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I hope you won’t think two articles on waste a waste. On entertainment value alone, they are nothing but. I’ve found myself the proud owner of a large amount of garden waste. I know this is disposed of in different colour bags, which I’ve not previously used. Sensible, I say, garden waste has characteristics which duly justify its separation from other, less environmental streams. So, armed with Quixotic optimism, with my laptop as my own, slim lined Sancho Panza, I set off exploring how this works in the UK. After a complex search, full of misadventures which truly justify the Cervantes analogy, I discovered that the green sacks are available for mail order purchase from the local council. Once received, you put your garden waste in them and place them for collection with the normal waste. They will be collected together, and landfilled together, the green bags serving the sole purpose of adding a bit of colour to the otherwise boringly black landfill sites. I cannot wait to try it ou...

The UK is richer than Spain, for now and whilst Brexit does not show its full effect, which will still take the best part of a generation. I live in two similar size cities, Santiago de Compostela, in Spain, and Hereford, in UK. Both provincial backwaters, far from the buzz of the capitals. They could, however, not be more different from the perspective of recycling. In Santiago, you can dispose of seven different waste streams at any time in the day, in your own street. In UK, you get one waste stream, which you can dispose off once every two weeks. If you want to separate more, or don’t want your house to be filled by a mountain of yet to be recycled waste, you can take it to the recycling centre yourself, appealing to Brits’ love of DIY. This is great fun, only by appointment, which you must secure online, with weekend slots typically filled well in advance. Will I have availability three weeks on Saturday, at 13.45, for such an exciting adventure? Can I maybe do it by MS Teams? Len...

It has started, people. This morning I read an article about Sir Keir Starmer’s charisma, or lack of it. The charisma nonsense is the process by which a politician is targeted by the opposing faction of the media, which, irrespective of the actual charisma the politician might have, start writing about his lacking it. Since most voters do not actually meet politicians in person, the media is the way in which they evaluate their charisma and thus the media decide who is charismatic, and hence electable, and who isn’t. Other, in my mind more important qualities, such as honesty, integrity, morality, determination and intellectual acumen seem unimportant by comparison. Don’t panic, Sir Keir. Mess up your hair, awkwardly ride a bicycle, tie your tie too long, lie through your teeth, become corrupt, cheat on your wife and your voters and speak like someone pulled out from the Victorian era. You might, if you do, still win the charisma battle and become acceptable as a Prime Minister Length:...

We are over four weeks into the Brexit reality, as some choose to call it. It is full of surprises, at least for those who believed the propaganda of Vote Leave in the referendum, firstly, and of the current Conservative government, later. In four weeks, we have seen significant movement restrictions, the loss of Erasmus, long queues at Channel crossings, an incredibly fast, extensive erosion of food and environmental standards in the UK, the new phenomenon of vaccine nationalism, pitching the UK and the EU in an unedified battle for stocks and, as many consumers are now finding out, customs duties. Goods we used to receive from Europe without a second thought, now require us to engage with the transport companies to clear customs and to pay the duties, certainly significant. I guess, seen the pace of the deterioration of our standard of living in the UK, the only consolation is the thought that, surely, it must slow down. It is not possible to keep this breakneck pace up for long Leng...