Here and There

The First Dog (continued)

I see that the BBC has seized on my First Dog story without the slightest acknowledgement. It’s almost as if they hadn’t read my blog! Nevertheless, I did learn something useful from their blatant act of plagiarism, namely the existence of a new breed of dog called a labradoodle – apparently a cross between a labrador and a doodlebug.

It’s an Unfair World

If one had any lingering doubts that there might be some justice in this world, such doubts were laid to rest for me by the sight of a full-page spread in yesterday’s International Herald Tribune depicting Sir Sean Connery in an advertisement paid for by Louis Vuitton on behalf of something called The Climate Project.

Not only does Connery get the unquestioning adulation and unceasing ego massaging that is meted out to all film stars once they get to a certain age, he also gets the unending injections of cash which would make the Lehman brothers (Ben and Jerry) green with envy. But wait! There’s more! He gets the unstinting admiration of all and sundry because of his “tireless” (are you kidding?) work on behalf of the climate. “The climate?”, says Sir Sean, “I’m for it”. The way things are going, I think we’re all for it.

I’ve got nothing against Connery or indeed any other of his elk; if I ever met him I would no doubt be as fawning as the next person. My point is that no other category has really done so little to deserve so much. Politicians, for example, pay a high price for their fame (as Harry Truman once said: if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog).