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Jersey Royal blues
A classic example of how corporate capitalism ruins everything it touches is the Jersey Royal potato (Solanum tuberosum ‘International Kidney‘). These early spuds from the largest and southernmost Channel Island …
Be afraid, be very afraid
We are living in the most frightening times since WW2. Correction: considering that Germany didn’t possess nuclear weapons whereas the USA has no less than 3,700 nuclear warheads at its …
Oranges are not the only oranges
The Citrus genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the Rutaceae family produces a range of fruits that it is hard to imagine life without. It is a very rare …
An American in London
It was around 1973/74 when I first encountered Adam in Holland Park, a delightful green woodland on the high ground between Kensington and Notting Hill in west London. He was …
Rebuker
Somewhat after Daphne du Maurier (1907-1989) Last night I dreamt I went to Blaenllechau again…I came upon it suddenly; the approach masked by serried ranks of terraced housing on the …
Prize crossword
First correct solution received by email wins a pristine copy of A-Z of Cardiff that I recently found in the attic (published 2016, retail price £14.99, now out of print). …
My qualifications
Finding Tipperary
2015 “Richie, can you do me a favour?” “Of course sweetheart, what is it?” “When you’ve got time, could you look at my uncle’s manuscript? It’s 200 pages long and …
Parsley rage goes merry in time
In spring I usually grow a few herbs in pots and this year I am growing from seed three essential herbs that had run their course and needed replacing: mint …
Beyond the Cringe
Watching old newsreels of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) when I was a teenager, it always amazed me that millions of German people in the 1930s and 1940s voted for, followed and …