Breaking a few eggs
"Before anyone had even thought of hen-rehoming as a thing, my mother had become an inadvertent rehomer of escapees from the nearby broiler house"
Supply-chain fragility
‘Without a comprehensive deal, food shortages after Brexit will be far more severe than anything seen during the pandemic’
Diary
‘I have barely worn trousers for five months now. In the Zoom era no-one sees below the fifth button of your shirt. You could get away with wearing nothing at all’
Thousands of new French windfarms — but no reduction in carbon emissions
‘Wind and solar power make it impossible for France to close down its remaining fossil fuel power stations’
A defence of difference
"We seldom hear much about freedom from contemporary social justice activists. They don’t want freedom — freedom would mean taking responsibility for one’s life"
Boiled shoes
All my culinary life I’ve worked on the principle that when there seems to be nothing left to eat in the house, you can always make soup. That’s because I was brought
Can Keir Starmer save the Labour Party?
‘It is a sign of the speed and sure-footedness of Keir Starmer’s ascendancy that it now seems inconceivable that Labour could have elected anybody else. It is easy to forget that in
Adult entertainment? Why the normalisation of extreme porn needs to be stopped
‘It seems that there has been no real appetite on the part of police and CPS to pursue prosecutions for rape pornography. Meanwhile, there has been an explosion in the availability of
Bearded diplomacy
‘The illusion of control that dictatorships offer is just that. They promise their acolytes eternal life in exchange for silence. But silence is expensive’
The point of church
‘Justin Welby’s edict went beyond what Downing Street sought in its social-distancing policies. Ministers had supposed churches might find safe ways to remain open. They were surprised the C of E was