In the pricey times of 2023, buying a lettuce can require a second mortgage. Grapes? Unattainable luxury. Avocados? Forget. About. Them. Getting your five-a-day is suddenly a far more costly enterprise than it used to be. But we do still need to eat well. Nutritionists are on hand with good news: those frozen and tinned products you turn your nose up at are often just as good for you as the fruit and veg left degrading in the supermarket’s “fresh” aisle for days — and sometimes even better for you. Here’s why.

Boris Johnson appeared before the House of Commons committee of privileges this week to explain to MPs that photos of him standing with a glass raised in front of tables strewn with champagne bottles were depicting “essential work meetings” at Downing Street. I don’t know about you but if I’d have realised that cracking open a bottle of Veuve Cliquot with dozens of pals was admissible under lockdown rules, my pandemic would have looked very different indeed.

The nature of these “gatherings” was just one of the many points of disagreement between the former prime minister and the MPs who have to decide if he misled parliament over partygate. I forced politics specialist Sam Power to sit down and watch the whole three-hour grilling. After enduring Johnson’s complaint that maintaining social distancing was simply impossible (Was it a bit of a challenge? I can barely recall!) we then compared notes and sifted out the bits you really need to digest before the verdict on Johnson’s future as an MP is delivered.

We’ll finally get news from the Roy family this week as season four of Succession begins. Last time we heard from the world’s most angry billionaires, father Logan had screwed over all of his children in one go with the help of their own mother and one of their spouses. At times when watching the show, one really does wonder how any of them have mustered the energy to build a global corporation valuable enough to be worth fighting over given quite how much of the working day they spend fighting over it. But as this will be the final season of the show, Logan really does need to choose who will step in when he’s gone. Luckily, there are bountiful examples from the real world of business that he could follow. Here’s how successful leaders pass their companies onto their kids without fuelling sibling rivalry.

Also this week, why keeping your dog on a lead is the environmentally conscious choice, what the symbols on your clothing labels actually mean, and how clean is your hotel room, really? All the best.

Laura Hood

Politics Editor, Assistant Editor

Frozen and tinned foods can be just as nutritious as fresh produce – here’s how

Gunter Kuhnle, University of Reading; Keshavan Niranjan, University of Reading

Fresh fruits and vegetables actually lose nutrients as soon as they’re picked.

Boris Johnson’s evidence to MPs’ partygate investigation: the key points of disagreement explained

Sam Power, University of Sussex

The former prime minister insists gatherings with wine were essential work meetings.

Want to help protect rare birds in nesting season? Keep your dog on its lead

Barry John McMahon, University College Dublin

Dogs and ground-nesting birds in breeding season: why the two should never meet.

Wild Isles: starling murmuration in BBC documentary reveals as much about people as it does about birds

Samuel Shaw, The Open University

Historic paintings can be just as valuable as educational tools as videos created using the latest technologies.

From the bed sheets to the TV remote, a microbiologist reveals the shocking truth about dirt and germs in hotel rooms

Primrose Freestone, University of Leicester

The filthy secrets of hotel rooms and why you might want to pack disinfectant on your next trip.

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