Leave poor Dilyn at home next time you go jogging, Boris

It was a picture of the Prime Minster out for a run in St James’s Park with Dilyn this week that reminded me: jogging with your dog on a lead is bad for them. Some years ago, I dated a man whose dog had terrible arthritis and needed fat pills smuggled into her breakfast because he’d always bounded around Richmond with her. Although taking them for a spin may seem a good idea, some experts claim it’s a very unnatural way for dogs to move. They need to stop and start, leap after a squirrel then pause, burst after someone else to sniff their bottom, then have a scratch, not be forced to continually race alongside us. Just a little tip for any readers who were thinking of taking their labrador for a trot after their kipper.