I think it’s fair to say this summer has been a far cry from the sunshine and record commodity prices of summer 2022. Rain has made for an incredibly difficult harvest for tillage farmers. The washout summer, a contraction in milk price in excess of 30 per cent and continuing uncertainty […]
Columnists
I have a love-hate relationship with historical movies. If you’re into historical material, of course you’ll be enticed to go see one. But so many historical movies have led to misleading facts and wrongful portrayals, like the much-loved Micheal Collins movie; with its 1970s-style IRA car bombs going off in 1920s […]
Sleeplessness is a horrible condition – nobody wants to be still awake and checking the clock at 4:45am! Now more than ever, we all recognise the importance of a good night’s restorative sleep in terms of our physical health, our mental health, our sanity and our ability to cope with […]
This month’s recipe is sent from Kytheria, the mythological birthplace of Aphrodite the goddess of love. There are no guarantees of magical powers if you make this dish but the recipe will use up your courgette glut if you have one. Kytheria sits at the bottom of the Peloponnese surrounded […]
It has been pouring down while I write this but the past month has been unusual, not so much because it’s been dry, but because it was so dry so early. The last few summers have had dry spells, so I’ve become accustomed to dealing with that but they’ve usually […]
At midsummer, the summer solstice, the countryside is bejewelled by our native wild flowers and herbs. Along the roadsides, brightening the hedgerows, flowers are everywhere – a blend of yellow, white, red, blue, green, pink and many shades in between. Today many of these plants are considered weeds but somebody […]