3 22 FEBRUARY 2024 GOOD NEWS IN BRIEF This week’s uplifting stories from Anna Shepard Net gain for women Britain has three female tennis players in the world’s top 100 for the rst time in ve years after Harriet Dart (above) reached her rst Women’s Tennis Association semi- nal at the Transylvania Open in Romania. The Londoner, 27, won ve matches at the event before losing to Karolina Pliskova, and has risen 12 places to world number 91 and Britain’s number three. She forms an elite trio with fellow Brits Katie Boulter (ranked 50) and Jodie Burrage (88). Spuds are the stars Ben Newman – Spudman to his 2.3 million TikTok followers – has been selling up to 1,500 jacket potatoes a day from his trailer in Tamworth, after his daily videos went viral. With his pink mohawk and chatty nature, Ben has attracted customers from as far as Australia and Malaysia, raising the reputation of the humble potato. But customers now face three-hour queues stretching through the Sta ordshire town. Hooray for hedges England’s hedgerows would stretch almost 10 times around Earth if lined up end to end, according to a new map which uses laser scanning from the air to reveal England’s 390,000 hedges. This is likely to be more than anywhere else in the world, according to the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, which created the map. It hopes the data will encourage protection for these wildlife-friendly havens and highlight any gaps in the network. Pet project Dog walkers want to buy 140 acres of woodland near Peebles, Scottish Borders, to increase community access. The Friends of Broughtonknowe bid for the popular spot with help from a Scottish Land Fund grant. Debbie Walbaum from the group said: “It can’t be underestimated how important these woods are to people.” It’s become the norm to subscribe to everything from streaming services to letterbox cake, co ee, owers and books. Now – in a UK rst – you can take out a solar energy subscription. With latest research revealing that 70% of UK households are interested in installing solar panels, but only 4% have taken the leap, Sunsave’s subscription model removes the two most-cited barriers – pricing and complexity of the process. Backed by almost £2 million in government funding via the Green Home Finance Accelerator, the Sunsave Plus package provides panels, batteries, monitoring and maintenance, all for a xed monthly payment – starting from £69 and promising to slash energy bills – and no one-o lump sum. Brand founders Alick Dru and Ben Graves (above) met at Oxford University in 2011, where they discovered a shared interest in the climate. The pair say they were motivated to ‘democratise’ solar in the light of its ability to provide ‘near-limitless clean energy’. Alice Ryan NOW YOU CAN SUBSCRIBE TO SOLAR ENERGY It’s a wrap for diners with a taste for fish Retro, luxurious and comforting, fish in golden pastry with a layer of something creamy may have headlined menus during the 80s, but a growing number of home diners are tucking into its charms once again. Salmon en croûte sales are up 14% at Waitrose, while a recipe at waitrose.com for easy salmon en croûte (above), made with four ingredients, is the most popular in the website’s Meal Maths section. For restaurants still serving something similar, the watchword is theatre, from the ‘work of art’ bar en croûte (whole sea bass in pastry) served with langoustine bisque at London’s Pique Nique, to Manzi’s monkfish Wellington with sauce Americaine in Soho. Meanwhile, one of the capital’s oldest restaurants, Wiltons, serves 1.4M That’s the number of breadmakers going unused in UK homes, according to research by the charity Recycle Your Electrics. This year’s Real Bread Week, which runs until Sunday (25 February), is encouraging people to use them, or pass them on to someone who will. Real bread – produced without additives or processing aids – can easily be made by machine, says Chris Young, from the Real Bread Campaign, which is behind the initiative. “The cost of basic ingredients and energy to run a bread maker amount to pence, so adopting one is an a ordable and accessible way of more people being able to enjoy real bread,” he says. GOLDEN OLDIE Whole sea bass en croûte at The Connaught (right) a salmon coulibiac with pickled cucumber every Friday lunch. Mayfair’s Connaught Hotel o ers a sharing Cornish sea bass en croûte, and its assistant director of food and beverage Andreas Cortes says: “Pastry is the most important element –it’s responsible for creating a moisture seal that ensures the fish is steamed.” Mary Berry features mini versions in her new book Mary Makes It Easy. Her salmon and herbed hollandaise pavé involves individual salmon fillets on pu pastry bases. Anna-Marie Julyan Photographs: Steve Ryan, courtesy of Smoke, Jason Ingram, Getty Images
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