Who you ask and how you ask matter, as does why you are asking — the history of opinion polls shows they are as much about creating opinions as they are about recording them, writes socialist historian KEITH FLETT

NOVEMBER the ideal month for planting raspberries, if you don’t count the cold, the wet, the wind and the hard slog.
Rasps are worth the bother, though: they are one of the fruits in which the difference in quality between home-grown and shop-bought is most striking.
It’s also one that gives heavy crops early on in its life, unlike some others which can take years to get going.

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