The hamster died a while back- -they only last a couple of years. Or as my eldest granddaughter informed me "The hamster is no more. It has ceased to be. It has shuffled off its mortal coil. It is an ex-hamster!" She is well educated, but has been known to say "Ni!" to people who upset her.

However, I did claim vicarious vengeance a week or so back when one of our cats inflicted a severe scratch on Jen!

I did once engage with a veganatic who said we should release all the farm animals to roam free. Clearly they had never encountered such an animal at close quarters! Cows are aggressive when disturbed, bulls are aggressive when breathing. Pigs are a nightmare: they can run like the wind, have mouths full of sharp teeth, are highly intelligent (far more so than dogs or horses) and complete psychopaths. Pigs will eat humans far more readily than many humans will eat pigs. Sheep are dangerous from sheer stupidity. Even chickens will mob a human who gets careless. I also pointed out to thisperson that in oder ot maintain a naturla balance, it would be necessary to introduce large carnivores. Those once native to Britain would be wolves, black and brown bears, the Eurasian lynx and the wolverine. Urban foxes are quite bad enough, I told him, urban wolves would be worse!

Though now I think about it, if we could somehow train them to only eat anti-social elements: drug dealers, muggers, Jehovahs Witnesses, bailiffs, Tory canvassers, that kind of thing....