It is, these days, arguably impossible for Eriksson to pick a bad team as long as the name of Rooney is entered upon England’s team sheet. He switches from the left to the right of Manchester United’s midfield five, has played behind a strike pairing of two and now, still two months before his 20th birthday, his peers judge him worthy of the job of leading the line alone. But it’s good if it works.” David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard might have met with Eriksson on Tuesday night and put their case for a 4-5-1 system, but it would not have been done without the strengths of Rooney in mind. I’m told I can just float and try to get on the ball and do what I can.

But defending-wise we do have to keep our shape so that means I have to keep my discipline It is difficult and it’s a hard job. At his current rate of scoring he should pass Sir Bobby Charlton’s international record of 49 by the time he is a mere 26. “We [Manchester United] have had a good start to the season,” he said. “The team’s done well and I’ve managed to get a few goals too, so I’m happy with the way things are going and I hope it can continue “I think attacking-wise [with England] I can do what I want. “Horrible” was how he described having to sit through a video of that performance, the highlight of which was his 10th international goal. The teenager has been tough on himself since the defeat to Denmark, although no one who witnessed the capitulation in Copenhagen this month would pin any blame on him. If Wales need reminding ahead of Saturday’s World Cup qualifier that it was against them last year that Rooney made his international return following the broken metatarsal bone he suffered during Euro 2004.

That day Rooney, scarcely eased back into Premiership life, was shifted to an unfamiliar new position behind Jermain Defoe and Owen. The heart-breaking news for Wales was that he seemed to love it there. Distributing the ball with ease, he dominated ­ dribbling around four opponents in the second half before Danny Gabbidon lunged in. On the grand stage, the 19-year-old is the type of striker who conquers rather than plunders and the Millennium Stadium is just his kind of place. Three days before Newcastle acquired Michael Owen, they were given a brutal demonstration of the destructive capabilities of a great centre-forward. It came courtesy of Rooney who bludgeoned away at their defence, panicked experienced defenders into simple mistakes and joyfully bellowed obscenities into Sky’s pitch-side microphones when he scored. As England approach the last four games of their World Cup qualifying campaign, it is the form of the Manchester United striker that remains the most compelling reason to be hopeful about Sven Goran Eriksson’s team.

He may not know what an empty glass is ever again.
Vaughan had with him the likes of Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen and Steve Harmison, which also meant he had with him 14,000 ticket holders. Simon Jones was missing and there was no sign of Matthew Hoggard but all the other England players were on the scorecard.It all seemed an attractive proposition, right up to the time it was determined that Vaughan’s side would bat first At 5.10pm, a close and brooding evening exploded. Coral: 7-4 Proclamation, 5-1 Goodricke, 6-1 Gift Horse, 9-1 Somnus, La Cucaracha, 10-1 Etlaala, 12-1 Galeota, 14-1 others.CAMBRIDGESHIRE (Newmarket, 1 Oct) Ladbrokes: 9-1 Ashkal Way, 12-1 Pedrillo, Stronghold, 14-1 Cesare, Evaluator, Musicanna, Sound Breeze, 16-1 All That And More, Blue Monday, Momtic, 20-1 others.Richard EdmondsonNap: Shortest Day(Salisbury 3.20)NB: Nidhaal(Salisbury 4.20). The huge crowd scattered as Leeds was visited by thunder, lightning and driving rain, in all honesty the sort of weather Vaughan would like to bag up and take down south for five days next week.There is, though, a further injury worry to report. Heading the weights on 9st 10lb is Eccentric, who landed the Winter Hill Stakes at Windsor last Saturday.SPRINT CUP (Haydock, Saturday): William Hill: 6-4 Proclamation, 4-1 Goodricke, 5-1 Gift Horse , 10-1 Etlaala, La Cucaracha, 12-1 Iffraaj, Somnus, 16-1 Galeota, 20-1 Lucky Spin, 33-1 others. Ladbrokes: 6-4 Proclamation, 9-2 Goodricke, 5-1 Gift Horse, 10-1 Etlaala, La Cucaracha, 12-1 Somnus, 14-1 Iffraaj, Galeota, 16-1 Lucky Spin, 25-1 others.

