Walk Right In

If you're a cat owner, you'll know the trauma of finding a suitable food for your over fussy pussy.

(Ouch, stop swiping me! OK, I'll re-phrase that).

If you happen to have been adopted by a superior feline being you'll know the pleasure that can be got from satisfying the sophisticated tastes of your four legged companion and friend.

Now thanks to two besotted cat lovers, Rosemary and Andrew Gasson that pleasure is made even greater. Supported by an elite team of gourmet cat inspectors the brother and sister team have tried and tested 13 feline food producers and their products.

The results are contained in "The Good Cat Food Guide", obtainable from any discriminating bookseller and moggy maniac. As well as delightful portraits of the feline inspectors, the small pocket sized book contains hints and guides on good  cat husbandry as well as telling you what to look out for in a tin or packet of cat food.

Each product reviewed is given a "Paws and Claws" rating, along with details of flavours, whether it's wet or dry, the manufacturer and packet size. Also, like any self respecting food report it lists the top products and out right winners. In the wet food class Whiskas - Chicken in Jelly is the Top Cat Choice; whilst One Cat Adult - Chicken and Rice steals the dry food prize.

There is a downside; the list rapidly goes out of date. Our edition was published in 2006 and as we moggy lovers know cat foods do not stand still. Manufacturers delight in confusing us, with new tastes, flavours and combinations of ingredients.

No sooner have we become used to "Squid and sardine" in a scrumptious creamy sauce, we find that "Oriental styled prawn and chicken pate" is de rigour  on the block and for a week or so the sweet little darlings will eat nothing else.

Never mind, the booklet is a delight, with comical drawings and enjoyable text.


Which brings me to today's repeat of "Desert Island Discs".

It is one of the mysteries of broadcasting that this programme which began in the depths of the Second World War is probably as popular now, if not more so, as when it began 68 years ago.

Not really: it's what radio is best at. An interviewer and a guest, a collection of records and a fiction that if stranded on a desert island what seven records would the guest want to have with them. The interviewer, oh so gently, probes the guest's life and career, and occasionally it can result in real drama.

This week's castaway was Lynn Barber, the red wine swigging, 40 fags a day interviewer whose frank questioning of the good, great and infamous has won her numerous journalist awards. More recently she reached a wider audience with the film adaptation of her memoirs of a teenage love affair "An Education".

What a fascinating mix we were treated to. Her life, early affairs, strange but loving parents, university and a long lasting love that ended in 2003 with her husband's death. Just hearing her was refreshing. Such a joyous person and what great taste in music!  All the way from "Abdul Abulbul Amir" to the Kinks "Days" and Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side".


It is only right and fitting that she should be the subject of a Facebook and Wikio blog.

I bet she loves cats too!