Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that at some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right?

It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream.

Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds.

In September 2013, Nottinghamshire Police Force announced the world an innovative and controversial new policy.

They decided that their service dogs were to get state pensions upon retirement.

One of the first recipients of this pension was Rossi, an eight-year-old Belgian Shepherd who had become a hero within the force,

having led to the rescue of his handler when he was being attacked by an axe-wielding villain.

Rossi and other retired dogs now each receive up to £500 a year from the public purse to help fund their food, care, shelter and medical bills.

The story was, of course, manner from heaven for certain sections of the press. A story about

dogs is usually good fare, but one combined with increased spending by bureaucrats in the age

of austerity was a headline writer's dream. The Daily Express must have spent minutes coming up with

a strapline that labelled the not police force barking mad. But I want to suggest that this story represents something a bit more than just an amusing

tale for the papers.

I want to suggest that it's an example, albeit small, of a new way of thinking about our

relations with animals, a way of thinking that regards animals as members of our political

communities.

Let me tell you a couple of other stories that emerged about service dogs

at the time that the Knott's police force were outlining their new pension plans.

The first is about two guard dogs, Bruce, a Belgian shepherd, and Blade, a German shepherd.

These were the dogs who were used to protect Prince William while he was based at RAF Valley in Anglesey.

Just days after the prince left his posting there, both dogs were put down.

The Ministry of Defence claimed that while it had tried to rehome the dogs, it had no luck.

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