WE’VE been well and truly wamble-cropped in our house lately. As if it isn’t bad enough that I’ve been battling an evil, recurring infection for months, the beloved’s just been felled by a different kind of bug. I’ve been ducking and diving out of his germ-laden way as much as possible, but to no avail [...]

IT BEGAN in the most unlikely way, my search for aptronyms. It was during the course of an animated cyber squabble some time ago about genetically modified produce. The “debate”, between a few like-minded journalists (myself included) and a large national retail chain, raged around certain social media websites for a while. Furious posts filled [...]

WHEN I discovered, while researching the virtues of olive oil the other day, that the endearing Mma Ramotswe, of  No I Ladies’ Detective Agency fame, had put all her prize recipes into a cookbook, I knew it was one to avoid. I feared I’d enjoy Alexander McCall Smith’s fictional character’s culinary creations far too much. [...]