Preparing food helped me reconcile my old and new world. Now my restaurant produces a beautiful mongrel cuisine‘Now you better behave and don’t cry!” was the warning from my mother, shot with a stern look to show she was deadly serious. We disembarked from the aircraft at Heathrow. It was a dark and dank day. Cold rain spat at us as we walked across the tarmac into the immigration hall. In...

Thanks to dithering and ineptitude, we may never have contact tracing on our smartphonesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageI’ve just been looking at the coronavirus death toll in various countries as tallied on the Johns Hopkins University Covid-19 tracker. At the time I checked, the UK had 45,407 deaths, Poland had 1,642, Ireland had 1,753, New Zealand had 1,555 and...

More than 140 teams of researchers are racing to develop a safe and effective coronavirus vaccineResearchers around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, with more than 140 candidate vaccines now tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO). Continue...

There has been a lot of talk about the Ophiuchus constellation joining the zodiac, but I won’t be changing my Cancerian waysI am zodiac person. I have five books on the zodiac (and am open to many more). When I meet someone, before they have even opened their mouth I’ll be trying to figure out what their star sign is. I’m not so into this stuff that I’ll dislike or avoid certain signs, but...

Every year, amateur telescope makers gather under starry skies in the US and South Africa – to trade tips and tales from across the universeYou have to be rigorous. You need perseverance. You must be meticulously clean. But even if you possess all these skills, none of them matters if you are in a hurry. Because there is one thing enthusiasts make clear from the start: building a telescope from...

New evidence links obesity to increased risks of coronavirus-related hospitalisation, intensive care and deathCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe case for action on obesity has “never been stronger”, according to Public Health England , who today publish a review of evidence which shows that being overweight remains one of the biggest risk factors in the battle...