Peter Cardwell

On the 23rd anniversary of the signing of the Belfast Agreement, it’s safe to say celebrations here in Northern Ireland will be muted at best. Over the past ten days, hundreds of rioters wielding bricks, bottles, stones and petrol bombs in Belfast have injured more than 70 police officers, most notably in the west of the city, where working-class loyalists and republicans live cheek by jowl. In terrifying scenes, a bus driver narrowly escaped injury when his vehicle was petrol bombed and left to coast down a street. The trigger for the violence was the decision by Northern Ireland’s public prosecution service not to bring charges against 24 Sinn Féin politicians who broke Covid restrictions at a funeral of an IRA leader, which 2,000 attended.

As a number of top civil servants take shelter from the 'hard rain' Dominic Cummings has forecast for Whitehall, it's unsurprising one feline has also taken the opportunity to announce his retirement. It's fair to say my friends and former colleagues who work at the Foreign Office are much sadder to see the back of Palmerston the cat than the permanent secretary, Sir Simon McDonald, who is also leaving his post, though in fairness Sir Simon probably made himself available for fewer scratches behind the ears. The announcement has been subject to speculation for some time, with Palmerston isolating for months at a temporary home in Hampshire, which is now to become permanent. Ever the media-savvy moggy, Palmerston chose the eve of International Cat Day to announce his departure.