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Jamie Oliver has courted righteous indignation among the commentariat for his recent interview with the Radio Times about his next TV series, ‘Money Saving Meals’. I have not been able to access the actual interview on the internet, but his eminently quotable quotes have been widely disseminated. I’m not judgmental, but I’ve spent a lot… Read more
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John Thomas is the next Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. One late evening in the office in the Royal Courts of Justice, when Nicholas Phillips was Chief, a plummy-voiced colleague put it to me that there were ‘Only four people who know what’s going on here’; other than ‘chiefy’ himself, this included Lord Justice… Read more
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I adore the month of May. Nature untrammelled. Spring finally appeared in mid-April with the year’s first few days of warm weather. Suddenly at dawn there rose up a great cathartic symphony of eager tweeters, and best of all the lusty-throated blackbirds, whose lonely melodies make your heart melt. The gigantic horse chestnut tree at… Read more
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The EU’s economic crisis is in danger of becoming an endemic political crisis. Popular acquiescence – there was never enthusiasm – towards the European project is fracturing, as the citizens of the south realise that they never voted for austerity, those of the north that they never voted for bail outs; Eurosceptics harrumph around the… Read more
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Boarding the Eurostar for Brussels, I had a chance encounter with a sort-of-journalist acquaintance of mine who is a mine for pithy quotations on EU affairs. He was had a bedraggled Christmas-party season air about him. We reconvened in the buffet… Read more
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There are times in life when I am caught in a Hamlet-like vortex, confronted by something at once ridiculous and contemptible, but my will failing me, at the crucial moment, when I have the target of my ire in my sights. Instead, a day or two late… Read more
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The air was moist over the Kentish coast, steady drizzle, warm and overcast. I set off at 7.45 with only 75 miles to Croydon today, though my wayward navigation would make it a bit longer. The road to Folkestone climbs steeply through a green gap … Read more
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5.45am Do zobaczenia żono! My steel horse champing at the cleat in crepuscular Brussels, I headed west and crossed the Brussels-Scheldt canal. At 20 miles, the River Dender at Ninove was draped in mist. Eleven miles of soggy low visibility later, … Read more
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Dear friends, On Thursday 26th July, I will mount the saddle and cycle 222 miles from my home in Brussels to my old homes of Croydon and Hackney. My reward will be a pint of Young’s Special in the Dog and Bull on Surrey Street, in Old Town Croydon… Read more
rooting around for grubs in diverse soils
ofthewedge 