A caterer was ordered to pay £415,000 damages to the widow of a man who died from anaphylactic shock after eating a dessert at a Sikh wedding, Court of Appeal judges were told today.

The traditional pudding Spotted Dick was restored to a council canteen's menu today, after complaints about its politically correct replacement - Spotted Richard.

Bonds of history are stronger between Europe and Africa than between Africa and any other part of the world. And this century was – until recently – a fairly good one for the continent. In spite of the tragedies of eastern Congo, Somalia and Darfur, we did see a distinct reduction in violent conflicts and the number of people affected by them. Globalisation started to lift an important part of Africa on to a new path of growth and development. Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa averaged 6 per cent during the first part of this decade.

A quick glance at the ingredients of some supermarket ice-creams can make them sound less than appetising – extracts of Irish moss seaweed (carageenan), ground-up locust beans and corn syrup are just three of the ingredients added to commercial products to improve their taste and shelf life. There is an alternative way to indulge though, by investing in your own ice-cream maker.

You don't hear a great deal from the private equity buyout merchants at the moment. At the height of the boom they were gobbling up stock market listed firms like Billy Bunter attacking the dessert trolley.

Chosen by Simon Usborne

I love ice-creams that contain a fruit ripple, it is old-fashioned and nostalgic to me. To ensure an ice-cream that really ripples, make sure that both the custard and raspberry purée are well chilled.

The melody and chords of opener "Imidiwan Afrik Tendam" make it sound like a Touareg take on "Mull of Kintyre".

Recorded deeper in the desert than their previous albums, Imidiwan could be characterised as a return to Tinariwen's roots, had they ever moved that far from them in the first place: certainly, their concerns remain the same, a mixture of revolutionary sermons praising fallen comrades or calling upon their brethren to rise up against oppression, and poetic reflections on life in the desert, such as "Assuf Ag Assuf", in which the land's dark loneliness is offered fellowship as friend rather than foe.