Des McDonald's name is legendary in the food business – the legends in question being Midas and Croesus. When Nick Lander published The Art of the Restaurateur last year, McDonald was one of its stars. An Irish baker's son, he opened two restaurants in the City of London by the age of 22 and become executive chef of Caprice Holdings, founded by Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, the chaps who triumphantly revamped The Ivy, Scotts of Mayfair, Le Caprice and J Sheekey.

John Yorke can trace his family's roots back to the Normans. Like his ancestors, 74-year-old Mr Yorke farms the 3,000 acres of prime Gloucestershire agricultural land that forms the Forthampton Court estate. An Old Etonian and former High Sheriff of Herefordshire, Mr Yorke reluctantly finds himself and his lands at the epicentre of the Government's highly controversial badger cull.

Zoos are no place for ugly ducklings. Big, intelligent, good-looking animals are more likely to be found in zoos, irrespective of conservation needs, according to new research. While the red panda, big cats, elephants and giraffes are found in most zoos, there's no place for the pika, the golden mole or the rat kangaroo.

Gillingham's League Two promotion charge stays on course, but Accrington's survival is in doubt

A bird-brained philosophy of science

There is surely something flawed in the decision by the Serious Fraud Office to hire Slaughter & May, the most expensive solicitors in London, to lead its defence against the action for wrongful arrest and damages brought by property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz.

I hardly dare watch Hugh's Fish Fight: Save Our Seas anymore, and I certainly wouldn't do it while eating a fish supper. You just never know when he's going to knock something else off the ethical consumer's shopping list.

Investigators were today still trying to identify the source of a pollution spill that may yet kill thousands of seabirds along a stretch of the South Coast from West Sussex to Cornwall.

BBC 5Live's radio presenter Shelagh Fogarty was left cowering on her chair after a mouse was seen scurrying across the studio.

The much-maligned rat emerges as an intelligent and sensitive creature in this exciting novel

Concern about future of crucial work preventing smuggling and cruelty against animals

Eighteen people were being treated in hospital last night after toxic gas used to kill rodents escaped from a ship docked at a harbour in Northern Ireland.

Main image: face pots, £67, Aram; frames, from £5, John Lewis

The shrike is a scarce winter visitor to Britain, so keep your eyes peeled