Until I suffered a heart attack a little over a year ago I drank only whole milk. I regarded even that product,""pasteurised, homogenised, standardised,'' as an inadequate substitute for proper milk, with a deep head of cream.

But life has many things far more worth cherishing than the taste of cornflakes with real milk. So I took the medical advice to switch to green top. I grimaced and groused for a day or two, then got used to it.

A few weeks ago, though, I tried organic semi-skimmed _ white top. Hey presto _ a definite hint of real milk could be detected. I had found an acceptable alternative.

But that choice could vanish. Like everyone else I might be denied the chance to buy not only an organic pinta but any organic food. And you don't need me to tell you of its rising demand.

But its production is threatened by the Government's newly-declared intention NOT to establish a register of growers of genetically-modified crops. Neighbouring producer could find their crops contaminated without warning.

Because the long process of establishing organic production could not be undertaken with confidence, and could be imperilled by the unheralded advent of GM crops nearby, it would probably not be undertaken at all.

As Lord Melchett, policy director for the Soil Association, points out: ""The Government's proposal in effect denies to all consumers the right to choose non-GM food.'' Since this is what most consumers want, the Government's perverse policy is par for the course.

With the Wembley Stadium threatening to fall about two years behind schedule, while costs have trebled, there can be no doubt that if the venue for the 2012 Olympics was being chosen today, London would be a distant also-ran

Still, it's amazing what the spur of a fortnight's athletics six years hence can achieve. A progress report reveals that, within nine months of London's bid being accepted, work was well advanced to bury the high-voltage power lines that cross the site. Try getting unsightly power lines buried in your neighbourhood.

Another sporting link. The days when Yorkshire County Cricket Club merited Lancastrian Neville Cardus's accolade of ""the greatest cricket club in the world'' disappeared along with the all-conquering team of the 1960s.

That hasn't impeded the current chief executive, Stewart Regan, from calling for a reduction in the number of first-class cricket counties from the present 18 to 16, or even 12. With Yorkshire just about wooden spoonists in all their present competitions, and their ground rightly regarded as little better than a slum, Regan's implied belief that Yorkshire would remain among cricket's reduced elite is quite breathtaking.

Headed (HEAVY CAPS)IMPORTANT REMINDER (CLOSE HEAVY CAPS)a letter from British Gas the other day warned me: (HEAVY LC) Please pay £38.15 immediately to avoid further action. (CLOSE HEAVY LC) But not only is my home without gas, the whole village lacks a supply. What's more, BG's demand, addressed to the house where my wife and I have lived for 42 years, was targeted at a Miss E. Nellist, of whom we have never heard.

In sorting this out, I discovered an extraordinary fact. Transco, responsible for the gas network, has a meter reference for every address in Britain, whether or not it receives gas. A little insanity to add to the brimming collection.

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