Donald Trump throws a dead cat onto the table

Everyone knows how useful a dead cat can be, right? The Australian political strategist – and Tory campaign chief – Lynton Crosby is credited with coming up with the dead cat ploy. It has the great virtue of being as simple as it is colourful. When, Crosby says, you are in a hole or faced with the tricky task of diverting attention away from some unwanted piece of news you should throw a dead cat onto the table. Hey presto! No-one is talking about the bad news; everyone is talking about the dead cat on the table.

Donald Trump deployed the dead cat tactic yesterday. His proclamation – to call it a mere announcement fails to do it justice – that President Trump would ban muslims from entering the United States (with, it should be noted, a generous exception for muslims serving in the US military) is the biggest, deadest, feline anyone has seen in months.