The son of Ashkalani landed a massive gamble at Beverley recently and is the 9-1 market leader with Ladbrokes from 129 entries for the £130,000 contest over nine furlongs. Dandy improves his horses and has done it with some good sprinters over the years I think he can do it with this one.”Brian Ellison’s progressive three-year-old Ashkal Way has been installed as favourite for the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket on 1 October. He’s won a lot of money now.”The six-times champion jockey had been seen to great effect when getting Cross The Line home in the opening handicap for Alan Jarvis, who said: “I’ve been using the top jockeys for 35 years but Kieren is a genius.”The three-timer was completed on Charlie Cool, impressive winner of the maiden. The William Haggas-trained colt quickened well to earn a 33-1 quote from Victor Chandler for the 2,000 Guineas and Derby.”He feels like a real nice horse; a proper horse,” Fallon said “He quickened twice and you don’t usually see that. It’s quite exciting when you get one that can do that.”With Jarvis’s praise still ringing Gift Horse came in for strong support for Saturday’s Sprint Cup at Haydock after it was confirmed that Fallon will ride.The David Nicholls-trained Gift Horse was last seen winning the Stewards’ Cup and Fallon said: “He was always better than a handicapper and he proved that at Goodwood but Proclamation [the favourite] has a lot of ability.”"He is coming back in trip and will need luck in running so he is not home and hosed by any means My fellow deserves to be there. Maybe he had a harder race than we thought last time.”Mullins Bay was the middle leg of a Kieren Fallon treble and the jockey said: “He’s a lovely horse and Aidan loved him last year, so much so that he pressed for him to stay in training this year and it’s worked out well. Maraahel’s jockey, Richard Hills, said: “He travelled well into the straight but didn’t pick up.

In Sweden, herring is fermented to make surstr?ng, which emits a strong, foul smell when the can is opened (the trick is to open the can under water, or eat the stuff outside) From early on, the recipes were highly sophisticated. One Manx recipe for minced herring pies includes almond paste, fish roes, dates, gooseberries, rose water and saffron.But the shoals of the silver darlings were far from predictable The ordinary folk of Europe got used to feast and famine. Chronicles from the Isle of Man record that in 1648, local people lived on herring, salt, butter and oatcakes. It was eaten raw, fresh, salted, cured, pickled and fermented The Germans created the soused roll-mop. The Dutch came up with an enzyme-cured delicacy with raw, shredded onions The English invented smoking then kippering.

Mrs Beeton was even suggesting flavouring herring with cloves. The Flemish dreamt up a salad of smoked herring and warm potato.Great secrecy developed across Scandinavia about the best marinade with tarragon, cherry, sherry and curry as the defining extra ingredient. In the days before refrigeration, the herring and the cod could be easily cured, and thus eaten far from the point of capture. The growth of the herring trade was one of the reasons for the foundation of the Hanseatic League, the first free-trade organisation in Europe. The merchants of the city of Hamburg, who had easy access to the salt mines of Kiel (salt being essential to the smoking process) forged an alliance with the merchants of Lubeck, who monopolised the rich herring stocks off the coast of Sweden.The huge hauls of herring created great wealth for Danish, English, French and Dutch traders whose governments built and deployed great naval forces to protect them, creating the sea power which became the basis of the colonial era.Such was the primacy of the herring, that there developed as many recipes for preparing it as there are days in the year. The herring, says Alan Davidson in The Oxford Companion to Food , is the fish which had the greatest influence on the economic and political history of Europe.After the process of smoking fish was discovered in the 12th century the herring began to rival the cod for importance. So large were the quantities consumed that a 17th century French physician, observing increased levels of sexual ardour during Lent, blamed the poor fish.

It entered into our mythology too, with folk tales of jewellers who wrought herrings from sterling silver to attract the itinerant shoals.It played a huge part in the continent’s religion. Medieval Catholic Europe’s huge demand for it, during Lent and fasting days, laid the foundation of the Dutch empire Amsterdam, it was said, was built on herring bones. The herring has moved in great, wide, spawning shoals around our littoral waters, plundered by gulls and gannets, with the rhythm of each year. The Romans, a warm-watered Mediterranean type, had a blind spot for the fish. But when the Anglo-Saxons arrived, herring fishing began to develop. By the 6th century, drift nets were at work off Great Yarmouth, though fishing was then restricted to the great rivers and estuaries into which certain members of the herring family would ascend in big shoals to spawn in fresh water.From that, the herring became an essential part in the diet of the peoples of northern Europe, and in the centuries that followed, it formed a staple food of the ordinary people.

