When nuclear rain swept the UK in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, farmers saw their livelihoods and even their families threatened. Some 9,700 farms and four million sheep were placed under restriction as radiocaesium- 137 seeped into the upland soils of England, Scotland and Wales.

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The Prince of Wales with the Duchess of Cornwall at Buckingham Palace this week

Public lukewarm on Prince Charles

Less than half of the British public believes the Prince of Wales should ascend to the throne, an opinion poll for i reveals today.

The Colour of Milk, By Neil Leyshon

She was only a farmer's daughter, but ...

Brutal violence: Chloë Sevigny in Hit & Miss

Hit & Miss, Sky Atlantic, Tuesday
Harlots, Housewives and Heroines: a 17th-Century History for Girls, BBC4, Tuesday

Can a pre-op transsexual hit-man also be a good mum? Dilemmas don't get more modern than this

Derby Day, By DJ Taylor

As every punter knows, even impeccable lineage and short odds can't guarantee success at the Epsom Derby. According to DJ Taylor's novel, it was ever thus. In a Victorian melodrama surrounding a clever betting sting, Taylor portrays a society in the midst of preparing itself for a new kind of front-runner.

Shepherdess Emma Gray

How I wooed the lovelorn shepherdess

Emma Gray made headlines with a book chronicling her solitary life on a Northumberland farm miles from civilisation - and the opposite sex. So could Jonathan Brown be the answer to her prayers?

Activists claim the GM wheat at Rothamsted uses dangerous technology

Scientists plead with anti-GM protesters not to destroy crop

Three senior scientists made impassioned appeals yesterday to anti-GM campaigners not to destroy a field trial of GM wheat that is the culmination of several years' work.

Diary: MPs are silenced by a masterpiece of mandarin-speak

To be a successful Whitehall mandarin you need to learn never to lose your cool or rise to provocation, and to make your point without exaggerating. Sir Jeremy Heywood, who has reached the very pinnacle of the civil service, as Cabinet Secretary, exhibited these qualities to the full when questioned by MPs yesterday about Steve Hilton, the recently departed Downing Street adviser and friend of David Cameron, whose farewell gesture was to suggest that 90 per cent of civil servants should be sacked. "The way Steve operates is to challenge, he is a very challenging person," said Sir Jeremy, in classic mandarin speak.

Activists claim the GM wheat at Rothamsted uses dangerous technology

Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?

As scientists at Rothamsted's GM trials plead with activists not to sabotage their work, Michael McCarthy visits the battle field

Joanna Blythman: GM crop trials are reckless and needless

This Sunday, exasperated farmers and citizens will travel to a field near Harpenden to uproot a crop of genetically modified wheat. They have been denounced in purple prose by pro-GM commentators, as science haters, "Nazi book burners" and vandals. But what else can concerned citizens do when the company conducting the GM wheat trial, Rothamsted Research, presses on recklessly with an open field experiment that has the potential to contaminate neighbouring farmers' crops and trigger unpredictable impacts on other species?

Joanna Blythman: GM crop trials are needless and reckless

Canadian researchers have found traces of GM pesticide in 93 per cent of baby foetuses

Milk Link and Arla plan £2bn merger

Around 1,600 farmers are set to join one of Europe's biggest dairy co-operatives in a deal that will pool nearly a quarter of UK milk production.

Man faces GM wheat break-in charges

A 50-year-old man has been charged with criminal damage after an incident at a research centre where a trial of GM wheat is taking place.

The A303: Highway to the Sun, By Tom Fort

It's thejourney that matters

Career Services

Day In a Page

Teenage kicks: Twitter and the 'bling ring' gang

Lena Corner gets the inside story on this very post-modern scandal.

Moveable feasts: Festival grub goes gourmet

Meet the mobile foodie pioneers bringing Bloody Mary crumpets, craft ales and sustainable seafood to the masses.

'My own Diamond Jubilee': 60 years in same job

The Queen is part of an elite club which clocks in way past retirement age.
Joumana Haddad: 'Arab women have been brainwashed'

Joumana Haddad: 'Arab women have been brainwashed'

Haddad is a voice rarely heard in the Middle East – an unapologetic feminist who wants to challenge the way both Arab men and women think.

Food: Mark Hix knows his onions

Alliums are among the most versatile kitchen ingredients, says our chef.
Grotty no more: How Lanzarote upgraded its appeal

How Lanzarote upgraded its appeal

Lanzarote has been quietly changing its fly-and-flop holiday image, discovers Andrew Eames.
Traveller's Guide: Montenegro

Traveller's Guide: Montenegro

It's one of Europe's smallest countries, but it packs in spectacular landscapes and glittering beach resorts.
48 Hours In: Verona

48 Hours In: Verona

Summer opera returns to the Roman arena, says Charles Hebbert.
Ten things we’re looking out for at E3 2012

Ten things to look out for at E3 2012

From Wii U to The Last of Us we consider this year's show
Come dine (online) with me

Come dine (online) with me

Move over TV chefs, hello YouTube stars
Next in line – but public just can't warm to idea of Charles in charge

Next in line – but public just can't warm to idea of Charles in charge

'Independent' poll finds less that half want him to take throne as ministers moan of interference
Nothing's sacred: the illegal trade in India's holy cows

Nothing's sacred: the illegal trade in India's holy cows

Andrew Buncombe reports from Kaharpara on a bloody war between rustlers and border guards
Mogul grounded: Desmond gives up his jet deal

Mogul grounded: Desmond gives up his jet deal

Media tycoon's company pays £1m to cancel his order for a £36m private jet after drop in profits
How Ai Weiwei built a pavilion in London – by remote control

How Ai Weiwei built a pavilion in London – by remote control

The artist tells Clifford Coonan how he used Skype to escape confinement in Beijing
Nature, nurture... or neither? The new twist in an age-old argument

Nature, nurture... or neither?

The new twist in an age-old argument