MPs who have enjoyed the chance to debate prisoner voting, Hillsborough, an EU referendum, the treatment of circus animals and all the other issues it has facilitated, should beware, at least a little.

BBC: The year ahead in Parliament

Twenty yards behind the cow, which now and then jumped awkwardly, crept this adolescent lion, which did not appear to be excited or even very much interested, as though the two of them were circus animals trained to act out a scene.

NPR: Excerpt: 'Lost in Uttar Pradesh'

My mind defaulted to circus images of animals (me, most notably) jumping through hoops every time they re-entered my sales office throughout what might be a five-month period while their home was being built.

FORBES: 'Breakin' Up is Hard to Do': Severing a Business Relationship

Anyone responsible for a travelling circus that uses wild animals in a performance will need to hold a valid licence, meet welfare standards and have a retirement plan for each animal.

BBC: Wild animals to be banned from circuses

"I think people do enjoy seeing the animals at the circus and how they react to humans, " he said.

BBC: Anne the Elephant and the end of circus animals

The Circus Friends Association says it "supports all reputable forms of circus entertainment" whether or not animals are used.

BBC: Anne the Elephant and the end of circus animals

At an animal hotel, Babe falls in with a circus family of monkeys, including a hip chimpanzee couple and a morose orangutan the animals, who speak in dark ironies, have the real depression of lifetime circus performers.

NEWYORKER: Babe: Pig in the City

Barnum retired from his American Museum in New York and went on the road, in the 1880s, did the circus take the form we know: that mixture of short acts, animals, skills such as juggling and tumbling, and, most important, the gigantification of everything.

WSJ: Book Review: The Ordinary Acrobat