Now that's what I call coffee

Those Italians: they know what they're about.

More of the Italian spirit in England please! And less of the feeble 'coffee.'

Some good news for Christmas

Over two years ago, I wrote, in the Telegraph and the Ecologist, about a heroic local struggle in Oxfordshire between a multinational energy giant and a group of local villagers. German mega-corp RWE NPower, which runs Didcot coal-fired power station, not a million miles from me, was planning to dump its toxic waste ash - coal-burning produces a huge amount of this - in a local lake, which doubled as a beauty spot and a wildlife haven.

Having visited this lake a few times, I was gobsmacked that this kind of thing was still going on in the 21st century. It was yet another side of the coal-burning process that we're not aware of. Anyway - the local campaign to save Thrupp Lake was long and hard-fought; and it's just been announced that it has been successful. The lake has been saved, NPower have retreated and the people of Radley have been delivered a great Christmas present.

It's always worth dwelling on successes like these, because they show that determined and well-run campaigns can turn the tide against things that seem inevitable. Hurray for that. And happy Christmas.