And if that sounds fanciful consider Mrs Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper She was, until this week, the world’s oldest person. She died in her sleep at 115, after eating a herring every day. It worked for her.The humble herring is not a fish much in fashion. But for nigh on two millennia it has been the secret which sustained the peoples and empires of northern Europe. The cool temperate waters around our islands and the north-west coast of the continent have teemed in huge quantities with the silver sparkle of this steely, bluish-green-backed fish with the glistening silvery belly.

I saw seven people were brought dead near the end of the bridge, smothered. Other people were running and shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ [God is great].”"Whoever was able to swim and knew how to swim survived. The people who didn’t know died,” said Sattar Jabbar, 22, a fighter in the Shia Mehdi Army militia who was on security duty. He helped pull people out of the river after jumping in himself.The death toll was put at more than 965 dead and hundreds more injured.In March last year, 180 people died, many of them Shia pilgrims, when they were attacked by insurgents in Baghdad and in the holy city of Karbala. Fearing more attacks, the authorities blocked off roads across northern Baghdad on Tuesday as hundreds of thousands of Shia pilgrims converged on the capital.

The country’s Health Minister, Abdul-Mutalib Mohammed, told Iraqi television that there were “huge crowds on the bridge and the disaster happened when someone shouted that there is a suicide bomber on the bridge. This led to panic among the pilgrims,” he said, “and they started pushing each other and there were many cases of suffocation.”The security commander for the Qadimiya district, in north Baghdad on the west bank of the Tigris, confirmed this analysis.But pilgrims became frightened after mortar shells landed on the crowds in the morning, killing at least six people A rumour started that a suicide bomber was among the crowd. Pilgrimages to the Baghdad shrine of Imam Moussa Qadim, the eighth-century Shia saint, were banned by Saddam Hussein. The revival of such pilgrimages has attracted enormous crowds over the past two years and an estimated one million pilgrims were on the road yesterday. In the aftermath of the disaster, tens of thousands of pilgrims continued their mournful procession and Shia women were seen keening over dead bodies in the streets.The bridge where the disaster took place connects a Shia district with a part of Baghdad that supports the insurgency. The Sunni side has many former Hussein Baath party loyalists and Sunni fundamentalists.

The disaster occurred just days after the new draft constitution was put before Iraq’s parliament despite fierce objections by Sunni representatives. Prominent Sunnis want voters to reject the draft constitution when it is put to a referendum in October, and there have been angry protests against it among Sunnis across northern and central Iraq.In the aftermath, Sunnis from the east side of the Tigris told how they had tried to save pilgrims who fell on to the concrete by taking the injured to a Sunni mosque and university. Others helped out with boats and, at a turn in the river, the fast-flowing current dumped bodies on the shoreline Hospitals on both side were soon filled with bodies. The full scale of the disaster was clear at Baghdad’s Medical City hospital, where heartbroken relatives and corpses filled the hallways, spilled onto the parking lot and the lawn.

