With its track record of leveraging cultural power for US gain and barely concealed promotion of coup attempts, the US Agency for International Development will not be mourned among the US’s southern neighbours, write JOHN PERRY and ROGER D HARRIS
Seeds: what's new for next year
MAT COWARD looks at some of the more interesting options for gardeners available for order now for planting in the new year
KEITH FLETT looks back 50 years to when the Iron Lady was elected Tory leader…
Social security is lagging further and further behind inflation and our government quite simply does not care, argues Dr DYLAN MURPHY
RAVISHAAN RAHEL MUTHIAH agues that much as social media are presently guilty of fanning hostilities, the roots of it lie with decades of xenophobic narratives peddled by politicians and the traditional media
ESTHER, from Nordic Model Now! explains how decriminalisation of prostitution, rendering it just another form of ‘work’, would undermine the Equality Act 2010
As a partial successor to the post-war Marshall Plan, USAid is not simply a humanitarian aid programme, but is involved in projecting US power as an instrument of foreign policy, argues NICK WRIGHT
Locals have been let down by procrastination over the upgrade to Ardrossan Harbour, says KATY CLARK MSP
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.
More from this author
MAT COWARD battles wayward pigeons in pursuit of a crop of purple sprouting broccoli
Despite his wealthy background and membership of a secretive aristocratic occult club, the radical politician forged an alliance with the working class to fight for democracy and free speech against the Georgian elite, writes MAT COWARD
MAT COWARD offers a roll call of refuseniks – some for political reasons, others for quirky reasons of their own
Charles Dickens was facing a return to the destitution that had blighted his childhood, and it was this which drove him to write the remarkable best-seller which changed the politics of Christmas forever, writes MAT COWARD
Similar stories
MAT COWARD offers invaluable advice on which type to grow according to flavour preferences, size of you pocket, timing and plant reliability
ZARAH PATTISON explains how invasive plants like Himalayan balsam and rhododendron are playing havoc with ecosystems where they are introduced
MAT COWARD recommends growing Alpine strawberries, which have a stronger flavour than their larger cousins, but which are happily unappealing to slugs and birds
MAT COWARD recommends any variety of the hardy plant, both decorative and edible, that only needs watering a few days after planting