What makes a wild cat wild?

THE blurring of faces to protect defendants, witnesses and children is all part of modern media life. But it reached new depths of silliness a few days ago. A TV company sent an artist into court to sketch the defendant's face – and then blurred the sketch. Priceless.

THREE Scottish wild cat kittens are proudly unveiled at the Highland Wildlife Park near Aviemore. The wild cat is becoming desperately rare thanks to its habit of breeding with domestic cats. But there's more to raising an authentic wild cat than simply keeping the genes pure. It must also be raised rough, tough, wary of humans and ready to disembowel any creature within range. But the first words these kittens are hearing are on the lines of: "Ooh, isn't he the most gorgeous ickle-tickle tiny sweetikins ever?" That's no way to raise a wild child.

IF you wanted to know how the Establishment worked 30 years ago, look no further than the newly-unearthed letter from MI5 into allegations that a prominent politician was molesting young boys. The letter concluded that "the risk of political embarrassment to the government is rather greater than the security danger". So that's the political embarrassment and security risks dealt with. But not once in the letter is there any mention of the children. Thank goodness attitudes have changed since then. But have they? The MI5 letter, dated 1986, shows exactly the same mind-set as the authorities in Rotherham had a few years ago during the industrial-scale abuse of white girls by Asian gangs. And the more scandals are discovered, the more it becomes obvious that even now, as far as some folk in high places are concerned, the problem is not the politicians, the police or the grooming gangs but the children themselves for rocking the boat by complaining. Ungrateful little blighters.

A TALE of two presidents. Barack Obama of the United States says he wants Britain to remain in the European Union. President Hollande of France says he wants a new parliament for the eurozone countries with a shared budget. I bet both their wishes will come true. As the Greek shambles has shown, a single-currency zone cannot work without a single set of rules. Thus, the new eurozone parliament will create a new superstate with Britain firmly on the outside. David Cameron will claim that he has negotiated a new relationship with Brussels and when the referendum comes the Brits will duly vote to stay in the EU (I'm sticking to my prediction of a 60 per cent majority) – but not right in it.

QUESTION. You have a grade A in GCSE French, so how much of the colloquial dialogue will you be able to follow in the French whodunnit Witnesses (C4)? Answer: rien. Somehow, school never quite prepares you for real life and no-one in France speaks the sort of French you get taught in an English classroom. Episodes of Witnesses should be added to the curriculum tooty-sweety

I PICKED up a new French expression from Witnesses. If something happened "back then," it happened "à l'époque." How neat is that? Admittedly, it is not much use for schoolkids who have a very small "back then" but it's very useful for those of us of a certain age. As you get older you find nearly all of the best stuff happened "à l'époque."

THERE I go, à la recherche du temps perduing again.