ANDREW MURRAY breaks down this week’s rift in the new left party that was at one point polling at 15 per cent of the vote without even having formed — whether it will form now has been thrown into a pit of doubt

WHEN he was in his nineties, former Labour leader Michael Foot was asked by the BBC how he would have reacted if Lord Halifax, the foreign secretary, had made peace with Hitler in 1940. “I’d have killed him,” said Footy. And he wasn’t speaking metaphorically.
In the run-up to the second world war, a number of unorthodox leftwingers had come to the conclusion that Britain could only win against Germany if it underwent a socialist revolution. This would inevitably involve a degree of civil war and the formation of workers’ militias.
As it turned out, of course, they were wrong. Britain remained capitalist — although forced, for the sake of efficiency and productivity, to temporarily adopt some socialistic measures — and yet successfully resisted invasion. But at the time, their views made a lot of sense to a lot of people.

Doomed adolescents, when the missing person is you, classic whodunnit, and an anti-capitalist eco-thriller

MAT COWARD sings the praises of the Giant Winter’s full-depth, earthy and ferrous flavour perfect for rich meals in the dark months

The heroism of the jury who defied prison and starvation conditions secured the absolute right of juries to deliver verdicts based on conscience — a convention which is now under attack, writes MAT COWARD

As apple trees blossom to excess it remains to be seen if an abundance of fruit will follow. MAT COWARD has a few tips to see you through a nervy time