Janet is always keen to expand her mind and decided to have a look at the Times Educational Supplement yesterday, which carried an article about psychometric testing on the front page and gave the following "taster" :
" Pet topic
A psychometric-style question
The cat is a small carnivorous mammal that is often valued by humans for its companionship. The cat is a skilled predator and is known to hunt over 1,000 species for food. Cats use a variety of vocalisations and body language for communication, such as purring, mewing, hissing and growling. The cat is an intelligent mammal and can be trained to obey simple commands. Typically, a cat will weigh between 2.5kg and 7kg. Cats are extremely sensitive as they have highly advanced hearing, eyesight, touch, and taste receptors. People’s belief that cats are solitary animals is incorrect, as they are actually highly social. This misconception is due to cats not having a social survival strategy (“pack mentality”) like animals such as dogs. This means that they look after their own needs, even when living in a group.
Q: Cats make good companions for humans
A: True
B: False
C: Cannot say
Source: Aptitude Tests Online."
Our answer would, of course, be A : True. However, could this be a trick question, with a politically correct sub-text, intended to weed out humans (and potential teachers) who also "look after their own needs, even when living in groups" notwithstanding that they have a "social survival strategy" as well.
In thus reflecting, Rocco (a cat) finds himself asking : Do politicians make good pets ? : or, more politically correctly, do they make good companions for cats ? Answers, please.
Yes, says Tango, who appeared on BBC1's political "Question Time" recently.
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