Arab television stations also showed bodies of men, women and children laid out on hospital floors, water streaming from their women’s abayas and the black trousers and shirts of Shia pilgrims.When hospitals could take no more victims, the bodies were laid side by side on the footpath and covered with white cloths and foil blankets. It was a scene of raw and pitiable emotion as women pulled back the covers in a desperate search for loved ones. Many survivors blamed the Shia security, rather than insurgents.Searches of men had caused bottlenecks to build up as pilgrims streamed toward the shrine. On the other side of the checkpoint another crowd built up as returning pilgrims tried to push their way home.Shia death toll* 31 August 2005: Worshippers stampede in Baghdad during commemoration of Shia saint’s death, killing as many as 1,000 pilgrims.* 10 March: Suicide bomber blows himself up at a Shia mosque during a funeral in Mosul, killing 47 and wounding more than 100.* 28 February: Suicide car bomber targets mostly Shia police and National Guard recruits in Hillah, killing 125 and wounding more than 140.* 18 February: Two suicide bombers attack two mosques, leaving 28 people dead, while an explosion near a Shia ceremony kills two others.* 19 December 2004: Car bombs tear through Najaf funeral procession and Karbala’s main bus station, killing 60 people and wounding more than 120.* 26 August: A mortar barrage slams into a mosque near Najaf, killing 27 people and wounding 63.* 2 March: Co-ordinated blasts from suicide bombers, mortars and planted explosives strike Shia shrines in Karbala and Baghdad, killing 181 and wounding 573.* 29 August 2003: A car bomb explodes outside a mosque in Najaf, killing 85 people, including Shia leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim.Source: AP
More from Robert Fisk. We are asked to believe that the rejuvenated Blair, no longer trammelled by the need to seek re-election, is going to put his stamp on the next two to three years by reshuffling the Cabinet to promote his favourites, introduce sweeping new reforms of the Health Service and education, revolutionise security and lead Europe on a great march towards Anglo-Saxon economics.The structure of the story is always the same.

He was also an awesome teacher, able to make the most complex issues simple and the most arcane arguments interesting. There was also a vibrant group of young and irreverent academics trying to make a mark, collectively known as “kiddies corner” We competed and collaborated and worked. These included understanding the relationship between the structure of an industry (in terms of the size distribution of firms) and its profitability and explaining why profits persist in particular industries for so long despite the processes of entry and exit.Geroski was never a theorist, and was only concerned with theory in so far as it guided his empirical work. His method was resolutely econometric, and he discovered an unrivalled ability to sense intuitively the relationships in the data, and experiment across the range of econometric methods, both known and being developed, to find the ones that could bring those relationships into the light.His first job was at Southampton University in 1977, as Lecturer in Industrial Economics. The Southampton Economics Department was quite large, with particular strengths in econometrics and modelling. For reasons that never became entirely clear, Geroski liked England so much he applied for graduate studies at Warwick University, and never returned to live in the United States.

He was so gauchely American at that time, but had a fear of flying he did not conquer for many years – I used to argue that he was only in England because he was too scared to fly back.It was at Warwick that Geroski identified his intellectual mission. He was one, perhaps the most eminent, of a group of economics graduate students working with Keith Cowling to apply the new statistical methods then being devised by econometricians in Britain and America to the traditional questions in industrial economics. Despite spending a life in or around academia, and achieving real academic distinction, this was no ivory-tower professor.He commenced his higher education at one of New York State’s leading liberal arts colleges, Bard College, where he read, thought, argued and lived prodigiously in the prescribed manner for students at such institutions in the early 1970s. He received grounding across the board – sciences, humanities, social sciences, drama and music – which provided the basis for a breadth of intellectual interest for the rest of his life, after his academic concerns had narrowed to economics. It was from this time that Geroski became a creature surprisingly rare in the contemporary academic world: a scholar.He spent his junior year abroad in Manchester, where he met his lifelong partner Alice Sampson, who promptly disappeared for five years to sail around the world. These ranged from a love for burgers and American football to an openness and friendliness to all, stemming from a deeply rooted sense of egalitarianism. In 1985 there was a Pannett family exhibition at the Arun Art Centre, in Arundel, nine members from three generations contributing.In her eighties, Juliet Pannett’s eyesight deteriorated.

But not with the support of the Sunni representatives on the negotiating committee. Sunni leaders are now determined to veto the document in October’s referendum. In one sense this can be regarded as an improvement on the Sunni refusal to vote in last year’s elections. But a rejection of the constitution would do nothing to promote stability in Iraq. And Sunni resistance to a settlement seen as suited to Iraq’s Kurdish and Shia communities is unlikely to be wholly democratic in nature. Iraq must brace itself for more bombings.What is more, there are reasons to fear that this latest attack has the potential to push Iraq to a new level of violence.

