Edited extract from Escape From Camp 14, by Blaine Harden.

Monbiot after reading Simon Fairlie's upcoming booking Meat: A Benign Extravagance.

"Ethiopia is only one of 20 or more African countries where land is being bought or leased for intensive agriculture on an immense scale in what may be the greatest change of ownership since the colonial era. ... It is not known if the acquisitions will improve or worsen food security in Africa, or if they will stimulate separatist conflicts, but a major World Bank report due to be published this month is expected to warn of both the potential benefits and the immense dangers they represent to people and nature."

How much have our perceptions of reading and writing changed now that you can craft a novel on a laptop and scroll through it on a Nintendo games console? This Christmas could be the moment when our idea of curling up with a fat novel are transformed for ever, says Tim Adams.  "In the pre-internet age...," he observes, "there came a moment when you turned off the TV or the stereo, or put down the book or magazine… You stopped doing culture and you withdrew --- or advanced --- into your solitude. You used the phone. You went for a walk. You went to the corner bar for a drink. You made love... You wrote a letter.

The Guardian interviews Bradley Wiggins after his magnificent Tour de France performance.

Quick chickpea recipes

Film interview

Scott Hutchinson on touring and being more popular in the US than UK.

"It helps that she's hot. Hot for a politician, that is. In the street she's a standard Milf. Stand her next to 500-year-old John McCain and she's a Barely Legal covergirl. While half the electorate argue about her hardline stance on abortion, the other half is debating which position they'd do her in first. Not out loud, you understand, but in their heads. Or online."

APRICOTS ON TOAST

"Teenagers and young adults - the so-called Generation Y - have watched with horror as their parents worked punishing hours in their scramble for money and status. Now, as this group go in search of jobs, they have different priorities.

..."maintaining agricultural diversity is essential to protect our food supply. 'We need [it] to help farmers and to help agriculture adapt to climate change, pests and diseases, droughts, and whatever demands we're going to have make of agriculture, incl

"in September last year, the European commission announced that it would suspend the 20-year rule for the 2008 harvest year so that farmers could grow more grain and offset recent poor harvests and soaring food prices."

"'Using complete data sets (including unpublished data) and a substantially larger data set of this type than has been previously reported, we find the overall effect of new-generation antidepressant medication is below recommended criteria for clinical s

"There is food on shelves but people are priced out of the market. There is vulnerability in urban areas we have not seen before. There are food riots in countries where we have not seen them before."

"Perhaps sleep is just the latest part of our lives to have fallen prey to big business. The sleep we are shown is airbrushed sleep, and we will never feel satisfied with what we have because we are striving for an ideal slumber that simply does not exist

"Now - thanks to the wondrous choice of digital music - mix tapes and vinyl are dying out. But is some of the mystery and meaning of music also disappearing?"

Rumours of a new Spiritualized album. Some interesting comments from readers regarding Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized.

Jonathan Glancey on the new Eurostar terminal at St Pancras; he likes it. "Quality abounds in this extraordinary public space. Rich, scratch-proof timber floors here. Stone flagstones there. No carpets. No McDonald's."

"... Swiss People's Party (SVP), the far-right movement tipped to win the elections later this month following a campaign denounced as overtly racist by a United Nations watchdog."

It's about self-delusion; we don't want to do anything from scratch, but we want the "from scratch" lifestyle.

"Be prepared for some strong opinions and some even stronger language, without a Dimbleby in sight!" Great stuff!

People have clamoured to know what on earth is happening in these pictures - taken with a manual camera and not Photoshopped - in which impassive 20-year-olds seem about to hit the ground at high speed.

Article on Arcade Fire. "Paul Morley discovers the secret of this special group's magic in their most intimate interview ever"

Mamma Mia, it ain't: West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin and director Des McAnuff are on board to bring Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots to the Great White Way.

Seems like a good guide to get started in cycling again. Includes recommendations of commuter bikes.

"Many nations have prospered after gaining independence from their neighbours. Why should the Scots be different?"

"Welcome to the farmers' market in Edinburgh, officially crowned as the best in Britain." I must visit there more often.

'New guidelines tell BBC staff they can make payments to members of the public who send in footage from mobile phones or cameras, but "audiences should not be encouraged to think that payment is the norm".'

"Alphabetically, by genre or just all higgledy-piggledy - how do you arrange your books?"

".. there is genuine desire at Channel 4 to create innovative fresh radio that broadens the range of commercial stations and offers an alternative to the BBC."

"Here Laura Barton picks 20 of the best [independent record shops], and finds out what makes them so special to their diehard fans."

"The initial range includes an office suite, two security/anti-virus products, a personal finance tool, CD/DVD burners, and a photo editing product." -- Who is developing this stuff?

"With seven months to go to elections, Scotland's media are in crisis. Broadcasting cutbacks, falling newspaper sales and downsizing add up to a loss of national identity"

"World health officials last night put out an unprecedented warning that deadly new strains of tuberculosis, virtually untreatable using the drugs currently available, appear to be spreading across the globe."

Fuller claims he doesn't personally favour ID, but feels that it should have a "fair run for its money". His view on evolutionary theory is that the jury is out, though he acknowledges that Darwinism does have the most evidence on its side.

Golden Wonder has gone bust, seemingly defeated by Gary Lineker and an array of new gourmet products. But are the fancy versions really a better class of crisp? We asked Michelin-starred chef Shane Osborn, food critic Jay Rayner and scientist Erich Mülle

In the long tail, the offbeat, quirky and the independent may find it easier to seek an audience, but the income that they take home from the jumble sale will scarcely be enough to fund the bus fare home.

Few in publishing inspire more fear than the head buyer of Waterstone's. Which is bad news for lovers of literature - or even old-fashioned browsers, says Tim Adams

The doom merchants bemoaning Waterstone's merger plans should think back to the end of the net book agreement

Guardian article on how we are taught to read. Progression of phonics to whole word recognition, then back to phonics possibly? In the news today, article from April.

By refusing to intervene, we surrender the public space to intimidation