With Bio-Waste Spreader: "As this column suggested a month ago (Eye 1672), the US and Israeli attack on Iran, and resulting surge in oil and natural gas prices, was likely to put huge pressure on already very modest UK farm incomes. This has proved to be the case, with production costs soaring while most farmgate food commodity prices remain static. So, which sectors have been worst affected, and what are the implications for the UK's food self-sufficiency if the crisis continues?…"
With MD: "Should problems with a cheaper variant of the NextGen knee replacement, made by Zimmer Biomet, have been acted on sooner? A written statement by health minister Karin Smith on 8 August 2025 stated that the National Joint Registry (NJR) 'had first been asked to investigate use of high flex NextGen knees by a surgeon in 2014', and yet the implant was not recalled by the manufacturer due to higher than expected revision rates until December 2022…"
With Dr B Ching: "Nearly two years after Labour was elected on a promise to cut rail fragmentation and costs, the replacement of ancient diesel trains remains ludicrously disjointed. Passengers on local Great Western Railway (GWR) services in Devon and Cornwall are still stuck with 1980s diesel trains, three years after Wales (publicly run by Transport for Wales) stopped using a fleet of relatively new diesels that GWR urgently needed. TfW had announced as long ago as 2018 that it would dispense with the trains…"
With Remote Controller: "In times of high competition for viewers, networks are understandably reluctant to let a proven franchise go, even if both main presenters have left the studio. So, while there might have been a case that both shows have run their race, auditions to replace Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly on Strictly Come Dancing were taking place last week while the substitutes for Gregg Wallace and John Torode on MasterChef reached the air. Continuation of the cookery contest is even more complex…"
With Old Sparky: "Neso, the National Energy System Operator, has issued another of its understated warnings. Last time, it highlighted potential winter gas shortages due to infrastructure vulnerabilities (Eye 1666). This time, it's risks to security of summer electricity due to surpluses and, er, infrastructure vulnerabilities. These inconvenient surpluses are midday peaks of ever-increasing solar power, the underlying phenomenon behind Spain's catastrophic total blackout last year…"
With Lunchtime O'Boulez: "After its drubbing in Baroness Hodge's recent independent review (Eye 1666), Arts Council England faces a new challenge: the serious possibility of investigation by the Charities Commission, the Eye has learned. For some years ACE has required client organisations to undertake projects unconnected with their core missions to music, theatre or whatever, but instead driven by the council's social change agendas. Most are charities, and it follows that they've been forced into activities beyond their stated objectives…"
Letter from Harare
From Our Own Correspondent: "Kirsty Coventry comes from the southern African paradise that is Zimbabwe, where intimidating voters and rigging elections is standard practice. So, the allegations of influence- peddling, furiously denied, must have seemed small beer during the bitter contest she won last year to succeed Thomas Bach as president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). While Coventry originally made her name as a gold-medal-winning swimmer, in 2018 she dived into the murkier waters of Zimbabwe politics…"
With Gold Digger: "Might the self-proclaimed 'world's no. 1 cask whiskey investment opportunity', Whiskey & Wealth Club Ltd, be on the rocks? The company, founded and owned by sometime Dubai-residing Irishman Jay Bradley, was recently subject to a high court petition by HMRC to wind it up over unpaid tax. Last week this was lifted, with the company telling the Irish Independent that it is 'continuing to move forward'.…"