This is a video which starts off with the videomaker, a family man (Hamish Paterson), talking with his son and we then move on to a scene where this big man cries in front of the camera while holding up his black cat who he says survived the fire. It is not clear what the fire is or where it is. We have no idea or I don’t.

Man cries on being reunited with cat lost in fire. Crocodile tears? Screenshot.

Beforehand he shows us his burned-out house overlooking a fantastic vista. He loves living in that house and it is totally burnt down. Was it his house? Is it a house burned down by the Camp Fire in Calif.? It could be. If it wasn’t his house the whole video is a fiction.

His black cat is totally unmarked by the fire. We have no background information as to what happened. I’m a very cynical man but, without wishing to be unkind, I am not convinced that this is a genuine story. You know it is possible to drive up to a burnt down home with your cat and make a selfie-video in front of the wreckage. It is a good idea for a video and very current. Ideas are hard to come by when making videos.

There’s no doubt that the cat belongs to the man but I’m not convinced that at the time the house was burned down the cat was in or around the house. I suspect that the cat was in their other house from where the main part of the video was made.

That’s my assessment whether it’s right or wrong. If you have time I’d like to hear your views on this.