Defra, according to the National Audit office, can't set a budget: Over the last two years the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) approved an annual £3.8bn spending plan that was £230m more than the figure allocated by the Treasury to tackle green issues and pay farm subsidies.… read more…

Food, recycling, the planet and birds. All major concerns of the southern middle classes. Well, according to the Guardian, Defra, the department that looks after all these things for us, has got major budgetary problems: Hilary Benn, the environment secretary, has called them together after most sections of the Department… read more…