Will Mr. Cat Please Take the Stand?

In summing up for the jury in the phone hacking case against Andy Coulson, former News of the World editor, Mr. Justice Saunders put a particularly amusing comment from witness Dan Evans in context. Mr. Evans, who has pled guilty to hacking, said that the practice was systemic at the defunct tabloid. In fact, it was so prevalent that “even the office cat knew,” meaning, said Mr. Justice Saunders, that many people (including presumably the defendant) knew it was going on. But, noted the judge, the defense responded, “Where is the office cat?” Where is the proof that many people were aware?

More here  (on the phone hacking trial, not cats) from the Guardian, here from CNN.

As someone who has long shared her home with felines, I feel constrained to point out that while they do know many, many things, they disclose very few. And the human-cat privilege (concerning neighbors, bathroom rituals,  and screening calls from one’s mother, among other things) is, in my opinion, sacred. 

A cat keeping it under his beret