But the scale of the bloodshed makes yesterday different.So does the timing Iraq’s future is poised on a knife-edge. The long-awaited constitution was presented to the National Assembly at the weekend. And the Sunni-led insurgency has shown no compunction in targeting Shia pilgrims in the past. In March last year, suicide bombers killed 180 people in simultaneous attacks on Shia shrines in Baghdad and Karbala. In August 2003, a car bomb exploded outside a mosque in Najaf, killing 85, among them the respected Shia leader Ayatollah Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim.

I lowered myself gingerly back on to the rope.”Oh God,” I whispered.”What?”"The peg’s buggered. It’s coming out.”"Christ! Where’s the gear? Let’s put something in.”"It’s gone The hardware, boots, everything It went with the ledge.”Ian was silent I looked at the flake where the handrail had been tied off Tiny pebbles and dust trickled from its sheared-off base Both attachment points could go at any moment. Where was Ian? I remembered that sudden yelp during the fall. Had he gone with it?”By ‘eck!” I heard Ian’s broad Lancastrian voice beside me I poked my head out from my bag and glanced at Ian. His head lolled on to his shoulder and his torch reflected a sodium yellow light off the surrounding rock walls. There was blood on his neck.We hung side by side on the tightly stretched rope and swore.

With the help of our torches we were horrified to find that our ropes had gone We looked at each other and giggled nervously. Two thousand feet up and no ropes! The handrail shifted suddenly, causing us both to squeak with fright, hearts hammering at the thought of falling again.I turned and shone my torch on the handrail It looked odd I twisted round, grabbed the rope It shifted again and the peg moved. It must have taken only a fraction of a second but it seemed to last forever.We bounced on the springy stretch of rope The handrail had held I swung gently on the rope with my arms pinned to my sides. I had held the fall on my armpits and for a confused moment I desperately tried to remember whether I had clipped myself to the handrail.In the sudden darkness, with the sounds of falling rock echoing up from the depths, I was momentarily disorientated.

That lit the touch-paper on an explosive situation that had been heating for some time.. Ballot papers have been dispatched to 300,000 Tory party activists. The power to choose the next leader of the Opposition now lies exclusively in their hands. Although party members have until 5 December to return their ballots, around half are expected to fill them out as soon as they arrive. That is what happened last time members were asked to choose their leader, when they foolishly elected Iain Duncan Smith over Kenneth Clarke by a hefty margin.

This time the race has been rather more exciting, with the field now narrowed down to two. After a poor start, David Davis is running a lively campaign. He performed well in Thursday’s televised debate and is justifying his reputation for being a pugnacious character. And his opponent, David Cameron, showed his inexperience in the debate. Those who were predicting a Cameron landslide after he came top of the ballot of MPs may have been too hasty..

These riots which erupted in Clichy-sous-Bois did not emerge from a vacuum, but had two distinct causes. The first is the attitude of the Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, who threatened to “hose down” the “scum” on the estates. It took eight years of bitter debate before the ban on hunting reached the statute book. And what has been the upshot?

Today the opening meets of the fox-hunting season will take place Some 50,000 people are expected to attend Foxes will be killed, many possibly illegally We don’t yet know for sure.. Why is it that, four weeks after the terrible earthquake in Kashmir, the world has provided less than 25 per cent of the money needed to help three million homeless people as the bitter Himalayan winter approaches? So grave is the shortfall that the World Food Programme yesterday warned it might have to scale back vital aid flights if it did not receive more donations.

President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan has accused the international community of double standards on aid. The Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina both raised much more, he said, because Western tourists were caught up in both It is instructive to wonder at the difference.. Politicians talk endlessly of devolving power from the centre, but only rarely does it actually happen Over the next few weeks, though, it will. The debate over hunting with hounds will go down as one of the greatest wastes of time in political history. He was a private man and, although he spent most of his adult life in smoky and boozy night-clubs, managed to stay fit and healthy. Simon notoriously looked younger than his years, although jealous rumour had it that he shaved a few years off his official age.Simon Hobart’s family have announced that his clubs will stay open, “run in the manner and style that Simon wanted”. A great lover of fashion and jewellery, he was edgy in his look but never his attitude.

