More expensive by weight than gold, saffron is surprisingly simple to grow. MAT COWARD explains

The missing sister, the vengeful WAG, cruise ship claustrophobia, and reanimated Avengers

Carrots often seen as a tricky vegetable to grow, but a few simple strategies can make all the difference, says MAT COWARD

Aussie mining corporation murder, Liverpudlian ex-cop amnesia, a naive vigilante tries to reset capitalism, and the riddle of the dead psychoanalyst

Esmond Romilly horrified Britain’s Establishment by turning from privileged schoolboy to anti-fascist fighter, writes MAT COWARD

Salty fingers are a MAT COWARD staple and he believes they might be yours too

Death comes for Liberals, entitled murder, Vatican hit squads, and fraternising with the Blitz killer

Long before modern labour movements, England’s farmworkers fought back against their oppression – and for some, like Elizabeth Studham, the price was exile to Australia. MAT COWARD tells the story

A murderous convention of crime writers, a hymn to nursing, a monster hunt, and robber baron capitalism

MAT COWARD recommends a crop that keeps growing well under drought conditions

In 2010, faced with the closure of their local library, a Buckinghamshire town’s locals turned to an unconventional tactic – borrowing every single book – to defend a cherished community space. MAT COWARD tells the story

Tyrannosaurs in Thailand, colonialism as videogame, and a feminist gem from 1936

MAT COWARD looks at the Hamburg parsley — a species rarely cultivated here but popular, with good reason, in Eastern Europe

Good Cop vs Bad Fascist fantasy, a guilty witness, Scottish witchcraft, and Camino de Santiago shocker

While advocating the aubergine or eggplant’s case for a space on your windowsill or patio, MAT COWARD suggest prayers might be required too

After 58 fishermen were lost in the so-called ‘Triple Trawler Tragedy,’ four women led a grassroots revolt that forced the government to overhaul Britain’s deadly deep-sea fishing industry. MAT COWARD tells the story

Japanese innovation, Costa Rican skullduggery, Glasgow Central suicide, and good deeds punished in London

MAT COWARD takes a look at some of the options for keen gardeners as we enter 2026

A deeply pleasing festive crime wave

A WWI hero, renowned ornithologist, medical doctor, trade union organiser and founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain all rolled in one. MAT COWARD tells the story of a life so improbable it was once dismissed as fiction

MAT COWARD tells how 18th-century scholar and revolutionary democrat Joseph Ritson turned a medieval outlaw into England’s people’s hero — soon to be gracing panto halls around the nation

Commiserations if you failed this year, MAT COWARD offers six points which, if followed religiously, will ensure you succeed next year

AI-induced murder, last rites for the mob-dog, a gullible common herd, and an exemplary Christmas chiller

MAT COWARD tells the story of the eccentric founder of a short-lived but striking experiment in ‘vital democracy,’ who became best known for giving away his estate to the nation

MAT COWARD advocates cultivating blackberries, a growing in popularity crop for gardens and allotments

MAT COWARD reminds us that the resilience of ordinary folk can turn the tables on the mighty and 'entitled'

AI shenanigans, tinnitus hallucinations, Jeckyll&Hyde in a locked room, and size doesn’t matter

A Nazi zeppelin whodunnit, death amidst detoxification, a twistaholic’s delight, and noir fiction for criminals

MAT COWARD looks back at a protest 105 years ago this month, whose reporting by the media bears uncomfortable similarities with demos today

MAT COWARD looks back to a 1931 protest against mass unemployment featuring a young Ewan MacColl

Cat show killer, avenging the pawns, women hunt the Ripper, and running dry in the outback

Spice up your life – and your greenhouse – with MAT COWARD’s gardening tips

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