Are limited-edition products such as Cadbury's Screme Eggs and champagne Marmite top treats for discerning palates – or just tasty bits of marketing? Samuel Muston reports

Stef Penney reluctantly tells Christian House how she researched her gypsy thriller follow-up to 'The Tenderness of Wolves'

If you work in Bristol and you find yourself looking for something to do on a Tuesday or Wednesday lunchtime you can now pop into the new Brunel Institute, next to the ss Great Britain, and see rare photographs and diaries normally kept under wraps in the National Brunel Archive explained by experts from the museum.

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View From The Sofa: The Open, BBC1/BBC 2

Greencore, the UK's biggest maker of sandwiches, has agreed to acquire the convenience food supplier Uniq in a deal worth £113m, which it expects to deliver annual savings of £10m.

Manchester united, yet still divided

At a time when retailers fall over themselves to assure customers that their food is fresh and locally-sourced, one company has bucked the trend by offering a "gas-flushed" sandwich with a two-week shelf life.

Residents at a Weymouth care home had a shock when they tried to eat what they thought were biscuits, only to discover that they were soil with dill seeds.

It's unlikely that the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, who lent his name to the snack, ever went for the cucumber option. The Earl wanted something tidily substantial to refresh his efforts at the card table, not some prissy confection.

Whether it’s for a saucy sandwich, serving with a cheeseboard or taking the the bite out of a fearsome curry, we’ve got the perfect pickled condiment for the job.

The Earl of Sandwich has opened a sandwich shop in London, 250 years after his ancestor, the Fourth Earl, is said to have invented the snack in his quest for something convenient to eat while he gambled.

When I was little I had perfect vision. Until I went off to university, I was consulted on all things near (the ingredients in a can of soup) and far (street signs). "Yours will go too," my mother would say when I tried on her glasses and quickly flung them from my head before they made me dizzy.

In a nation known as one of the world's healthiest, it remains to be seen what Japanese consumers will make of the Meat Monster. The gut-busting sandwich, unveiled only in Japan by Burger King, is a mountain of mixed meat weighing in at 1,160 calories.