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

SINCE the Liberal Democrats privatised the Royal Mail a decade ago, ordering plants by post has become a slightly risky affair.
Now that many streets only get two or three deliveries a week, it’s not unusual for live plants to spend so long in transit as to be well past their best, or even dead, on arrival. The same can apply to bulbs, corms and similar.
But with very few exceptions, seeds are not a problem — they are capable of surviving anything the private sector can subject them to. So here are a few of the new offerings from the 2024 seed catalogues.
Beaches Mix from Thompson and Morgan (www.thompson-morgan.com; tel 0844 573-1818) is a sunflower claimed to be “ideal for coastal gardens and other challenging locations.” A bushy, fast-growing annual, it uses runners to spread, which anchor it, and its flexible stems are less likely to snap in the wind.

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


