Fleas in No 10 Downing Street
LIZ Truss, whose spell as British prime minister lasted but weeks and was the shortest ever, has revealed in a memoir that when she moved into No 10 Downing Street, it was infested with fleas.
Is she getting at her predecessor, Boris Johnson? No, according to Sky News, she says in the memoir, Ten
Years To Save The West, that Bojo’s dog, Dilyn, was believed to be responsible for the fleas. Such loyalty is surely commendable.
She also reveals that she and her husband had ordered new furniture for the residence “but were evicted before it could be delivered”.
How does this rather slight information match the weighty title? The reviews I’ve seen so far don’t attempt to explain it.
Monkey war
RELATIONS between humans and monkeys in the Thai city of Lopburi have reached a low ebb, according to Associated Press.
The monkeys frequently try to snatch food from humans, sometimes resulting in tussles that can leave people with scratches and other injuries.
But outrage grew last month when a woman dislocated her knee after a monkey pulled her off her feet in an effort to grab food, and a man was knocked off a motorcycle by a hungry monkey.
Is there some kind of parallel here with Durban?
The macaques that roam Lopburi are a symbol of local culture and a major tourist drawcard. But after years of dangerous encounters, people and businesses have had enough. Again, echoes of Durban? Thai wildlife officials have laid out a plan to end at least a decade of human-monkey conflict.
The authorities hope to round up some 2 500 urban monkeys and place them in massive enclosures.
They’ll work to find a way for a limited number of monkeys to stay at liberty in the city.
A monkey-catching campaign prioritises aggressive alpha males, some of which are being sent to a neighbouring province. Others are in the Lopburi zoo.
The monkeys are a symbol of the province, about 140km north of Bangkok, where the ancient Three Pagodas temple celebrates an annual “Monkey Buffet” , and they’re commonly seen throughout the city.
Macaques are classified as a protected species under Thailand’s wildlife conservation law.
Some have blamed the city’s monkey troubles on tourists and residents feeding the animals, which they say drew monkeys into the city and boosted their numbers, as well as getting them accustomed to getting food from humans.
Sigh! Again, parallels with Durban?
Limerick time
ALARMING developments in the Middle East. Let’s try to take our minds off them with a limerick. There was a crusader of Parma, Who went to bed with his charma; She, naturally nude,
Said: ‘Don’t think me rude,
‘But don’t you think you should take off your arma?’
Tailpiece
THEY say a million monkeys with a million keyboards can produce the entire works of Shakespeare. Thanks to the internet, we now know that’s not true.
Last word
What we call ‘Progress’ is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance. – Havelock Ellis