Manama - Fans of the 1960s' cartoon Top Cat swear blind he's the surreal reincarnation of a tin pan alley patrolman beloved by generations of TC fans.
Tonight fat cats in the Old Alley are purring with delight at John Yates' appointment as Bahrain's new Officer Dibble.
The job spec sees him rebranding the reviled Manama Police Farce after its recent PR flop during the Arab Spring.
Ex-Met high-flyer Yates, a former Assistant Commissioner, will now lick these amateurs into shape albeit with the much televised proviso that he 'doesn't do bin bags'.
Whatever.
Reports tonight say his first task will be to rendezvous with ex-Miami police chief John Timoney - who joins him in the Bahrain consultancy - and the captain of the US Fifth Fleet's flagship moored off Manama.
A former red top reporter at the Leveson Inquiry reckons Yates might be going commando in an undercover op to test the morale of the disgraced Bahraini force.
The witching hour starts soon after midnight tonight.
