Archive for October, 2008
Tails of Two Nations : Introductions
After a few problems, we are proud to introduce “Tails of Two Nations” : a major international feline political discourse between the Cats of the Russian President and UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Dorotheus and Sybil. This dialogue will be facilitated by Boris the Cat.
We apologise for the delay, but a cat fight broke out between between Dorotheus and Boris, and we felt a little time was required to enable tempers to cool.
Dorotheus Medvedev
Oleg Shchedrov of Reuters has written the following account of Dorotheus (Dorofei in Russian) :
“According to Trud daily, the four-year-old Dorofei belongs to a rare Neva Masquerade breed, revealing Medvedev’s love of St Petersburg…
“One more guy from St Petersburg,” wrote Trud, referring to the cat.
In fact Medvedev’s wife Svetlana bought Dorofei in Moscow.
“When Svetlana came to pick up the kitten, she was not the first lady yet, just a simple and very nice woman,” Izvestia quoted the owner of a breeding company Great Hunter, Irina Ilminskaya, as saying. “She played a bit with the kittens and said they always kept cats in their home.”
The cat’s name was given by the breeder and is popular in Russian fairy tales.
According to the Russian media, Dorofei is a rather tough character — independent and unwilling to follow protocol. He is also a great fighter, keen to protect his territory and grow it at the expense of his neighbours.
One of such fights nearly ended in his death and left scars on Dorofei’s body.
“According to rumours Dorofei fought another VIP cat belonging to (former Soviet President) Mikhail Gorbachev,” said Trud adding that Gorbachev’s cat won.
However, Dorotheus claims much of this information is only press speculation, and – despite a generous private allowance from President Medvedev- he regards himself as a Revolutionary Socialist who has renounced violence (insofar as humans are concerned anyway) who wishes to carry forward the legacy of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn as set out in his “Letter to the Soviet Authorities” of 1974. For those unfamiliar with the text of this, we recommend Geoffrey Hosking’s excellent book, Russia and the Russians, which states that the letter “proposed that Russia abandon its international commitments and hyper-trophied heavy industry and withdraw into itself, taking the opportunity to develop its agriculture, crafts, and small-scale manufacture…”.
Sybil Darling
The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Cat declares herself to be a One Nation Conservative, and part of The Great Tradition which began with Tory Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli in the mid-19th century. Reforms started in this period, she believes, removed the need for violent revolution of the kind which had already taken place in France and would later occur in Russia. Although a common garden black and white mog herself, Sybil is a supporter of hereditary monarchy and aristocratic patronage, and deplores the kind of social polarisation associated with modern capitalism. Naturally, “The Aristocats” (Walt Disney 1970) is her favourite film.
 |
Sybil regards herself as the heir of the kind of British Conservatism which evolved up until the 1970s. Although this was temporarily suspended during the rule of Margaret Thatcher, Sybil maintains that something of its ideology was reborn under the John Major Government with the arrival of Humphrey the Cat in Downing Street in 1989 (presaging the downfall of Margaret). Sybil greatly regrets Humphrey’s internal exile to the Home Counties by subsequent decree of New Labour Prime Minister’s wife, Cherie Blair, and regards her own resumption of power over these territories as marking out a new “sphere of influence”.
Cherie Blair with Humphrey the Cat in 1997 (AP)
Notwithstanding her distaste for Thatcherism, Sybil is, like Margaret, is an admirer of former Soviet President Gorbachev, and, would, indeed, very much like to meet his Cat.
Boris the Cat
He is not related to the current Mayor of London, but has dined on many occasions with Peter Mandelson. Boris is demanding a large fee – as “a Cat not having the private means of Dorotheus, or Sybil’s access to the public purse” – for his involvment in this enterprise. As we are his agents, cheques should be made payable (Sterling only) to : Green Man Projects, and sent to Studio 13, 79 Friar Street, Worcester WR1 2NT UK. For more information about Green Man Projects see : http://woodwose.wordpress.com
Boris describes himself as a Neo-Liberal Pragmatist. He attended an elite private school in Southern England before Oxbridge, where he was recruited simultaneously by both the British and Russian secret services, but activated by neither. Boris later became a Fat Cat in the City of London. However, even he was appalled by its excesses, and has for many years been involved in International Good Works, for which he nevertheless ensures that he is paid handsomely.
Ideological & Theoretical Antecedents of this Discourse
Our enterprise adopts the spirit of Glasnost (frankness and truth) and Perestroika (change), and pays tribute to Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975), who, according to Geoffrey Hosking (see above) : “re-habiliated dialogue as the fundamental context of all discourse, including that which claims to be scientific”.
Add comment October 20, 2008
Feline Station Masters needed for Worcester’s Railways ?
Could feline station masters hold the keys to the regeneration of Worcester’s two railway stations and provide a much needed boost to the city’s visitor economy ?
Cat boosts economy of Japanese city
In the face of global economic gloom, a cat has provided a spectacular boost to the finances of a small Japanese city.
AFP reports that a study credits nine-year-old tortoiseshell Tama as the key figure in the millions of dollars banked by the city of Kinokawa in western Japan.
The famous feline is the official master of the unmanned Kishi railway station on the provincial Kishigawa line in Kinokawa. But it isn’t her ability to help travellers or stamp tickets that has bought the cash rolling in.
Tama’s regular appearances at the station wearing the formal black cap of the Wakayama Electric Railway have caused tourists to flock to Kinokawa in droves. Her appointment makes cultural sense in Japan, a nation where cats are considered good luck and are believed to boost ailing businesses.
According to a recently published study, 55,000 more people have used the Kishigawa Line than would normally be expected. As a result, Tama is being credited with a contribution to the local economy calculated to have reached as much as 1.1 billion yen (almost £6 million). The publicity generated by the celebrity cat – including a recent television appearance – is estimated as being worth 280 million yen (approx £1.5 million) alone.
Despite her national fame, it seems Tama is keeping her paws firmly on the ground. Although her hard work was recognised with a promotion to “super station master“, she remains content being paid in cat food.
Add comment October 6, 2008
