1. Towns granted city status to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

A warm welcome, good food and a fine ale can make living in a commuter village about more than just motorway links and train connections, says Ruth Bloomfield

The transport giant National Express showed it is driving out the year in style yesterday, posting revenue growth in all its bus, train and coach sectors.

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More than three-quarters of British-grown oysters contain norovirus, research has found.

Tribunal rules that Prince must hand over data on whether Duchy oyster farm is a risk to wildlife

Relatives of India's first president have sought the intervention of the country's ambassador to Switzerland to halt the sale of a rare watch once owned by him.

Moves to tackle overcharging of London travellers who forget to touch out with their Oyster pay-as-you-go card at the end of their journey were announced today.

There's nothing like oysters and champagne to make you feel like a million dollars – but thankfully you no longer need to have millions to enjoy them. London restaurant Plateau is currently offering half a dozen Colchester rock oysters with a glass of Piper-Heidsieck Champagne for just £15. Available at any time of day, they can be savoured in the romantic setting of the restaurant bar or – if the weather's nice – the Johnnie Walker terrace, overlooking Canary Wharf.

So Michael Winner has finally set a wedding date. But why wait so long? I imagine the main reason is financial. He isn't going to live for ever, and he must be particularly aware of his mortality after a dreadful health scare four years ago, which he suffered after eating a dodgy oyster in Barbados.

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They practise responsible tourism in an unusual way at Denmark's new Wadden Sea National Park. Sarah Donnelly explains

Ceramic knives, silicone moulds, posh Italian coffee pots – these are the new objects of desire for a nation obsessed with kitchenware. Christopher Hirst gets a handle on the £500m sexy pots-and-pans industry

Joan Smith's article, "They're not called soft subjects for nothing", panders to a lame stereotype of degree courses in "Madonna studies or equine tourism" (6 February). Tourism's contribution to the UK economy, currently £115bn a year, could grow by more than 60 per cent to £188bn by 2020. It would seem intelligent to train people to deal with this. The article asserts that "students from poorer backgrounds would make do with less challenging 'soft' vocational subjects like media studies". But the UK film industry alone employed 33,500 people and supported 95,000 jobs, contributing £4.3bn to the economy, according to Oxford Economics in 2007. Again, that takes trained staff.