When was the last time you stood outside the market, you checked out and thought: “Gosh, is that all I’ve spent?” Chances are it’s the opposite, and you leave the store clutching the till receipt and worrying “how on earth did I spend that much?” The rising cost of food is hitting families hard – and it’s going to get worse. economists have warned that food price inflation could hit nine per cent by Christmas. The Retail Prices Index measure of inflation already stands at 4.8 per cent. and with one in six firms planning to freeze staff pay, household budgets are being squeezed like never before. The good news is that there’s an easy way to break the vicious cycle of rising prices and falling income: grow your own food! To prove the point, we took a peek into the supermarket trolley of an average family to probe the cost of fruit and veg on a typical weekly shop: tomatoes (£1.50), a couple of bags of spuds at £2 each, strawberries (£2.50), a bag of sweet peppers (1.29), beans (£1.50),...

Where in hell is Nigeria going? Corruption is now a normal phenomenon in this country, eating into the bones and flesh of this great country which had a great potential and bright future. But looking critically at the direction in which we are headed, all hope is lost. What prompted this write-up was the irritation that popped up in my bowels when I saw an FRSC (Federal Road Safety Commission) officer receiving a 'book' containing money as a bribe from a driver. I felt like doing something silly at that spot but I couldn't, I was just dumbfounded. The most annoying of it all was the book used to give him and the sort of respect I had for these FRSC guys, I thought they were decent people until today. Apparently, the main cause of a scene like that is the level of poverty in the nation. There are so many people in the nation that live everyday below $1, that is the level of poverty. I understand that most of them are low hierarchy salary earners, however this doesn't giv...

I just stepped out of my apartment two days ago and I could barely see buildings 100 feet ahead. My hands and feet were becoming white and my nose was terribly dry. In my classics diary, signs like this indicate something; we're already in the Christmas month - December. I could feel it in my bones. Although I can't help it because this season we're in - harmattan is my favourite season of the year. I usually look forward to it not just because it's the Christmas season but harmattan gives me a kind of sensation that weed smokers feel when they are way higher than the Burj khalifa. I get some kind of joy and happiness when I can feel the cold wind press against my skin. Many might feel this is weird because the rainy season should be the obvious pick, but it isn't for me. You can't just imagine how 'extreme' the weather gets in Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria. I tend to walk in the scorching sun everyday for seven days of the week (I'm a christian, I go...