Are they really gods?" "I never worry about theological questions," said Nightingale. "They exist, they have power and they can breach the Queen's peace - that makes them a police matter.

In the winter she curls up around a good book and dreams away the cold.

The motto of West African cooking is that if the food doesn't set fire to the tablecloth the cook is being stingy with the pepper.

The clever people at CERN are smashing particles together in the hope that Doctor Who will turn up and tell them to stop

The study of the victim is called victimology because everything sounds better with and ology tacked on the end.

Carved above the lintel were the words SCIENTIA POTESTAS EST. Science points east, I wondered? Science is portentous, yes? Science protests too much. Scientific potatoes rule. Had I stumbled on the lair of dangerous plant geneticists?

Coffee arrived and the espresso was excellent, like an aromatic electric fence.