Especially with the recent accession of nations liberated from communism, Britain has an opportunity, nay, moral obligation, to assume a leading and constructive role in the union of European nations. All globally active campaigning organisations have to fly their staff around the world at times. You have failed to see the wood for the trees, by focusing on a small aspect of a much bigger, more positive picture.PATRICK HOLDENDIRECTOR, THE SOIL ASSOCIATION BRISTOL A new role for the disgruntled English Sir: From his analysis of national disgruntlement (4 November), Terence Blacker omits a very important element, identified by Dean Acheson, of Britain failing to find a role after losing the empire. It would have been counter-environmental not to have taken those seats, and added more C02 emissions by taking an additional flight.All other Soil Association staff flying to this concert and to launch our new major international campaign, Food for Life, travelled economy and all flights, including those on Eos, were made carbon-neutral.

This is why we stood nostalgically aloof from the Treaty of Rome, leaving a clear field for France to railroad through such inequitable policies as the CAP.Nil desperandum, though. Are there any teachers, policemen, workers or pensioners who think he did a good job?ALAN DAVIESKINGSWINFORD, WEST MIDLANDS Green flight across the Atlantic Sir: Pandora’s story “Tree-hugger Sting takes ‘worst’ polluting airline’s sponsorship” (3 November) claims that “the Soil Association flew several executives” on an Eos flight to New York. Is this scientific evidence that the butler always does it?MATTHEW LLOYDWOLVERHAMPTONSir: David Blunkett has been Education Secretary, Home Secretary and Work and Pensions Secretary. I have to admire the way David Blunkett has followed his master in his latest escapade by laying claim to the traditional Conservative ground while still retaining his own.PHILIP CRESSWELLOXFORDSir: Dr Raj Persaud (“Did the rewards of office distort his judgement?”, 3 November) cites a study that says those in positions of power see themselves “as immune from threat from those ‘below stairs’ ” and that this eventually backfires when those “below stairs” take revenge on their superiors.

The “replacement” approach, particularly if allied to a “sectarian” secularism that is intolerant of all belief, is a recipe for alienation and underachievement, especially among pupils who lack confidence, security or, in their view, opportunity.THE REV PAUL HYPHERBENTHAM, NORTH YORKSHIRE Blunkett carries on a great tradition Sir: It always used to be said that the great Conservative scandals were about sex while the great Labour scandals were about money. I have yet to see evidence from serious research that justifies this assertion. A few faith schools may be narrowly sectarian, but the considerable majority are not. Many are promoted by the Church of England and carry no sectarian religious agenda; they simply seek to place the Christian church at the service of local communities.Schools of faiths other than Christian should be able to achieve this, too, by affirming and fostering the faith, cultural identity and background of pupils, while at the same time helping them be open to society in general and to the cultural and spiritual identities of others in particular.This is a more sensible way forward than seeking to ignore the differing cultural and spiritual identities in an attempt to create a replacement identity.

If that’s true, perhaps she could explain the existence of the fashion industry.RICHARD MARRLONDON W3 Faith schools foster cultural identity Sir: With reference to Johann Hari’s article (“Q: Are there links between the Birmingham riots and the building of more faith schools?” 27 October): how many of the rioters can be shown to have been segregated by attendance at faith schools?Since the Swann Report in 1985, public inquiries have regularly linked racial disharmony to school segregation. And me? I’m a jeans, T-shirt and trainers wearer, so I won’t be dining in Margate either.PAUL ALEXANDERMANCHESTERSir: Janet Street-Porter claims that “the notion that you can judge people by their clothes in modern Britain is ludicrous”. It is no longer the doorman who has shown “disrespect” but a faceless corporation.I’m sure if Ms Street-Porter were to work just one evening on the door of a late bar or nightclub in a city centre, she would be grateful for the opportunity to pass the buck when confronted by somebody she has personally “dissed” and who is “comin’ back with the shooters”.The reason a venue chooses certain items of clothing to determine suitability for admission is not pettiness but experience and understanding what the majority of its paying customers expect. Unfortunately, many of the young men targeted by such sweeping rules do in fact wear particular styles and makes of fashion as gang uniform. I wonder if some of the beer halls of 1930s Germany had similar rules regarding jackboots and brown shirts,which also indicated a possible belligerent attitude coupled with intransigence to reason.During twenty years in the nightclub industry, I have seen the growing “gangster” mentality of many young men. In the past, it would have been possible for door staff to simply say, “Sorry, guys, not tonight.” That is no longer so readily accepted, and often those refused admission take it as a sign of personal disrespect, and respond with threats and acts of retribution This is where a dress code can help.

