actualzombie

In addition to the above, if scratching is the worry, I’ve had luck with a couple of drops of Petitgrain / Bitter Orange essential oil where they’re keen to scratch. The smell is strong for a day when you first put it on, so if you hate it, that’s not helpful - it doesn’t bother me. It will fade over time, but I’ve found that that the deterrent is usually good for several months before they rediscover the location as a desirable scratch.

I also regularly (about once per week) mist where I do want them to scratch, their scratching posts, with catnip spray.

And finally, for a couple locations that they seem to always be super attractive for scratching, and are also out of the way (the backs of two fuzzy armchairs which are in corners on an angle, so a dark space for a cat to get into), I’ve covered them in double-sided sticky sheets sold as scratching deterrents, and that’s solved those as problems. This might not work as well on the side of a mattress that’s exposed, though.

“Our new $20 note is both visually stunning and more secure than ever.”

Yeah, they’re nice enough as a bank note goes, but I think “visually stunning” is a bit of an overstatement.

It’s startling and disturbing to me that 20% of people polled believe that “not having enough to eat and live without going into debt” doesn’t count as poverty.

I’m also surprised that it’s permitted to be so subjective. Even the research author says, “Statistics can tell us how many people fall below a specified threshold. They cannot decide for us where that threshold should be drawn.” I disagree. No-one should be choosing amongst sufficient shelter, food, and utilities every month. Or week. Or day. Spend some time visiting with people below various “statistical thresholds”, and it should be fairly obvious.

Actually, then again, maybe don’t. Because many politicians, seeing a heavily stoned person sharing a dirty bedroom in a crowded drug-positive tenement, learning they spend 90% of the pittance they earn or receive on self-harm, not understanding that a 6 week rehab program won’t turn them into corporate executives, not understanding the terrible spiralling self-hate cycle they’re caught in, would simply dismiss them as subhumans beyond hope so not worth the investment.

A struggling average middle-class family is something they can parse and comprehend, and know they’re likely to vote, so can pander and glad-hand to them to maintain a political career.