Secret consultation documents finally released after the Morning Star’s two-year freedom of information battle show the Home Office misrepresented public opinion, claiming support for policies that most respondents actually strongly criticised as dangerous and unfair, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

IF YOU grow many plants in containers you’ll have noticed that potting compost isn’t getting any cheaper — and it wasn’t particularly cheap to start with. (Apparently, the rising cost of everything is the fault of Covid, Russia, Brexit and possibly astrology, and nothing to do with rampant and opportunistic profiteering by oligarchs, gangsters, capitalists and kleptocrats, so we’ve just got to accept it and definitely not riot like our ancestors have always done in the past.)
Several people have asked me lately whether compost — meaning in this context the stuff you buy in bags, not the stuff you make on the allotment — can be reused.
The answer is definitely yes, I’ve been doing it for many years, but there are some provisos.

Edinburgh can take great pride in an episode of its history where a murderous captain of the city guard was brought to justice by a righteous crowd — and nobody snitched to Westminster in the aftermath, writes MAT COWARD


