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Mat Coward
HISTORY MADE: A plaque at the Old Bailey dedicated to the case of William Penn and William Mead — and the jury who acted on their conscience
Features / 2 September 2025
2 September 2025

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

CAUSE AND EFFECT: Maturing apples and and apple pie / pics: (L to R) George Chernilevsky and Roozitaa both CC
Gardening / 16 August 2025
16 August 2025

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
 

‘SEDITION AND BLASPHEMY’: (L to R) Blackfriars Rotunda, 1820 - view from the top of the Albion Mills; a political rowdiness / Pic (L to R): Frederick Birnie; Old and New London both Public domain
Politics / 15 August 2025
15 August 2025

While an as-yet-unnamed new left party struggles to be born, MAT COWARD looks at some of the wild and wonderful names of workers’ organisations past that have been lost to time

crime
Crime Fiction / 12 August 2025
12 August 2025

Timeloop murder, trad family MomBomb, Sicilian crime pages and Craven praise

(L to R) Wong Boks and a Chinese cabbage and tofu soup  Pics (L to R): Bayartai/CC and NeoBatfreak/CC
Features / 19 July 2025
19 July 2025

MAT COWARD presents a peculiar cabbage that will only do its bodybuilding once the summer dies down

CRIME
Crime fiction / 8 July 2025
8 July 2025

A heatwave, a crimewave, and weird bollocks in Aberdeen, Indiana horror, and the end of the American Dream

crime
Book Reviews / 10 June 2025
10 June 2025

A corrupted chemist, a Hampstead homosexual and finely observed class-conflict at The Bohemia

Organic beetroot / Pic: Evan-Amos/CC
Gardening / 7 June 2025
7 June 2025

Beet likes warmth, who doesn’t, so attention to detail is required if you’re to succeed, writes MAT COWARD

AIR WAR: A spitfire squadron flies to battle the Nazis, 1945
Features / 23 May 2025
23 May 2025

MAT COWARD tells the extraordinary story of the second world war Spitfire pilot who became Britain’s most famous Stalag escaper, was awarded an MBE, mentored a generation of radio writers and co-founded a hardline Marxist-Leninist party

SCIFI
Books / 22 May 2025
22 May 2025

Generous helpings of Hawaiian pidgin, rather good jokes, and dodging the impostors

Reverend Edward George Maxted
History / 16 May 2025
16 May 2025

MAT COWARD tells the story of Edward Maxted, whose preaching of socialism led to a ‘peasants’ revolt’ in the weeks running up to the first world war

crime
Books / 13 May 2025
13 May 2025

Reasonable radicalism, death in Abu Dhabi, locked-room romance, and sleuthing in the Blitz