Seafood platters
Amongst a seductive collection of fishy stuff – silver-plated crab-shaped salt dishes (£95), lobster place card holders (£190 each; insert card into upheld pincers) and conch shell cocktail picks (£95), Thomas Goode, one of the world’s oldest luxury retailers (founded 1827) is offering covetable Au Bain Marie majolica dinner plates decorated with large red crabs
Crab Dinner Plates, £42 from thomasgoode.com
How to be Vegan
Notes on how to be a happy vegan, or perhaps more importantly, socially acceptable in a carnivorous world. Annie Nichols’s timely book includes 50 new vegan recipes with which to woo your meat-eating guests
How to be Vegan and Keep Your Friends by Annie Nichols, Quadrille £12.99
Global Warming Mug
Just the thing to brighten up the day – a mug decorated with a map of the world which, when hot liquid is poured into it, shows different parts of that map disappearing, thus mimicking the damage done, or about to be done, by climate change. ‘Keeps everyone aware that climate change is real and not fake news’ notes its makers… Not suitable for microwaves or dishwasher use
The Global Warming Mug, £9.99/300ml from ThumbsUp.com
County Biscuits
And a cheering addition to your global warming mug of tea… Fortnum’s County Biscuit Tin, biscuits (Shrewsbury biscuits, Yorkshire Parkins, Lancashire Flips, Cornish Fairings) made to traditional recipes gathered from the counties of England
Fortnum & Mason County Biscuit Selection Tin £12.95 fortnumandmason.com
Plus… at last, some good news to come out of Westminster…
St Ermin’s Hotel, Westminster, near St James Park, home to 350,000 Buckfast honeybees is holding a series of urban beekeeping workshops inc advice on bee-behaviour, best siting of hives and notes on what to plant to attract a buzz. The workshops, run by bee guru Camilla Goddard (above) include visits to St Ermin’s bee terrace where participants can collect honey from the hotel’s six hives which, between them, produce 25lbs of honey a year
St Ermin’s beekeeping workshops, 2hours, 12-2pm, on selected dates, £40pp, for details visit sterminshotel.co.uk
