It has been a fractious week for humanity’s two favourite pet species. This newspaper’s letters page was briefly convulsed by the question of whether dogs and cats should be permitted on public transport. Opponents worried about hygiene and disruption. Supporters replied that children are frequently worse behaved than any animal.
Although the debate was notionally about both cats and dogs, felines are a comparatively rare presence on the number 145. Cats do not slavishly follow their owners around, wagging their tails in the hope of approval. They plough their own furrow. But the contention that dogs are generally better-behaved than a meaningful proportion of human passengers is hard to dispute.
This small outbreak of local hostilities was soon eclipsed by an altogether larger controversy involving Ireland’s favourite Oscar contender, Jessie Buckley. In a podcast recorded last November that resurfaced with impeccable timing in the final run-in to the awards ceremony next weekend, Buckley revealed that she does not like cats. Her Hamnet co-star Paul Mescal, who has been a dutifuly supportive presence throughout Buckley’s months-long campaign for the famous gold statuette, enthusiastically concurred. Buckley went further, disclosing that her now-husband had owned two cats when they met, and that she had issued an ultimatum. She won, she reported, apparently with some relish. Outrage, inevitably, ensued online.
One may wonder why this clip resurfaced with a few days to go to the awards, for which Buckley has been the unbackable favourite to win Best Actress. Some will suspect a dirty tricks campaign by rival studios, hoping to introduce a whisker of doubt among voters. They overlook a more plausible suspect. Cats have been the signal beneficiaries of modern internet culture, dominating social media feeds over the past decade with a patience and strategic cunning their “owners” rarely appreciate. Cats, unlike dogs, are playing the long game. If they can derail an Oscar , can election manipulation be far behind? Beware Big Cat.
