, but it's all been hushed up recently.