This morning's Dawn Chorus brings a few rays of sunshine to the start of December.
An end in sight to the illegal puppy smuggling trade
The government is cracking down on puppy smuggling from overseas, having decided to back the private members’ bill of Danny Chambers MP, Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets). And not before time: the specifics of how gangs mistreat the poor creatures they’ve been bringing to the UK in recent years is genuinely horrifying.
Mr Chambers — a trained vet now serving as a Lib Dem MP — said, ‘I’ve treated many dogs with cruelly cropped ears or docked tails, leaving them physically scarred and emotionally traumatised. There is no excuse for these mutilations in the 21st Century…. By taking advantage of policy loopholes, criminals have been able to traffic vulnerable animals into the UK. This gap in the system has caused the suffering of thousands of innocent animals.’
Fingers — and paws — crossed for a swift passage through Parliament for this one.
Quiz of the Day
1) What general term is used to describe a creature without a backbone?
2) Worcestershire Beacon is the highest point in which range of hills?
3) Who played the title role in Doctor Who when the television programme was revived in 2005?
4) Worsted fabric is made from what material?
5) Rather than an axe, what was used in the execution of Anne Boleyn?
Answers down below
Why buy one perfect tropical island when you can buy two?
The Bahamas are, apparently, made up of ‘around’ 700 islands and ‘approximately’ 2,400 cays.
Alder Cay and Frozen Cay, The Bahamas.
It feels a bit wrong that nobody seems to have bothered to count them all up more precisely — even Encyclopedia Britannica and the official Bahamas Government web page are vague on the numbers.
What we can say for absolute definite, though, is that two of the aforementioned dots on the map are currently for sale via Sotheby’s International Realty. Given how lax the counting up of islands seems to be, it’s perhaps no surprise to see them being bundled together in a sort of buy-one-get-one-free offer for High Net Worth individuals.
Also, from the looks of things, the two islands are almost conjoined twins; and nobody wants a semi-detached tropical paradise. What if you end up with noisy neighbours?
Between the two of them — the grandly-named Alder Cay, and the presumably-ironically-named Frozen Cay — you’ll get 83 acres of land and 13 bedrooms of accommodation in your pair of island paradises.
Nassau, capital of The Bahamas, is a modest 35 miles away — a journey most easily made in you own sea plane, but close enough that you could get there via boat if you prefer — and one of the cays has a gorgeous little harbour for parking your collection of launches and yachts. Glorious.
Frozen Cay and Alder Cay are for sale at $25 million — see more details and pictures.
A cheat sheet to get the right title
‘There are not many hills that I am slightly prepared to die on, but one is getting people’s names – and titles – right,’ Eleanor Doughty wrote for us last week. ‘This is, admittedly, an old-world problem. Few care about titles these days, but the decline in the use of correct form is becoming an epidemic.’
Read her piece to find out why so many people get titles wrong — and her simple guide to getting it right.
‘A day away from Chartwell is a day wasted’
The open-air swimming pool at Chartwell, near Westerham, Kent, the country house of Sir Winston and Lady Churchill. (Photo by: Hilary Jane Morgan/Design Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Most people know that Churchill (whose 150th anniversary was on Saturday) had a country house at Chartwell in Kent. Not so many know that he had a swimming pool built in the garden; here’s how it appeared in its heyday. You can read our pick of Churchill’s best quotes right here.
Quotations from the bright side of life
‘Of all the months of the year there is not a month one half so welcome to the young, or so full of happy associations, as the last month of the year.’
Charles Dickens on the joy of December.
That’s it — we’re back on Tuesday
QUIZ ANSWERS
1) Invertebrate
2) Malvern
3) Christopher Eccleston
4) Wool
5) A sword