Add the pimenton, sugar and tomato pur?and stir over the heat for a minute then add the tomatoes, beans and ketchup, season, add a cup of water and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring every so often until the sauce is thick.You can serve these on toast, or make large chunky croutons cooked in olive oil. If you’ve got lots of people round you could keep a pot of these hot near the fire.1 onion, peeled and finely chopped 1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed 4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, rind removed and finely diced 1tbsp olive oil 1/2tsp pimenton (Spanish paprika) 1tsp brown sugar 2tsp tomato pur?1 x 400g can of chopped tomatoes 2 x 400g cans of good quality beans (or a mixture), drained and washed 2tbsp tomato ketchup Salt and freshly ground black pepperGently cook the onion, garlic and bacon in the olive oil for 3-4 minutes until the onions are soft but not coloured. The bacon can be replaced with diced-up chorizo so the beans take on a spicier, smoky flavour. You can use any kind of bean for this, like flageolet, cannellini, borlotti, black eye, or to make it even more interesting use a mixture.

Simmer for a few more minutes and serve.Bonfire baked beansServes 4-6 Home-made baked beans can be fun and it’s reassuring to know exactly what’s going into them. Add the flour and mix well then slowly stir in the hot vegetable stock, a little at a time to avoid lumps forming Season and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the pumpkin and continue cooking for 15 minutes or so.Blend a ladleful of the soup, including bits of pumpkin and chorizo, in a blender until smooth then return to the pan with the parsley. Because, remember, remember, bonfire parties needn’t only be on the fifth of November.
Pumpkin and chorizo soupServes 4-6 Every year we see more and more varieties of pumpkin and squash in the shops, and they make such delicious, hearty soups. This is a nice chunky fireside soup that’s almost a stew, with a little bit of its own heat.

Cooking chorizo is best for this, not the slicing variety which is drier and hence tougher when cooked.1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped 1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed 1tsp fresh thyme leaves 120g cooking chorizo, cut into 1cm chunks, or slices 2tbsp olive oil 1tbsp flour 1.5 litres hot vegetable or chicken stock 500-600g peeled weight of firm fleshed pumpkin, or squash, cut into 11/2-2cm chunks Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1tbsp chopped parsleyGently cook the onion, garlic, thyme and chorizo in the olive oil in a covered pan for 3-4 minutes, stirring every so often, without colouring. Well, I didn’t want them trampling all over my lovely new floors.I thought about doing mini toad-in-the-hole that you could serve straight from the Yorkshire pudding tin, but instead I opted for these favourites. Next time, though, I shall stick marshmallows on to rosemary-stalk skewers for toasting over the fire. There was plenty left over for a burn up in the cast-iron fire pit in the garden, so I had a bonfire-party dress rehearsal with hearty dishes to keep everyone out of the house and outdoors round the fire.

In addition to the used tea bags and old newspapers they also left behind the chippy trimmings from the past three months, and some good chunks of firewood. The builders have finally moved out at home, just as we were getting used to their company. What started as a relatively small project turned into major refurb, and just as I’d got used to a constant stream of PG Tips, The Daily Sport and little piles of dust in the corners, they’ve cleared off. They included well-known names like Hidalgo’s La Gitana, Tio Pepe from Gonzalez Byass and good old Harveys Pale Cream. Given its uniqueness and quality in-depth, it’s a shame that a style still often perceived as old-fashioned is having to fight so hard to receive its just desserts. The trophy winner was the fabulously nutty, evolved dry Domecq Amontillado 51-1a VORS, 30 Years Sherry, £45, Steep Hill Wines, while one of the most surprising top 100 winners was the excellent Perez Barquero Gran Barquero Pedro Xim?z, Montilla, 50cl, £6.49, Waitrose EAnthony Rose is Glenfiddich Wine Writer of the Year.