LifeCaraway seeds

Another week, another fun fact about Japan’s declining birthrate and aging population to startle and amuse us. Japan has now recorded a full decade where sales of adult diapers outstripped those of baby diapers. Thanks to the surfeit of geriatric incontinents, one well-known manufacturer, Oji Holdings, has made headlines by giving up on tots entirely and announcing it will shift its production to diapers for seniors instead. It is a reasonable business decision by the company.

Which items of food from your childhood did your parents force you to eat which now, blessed with the gift of choice, you wouldn’t touch with a proverbial bargepole? Pig trotters, cow heels and various items of offal, such as hearts, brains and “lights,” may spring to mind. Brussels sprouts, of course, and possibly dubious seafood such as cockles and whelks.

This diary is late. Two months late. The columnists who missed my Evening Standard deadlines often had elaborate excuses. Mine is that I’ve been involved in working out who is going to own this magazine. We’ve seen some oddities in this particular drama. Those vehemently opposed to government interference in a free press suddenly calling for government laws to regulate press ownership. Columns from advocates of free trade and open investment in every industry except, it turns out, their own.