Calder's Comfort Farm

My latest New Statesman column - in which, as ever, I view the world from this imaginary establishment atop the Stiperstones in Shropshire - can be found on the magazine's website:

Ann Widdecombe rings, urging me to draw your attention to her website and the section for younger readers in particular. When I investigate it I find the Widdy Web Junior to be mostly about the cats Ann has known through her life.

The first of these was Jimmy, who:

"Used to go and meet my father every night when he came home on the bus from his work and he missed my brother when he went off to boarding school."

A sad tale, redolent of middle-class life of the period. But we can be consoled by the thought that Jimmy will undoubtedly have received a first-rate education.