That’s that, then. The last box finally ticked after eight largely forgettable friendlies that yawned across the course of 10 interminable months, in four different countries and against opposition from three continents.

THE summer’s wine highlight has come and gone.

Alex Ferguson’s retirement has provoked an extraordinary response right across Europe, a wave of emotion almost comparable to the day Seve Ballesteros died, exactly two years earlier.

Eight of Lidl’s wines have picked up gongs at this summer’s

Today I’m looking at a wine sale in Tesco, but I have to begin with a reminder that can’t be repeated often enough.

Never mind the weather — out here in the Atlantic, there’s no predicting from day to day whether we’ll be basking in the sun or dodging the hail — but the clocks go forward an hour tonight, meaning that from tomorrow it’ll be bright until about 8pm, inspiring us to head towards lighter dishes on the dinner menu and wines that put the emphasis on freshness and light.

“SOMEDAY a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets.”