Party Games

🐾 Featuring a cat Cabinet, a political scandal … and an orange cat who accidentally becomes Leader.

This story is part of The Diary of an Orange Cat — now available as a book and as a complete 24-episode podcast series.

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^{The front page that changed everything: The Peninsula Post breaks the story that brings down Serafina’s government.}

STORY OUTLINE

After the success of Live at the Point, Diamond Harbour’s feline residents turn their attention to politics. Convinced that the local community needs stronger leadership, Serafina establishes an official cat Cabinet complete with ministerial portfolios and a formal system of government.

At first, the appointments seem harmless enough. Weasley reluctantly accepts the role of Deputy Leader and Minister of Education, Squeak takes on Arts and Culture, and Ron unexpectedly finds himself responsible for Health. However, events take a dramatic turn when photographs emerge of an impromptu lockdown gathering held at the Isolation Flat during the COVID crisis. Accusations of a leak, uncomfortable questions from the local media and a growing public backlash leave Serafina facing an impossible decision. As the scandal unfolds, Weasley discovers that becoming leader of the local cat community is the very last thing he ever wanted.

The story combines political satire, community humour and feline absurdity, while gently parodying some of the extraordinary events that shaped New Zealand during and after the pandemic.

BACKGROUND

Party Games was written in early 2023 and was inspired by two major political events occurring at the time.

The first was the UK’s “Partygate” scandal, in which gatherings held during COVID restrictions led to widespread public anger and political fallout. The second was the resignation of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, whose announcement that she no longer had “enough in the tank” became one of the defining political moments of the year.

Rather than directly parodying any individual politician, the story uses these events as a backdrop for exploring what might happen if a group of well-meaning but entirely unqualified cats attempted to form a government of their own.

Many of the phrases used by Serafina throughout the story deliberately echo the language of the pandemic years, including references to lockdowns, “the team of five million”, and the feeling of exhaustion and public division that characterised the period.

THE REAL CATS

Despite her political aspirations in fiction, Serafina’s real-life interests are considerably less demanding and mostly involve finding warm places to sleep.