There has been one figure of stability in the past 14 years of political turmoil in the UK — Larry the Downing Street cat.
With a general election on July 4, the aging tabby could be in line for his sixth prime minister.
He has already had five Conservative prime ministers serve under him, but if polls are correct, he will soon get his first from the Labour Party.
Photo: AP
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s departure would see him take his fox-red labrador retriever Nova, too. Not that Larry would mind.
According to Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, the pair have had some “heated exchanges.”
However, Larry has always prevailed.
Labour leader Keir Starmer recently told the BBC that his family has a cat, Jojo, that his children spoil more than him.
They also have a hamster, Bear, he told the Metro newspaper.
It remains to be seen if either would move with him if he wins.
Larry has been fiercely protective of his territory, frequently fighting to be top cat with his counterpart at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Palmerston.
His rival eventually retired to the countryside.
Urban foxes and unsuspecting pigeons have also been chased away, although one feathered interloper narrowly avoided his clutches as the media looked on.
Larry made his first appearance in Downing Street on Feb. 15, 2011, after being adopted from the Battersea shelter in south London.
He was recruited under then-British prime minister David Cameron to get rid of mice and even given an official title: “Chief Mouser.”
However, his performance in that department left much to be desired, despite a few early successes.
Cameron himself tried to quash rumors that he and Larry did not get along, while reporters on the politics beat have said he is friendly with journalists.
“He’s interested,” BBC political correspondent Helen Catt said in a recent item on Larry. “He tends to come up and have a look when you’re there with the camera crew, he likes to see what the press are up to.”
That has its downsides, she added.
“When you’re in Downing Street and you’re doing lives, you’re always very aware that if he pops out behind you, a lot of people really aren’t going to be listening to what you’re saying anymore,” she said.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
RSS