First post

Originally published: March 24 2010

Anyone who has a cat will recognise this behaviour. Note to self - when the daily starts up again in January, bring back The Post.

Meercat Manor

Originally published: March 22 2010

Meercats - officially the cutest animal in the world right now. Posters, cuddly toys, Reality TV shows, they're everywhere. They even sell us insurance. And they're not even real cats for heaven's sake! And they did it all simply by standing up on their hind legs, looking for gullible camera crews. Simples!

Shamrocks

Originally published: March 19 2010

It's an old joke, but it's good for it to get an airing now and again.

St Patrick's Day

Originally published: March 17 2010

Continuing the series on plants associated with British national patron saint's days. OK, does anyone know the difference between shamrock and clover?

Boris the Spider

Originally published: March 15 2010

This puzzled my overseas readership when it first appeared. However, since the London Olympics I think everyone now knows about Boris Johnson, unbelievably (but very entertainingly) twice elected as Mayor of London.

Boris is a bit of a contradiction - he's a liberal leaning Conservative, a highly intelligent man who acts like a buffoon, and a man with an unerring ability to get into scrapes like this…

Getting stuck on a zipwire while publicising the London Olympics
Boris causing chaos in a river
Boris on Have I Got News for You
Boris making one of his speeches, being simultaneously inept, erudite, embarrassing and baffling to wonderful effect

Why did I make Boris a spider? This is why.

Pfeffel is one of his middle names. What is it about weird middle names that turns people into politicians? It seems to work for American presidents as well.

Finally, here's a book recommendation. Johnson's Life of London. He may not be able to walk in a straight line but he writes like a dream. How can you dislike a book that starts a chapter on the life of Hadrian with the word "Clonk"?

Citroen

Originally published: March 12 2010
I have a soft spot for Citroen, the eccentric French car manufacturer, so don't take this strip to be a criticism. This looks at a car strictly from a cat's point of view. Cats just look for four things in a car:

1) Can I fit on the bonnet?
2) Is the bonnet warm?
3) Does it show up paw prints really well?
4) Is it so cramped inside that I can't be taken to the vets?

The C1 is great car in its petrol form. The electric version less so. The technology wasn't ready then - I'm still not convinced the technology is ready now. Its time will come, say in twenty years time, once range, recharging and infrastructure problems have been sorted out - though it still does leave the question of how the electricity that runs the cars gets generated in the first place. Go down the energy chain far enough and your green Prius is probably powered by a coal burning power station.

Stre-e-e-etch

Inspired by Billy, who is a very elastic cat. I've never seen any cat stretch to the lengths that he can manage.

Incidentally, if you're wondering why I'm not drawing these Sunday strips in the traditional three-bank funny pages format, it's because I don't think that's how Smith will be seen in the future. Print is dead, and the parameters we have to work to nowadays are not those that suit newspaper production, but those that suit smart phones and tablets. It's an interesting space to work with, and it's let me try several ideas that just wouldn't have worked before. This is a strip I could never have done in the daily format.