Fighting Like Cats And Dogs
When radio folk gather for a ´óÏó´«Ã½ meeting you can usually expect things to be civilised. Raised voices are rare and verbal abuse is delivered with such coded eloquence that you can be insulted on a Monday but it will be Friday before it dawns on you.
This week in Glasgow, however, I was chairing our fortnightly Creative Meeting at Pacific Quay and I threw the cat among the pigeons by introducing the vexed subject of pets.
"Forty percent of Scottish households own either a dog or a cat," I announced, while handing out a sheet of statistics "and there's also a smattering of gerbils and so on. So maybe we need a regular spot in the schedule for pet-owners."
Well, there were about a dozen people at the meeting and, until that point, we had been united in a common purpose to do our best for the cause of public service broadcasting.
But then it all kicked off.
The cat-lovers rounded on the dog-owners. The pet-haters formed a breakaway faction. A senior colleague launched into a spiteful diatribe about her son's pet terrapin. Another threatened to tear up the handout saying that he didn't need facts and figures to tell him stuff he already knew. A news journalist said she would welcome any idea that didn't involve more economic gloom. Someone who had been working too hard claimed that cats were just evil and would happily kill us all if they could organise themselves.
Every utterance was greeted with either cheers, boos, gasps or sighs. It was quite exciting really, but we didn't resolve much so I'm throwing the issue over to you.
Do we need more about pets on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Scotland? Please discuss calmly.
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