Harry Potter and the Stuffed Ferret

[davewitley]

I was listening to the radio the other day, and they were 
interviewing a retired diplomat (can't remember his name but he had 
just published an autobiography which broke some arcane secrecy 
rule).  He mentioned that former Foreign Secretary (US translation: 
Secretary of State) Robin Cook had a number of items in his office, 
intended to convince visitors of British invention, contribution to 
the world etc.  He mentioned several things but the only ones to 
stick in my mind were parts of an aeroplane (bits of our a/c industry 
*are* still just about up there with the best), a Harry Potter book, 
and a stuffed ferret.

They didn't say which book, and there was lengthy discussion of the 
ferret, which established that nobody had the faintest idea why it 
was there, and that nobody had ever mustered the courage to ask Cook 
about it.

Do you suppose Mortlake works for the Muggle Foreign Office? Or is it 
a portent for Draco?

Apparently the current incumbent, Jack Straw, a noted philistine 
(apologies to Palestinian listies), has removed the exhibits.

David