Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Invasion of the Body Snatchers At the end of the classic scifi film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Kevin McCarthy's character stands in the fenfen middle of a highway among traffic ranting and screaming as passing motorists ignore his plaintive cries. "They're here already!" he yells, at no one, at everyone, at the viewer. "They" - the other, the unknown menace, the secret enemy who moves among us. Could be pod-person doppelgangers from space, could be communists. It just depends on how you choose to interpret it.

Hugh Hefner meerkatsSo let me be quite plain that there is a menace which is slowly taking hold in society that you need to be aware of. It's not the hipsters. It's not the Beliebers or even the people who wear those frickin' ugly as sin Pandora bracelets. It's the meerkats. Yes, you read that correctly, meerkats.

My awareness of the meerkat menace began in England, when Fringa and I spotted a display of plush meerkat toys in a shop window in Brighton. For some incongruous reason they were wearing Hugh Hefner-esque robes and a bemused expression. We were so confused by these things that we took photos. I mean, why on earth would someone want to buy a stuffed meerkat wearing a robe? Fringa-twin later informed us of the sad truth. That the UK was in the grip of a meerkat craze started by an advertising campaign featuring a well-to-do meerkat called Alexandre. Naturally.