Grombles

I have just spent a fascinating 10 days in Northern India - Taj Mahal (dimly spotted through the fog), tiger safari (no tigers), Jaipur etc. Lasting impression was of small oases surrounded by unbelievable squalor and relentless poverty. Don't expect India to emerge as a first world superpower any time soon. Huge social welfare problems to be solved first. One of the penalties Western tourists suffer by booking packaged tours (and there's no other way of sensibly and safely exploring the maelstrom that is India) is the dreaded but inescapable 'visit to the craft shop'. You never ask for these to be put on your tour schedule, but they always appear on it. One of our ever-so-friendly-hope-I-get-a-ridiculous-tip guide even cancelled some temple visit or other (mercifully perhaps) to make sure we had enough time to be assailed by his commission-paying chum in the decorated marble plate / carpet / pashmina / carved elephant / sari / jewellery or whatever flavour of 'so...

We love the whole restaurant thing. We choose from a list of deliciously described items and magically, only minutes later, it arrives in front of us. We eat, we pay and we go home. But what did we eat? What risks did we take? Nothing I'm going to discuss will be any great revelation to anyone, but we conveniently push all ideas about any possible health risks to the back of our mind in the same way that we treat global warming and the demise of the Euro. So far, so good, but sure as eggs is eggs, it will all end in tears. Call it paranoia, but I'm beginning to get nervous - and especially abroad. The dangers from eating food we can't see being prepared are: Contaminated ingredients 'past sell-by dates' (if the country you're in has them), improperly stored or cheaply sourced Incomplete cooking to kill bacterial pathogens Dirty hands, cooking implements and preparation surfaces Deliberate contamination by kitchen staff A country's economic health a...

Greece and Portugal need to market themselves differently. Appeal to our sympathy, not to our hedonism (like everyone else). Our news channels are increasingly showing examples of the very real suffering happening in bankrupt countries - whatever the reasons for their demise. Of course they have to tighten their belts, fix their leaky tax-collection and get real about the future, but these two nations in particular are too small and technologically disadvantaged to find clever ways of growing their economies. It's impossible these days for a small nation to find a niche that can't instantly be copied and offered more cheaply by the likes of China and India - let alone by the UK, Japan and Germany. Every industry they might claim as a niche is either too small to make a difference to their nation's debt or being replaced by something cheaper and probably better (like corks have been replaced by screw tops). All Portugal and Greece realistically have to export is sun and th...