Canadian author discusses US under Trump and says setting of her dystopian novel has ‘become much closer’

Margaret Atwood has said the plot of her book The Handmaid’s Tale, which depicts a story of an authoritarian regime where women are forced to reproduce, has become “more and more plausible” in recent years.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Atwood said she believed the plot was “bonkers” when she first had the concept for the novel as the US was the “democratic ideal” at the time.

Over the last 50 years, cabbage consumption in Britain has declined 80%. But it’s versatile, full of vitamins, and perfect on a winter night. Here’s how to make the most of it

It’s not good news: despite a lot of messaging about healthy eating, Britons consume 12% less vegetables per week than they did in 1974, when the government’s Family Food survey began. And while the consumption of some specific vegetables – courgettes, say – has risen over the past 50 years, others have experienced a sharp decline. Among the biggest losers is cabbage. Cabbage consumption in the UK dropped by 80%, beaten only by brussels sprouts (87%) which are, after all, a kind of cabbage.

This is a tragedy, not just because cabbage is an unsung superfood containing essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, as well as protein and dietary fibre, but because it’s a flexible, abundant and potentially delicious culinary ingredient. It even comes in different colours.

Over the last 50 years, cabbage consumption in Britain has declined 80%. But it’s versatile, full of vitamins, and perfect on a winter night. Here’s how to make the most of it

It’s not good news: despite a lot of messaging about healthy eating, Britons consume 12% less vegetables per week than they did in 1974, when the government’s Family Food survey began. And while the consumption of some specific vegetables – courgettes, say – has risen over the past 50 years, others have experienced a sharp decline. Among the biggest losers is cabbage. Cabbage consumption in the UK dropped by 80%, beaten only by brussels sprouts (87%) which are, after all, a kind of cabbage.

This is a tragedy, not just because cabbage is an unsung superfood containing essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, as well as protein and dietary fibre, but because it’s a flexible, abundant and potentially delicious culinary ingredient. It even comes in different colours.

Over the last 50 years, cabbage consumption in Britain has declined 80%. But it’s versatile, full of vitamins, and perfect on a winter night. Here’s how to make the most of it

It’s not good news: despite a lot of messaging about healthy eating, Britons consume 12% less vegetables per week than they did in 1974, when the government’s Family Food survey began. And while the consumption of some specific vegetables – courgettes, say – has risen over the past 50 years, others have experienced a sharp decline. Among the biggest losers is cabbage. Cabbage consumption in the UK dropped by 80%, beaten only by brussels sprouts (87%) which are, after all, a kind of cabbage.

This is a tragedy, not just because cabbage is an unsung superfood containing essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, as well as protein and dietary fibre, but because it’s a flexible, abundant and potentially delicious culinary ingredient. It even comes in different colours.

If Monopoly is your festive fallback for family fun then go directly to Jail and do not pass Go. A new wave of party pleasers, trick takers and strategy games can transport you to Stalingrad, the spirit realm, or even Georgian sex venues

There was a time when playing a Christmas board game meant dusting off an old favourite selected from a narrow range of options. Maybe Trivial Pursuit, if you wanted to show off your pub quiz chops. Or Scrabble, if you felt like flexing your wordsmith muscles. Or Monopoly, if you hoped to roll around in wads of fake cash. But these days the choice is far, far wider. Almost overwhelmingly so.

During the past decade, the modern board game scene has exploded like a cartoon kitten . As screens have come to dominate our eyelines and erode our mental health, more of us are seeking recreational solace in the more social, less toxic worlds of cardboard, cubes and wooden pawns – or “meeples”, to use the hobby parlance. Each tabletop experience has been finely crafted to yield maximum enjoyment in an often gorgeously presented way. Taking their cue from such indefatigable “Eurogame” classics as Catan and Codenames, these modern games have so grown in popularity they’ve encouraged the spread of high-street board game cafes, fuelled a boom in tabletop-related influencer activity, filled convention halls at ever-growing expos worldwide and raised millions on crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter.

If Monopoly is your festive fallback for family fun then go directly to Jail and do not pass Go. A new wave of party pleasers, trick takers and strategy games can transport you to Stalingrad, the spirit realm, or even Georgian sex venues

There was a time when playing a Christmas board game meant dusting off an old favourite selected from a narrow range of options. Maybe Trivial Pursuit, if you wanted to show off your pub quiz chops. Or Scrabble, if you felt like flexing your wordsmith muscles. Or Monopoly, if you hoped to roll around in wads of fake cash. But these days the choice is far, far wider. Almost overwhelmingly so.

During the past decade, the modern board game scene has exploded like a cartoon kitten . As screens have come to dominate our eyelines and erode our mental health, more of us are seeking recreational solace in the more social, less toxic worlds of cardboard, cubes and wooden pawns – or “meeples”, to use the hobby parlance. Each tabletop experience has been finely crafted to yield maximum enjoyment in an often gorgeously presented way. Taking their cue from such indefatigable “Eurogame” classics as Catan and Codenames, these modern games have so grown in popularity they’ve encouraged the spread of high-street board game cafes, fuelled a boom in tabletop-related influencer activity, filled convention halls at ever-growing expos worldwide and raised millions on crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter.

If Monopoly is your festive fallback for family fun then go directly to Jail and do not pass Go. A new wave of party pleasers, trick takers and strategy games can transport you to Stalingrad, the spirit realm, or even Georgian sex venues

There was a time when playing a Christmas board game meant dusting off an old favourite selected from a narrow range of options. Maybe Trivial Pursuit, if you wanted to show off your pub quiz chops. Or Scrabble, if you felt like flexing your wordsmith muscles. Or Monopoly, if you hoped to roll around in wads of fake cash. But these days the choice is far, far wider. Almost overwhelmingly so.

During the past decade, the modern board game scene has exploded like a cartoon kitten . As screens have come to dominate our eyelines and erode our mental health, more of us are seeking recreational solace in the more social, less toxic worlds of cardboard, cubes and wooden pawns – or “meeples”, to use the hobby parlance. Each tabletop experience has been finely crafted to yield maximum enjoyment in an often gorgeously presented way. Taking their cue from such indefatigable “Eurogame” classics as Catan and Codenames, these modern games have so grown in popularity they’ve encouraged the spread of high-street board game cafes, fuelled a boom in tabletop-related influencer activity, filled convention halls at ever-growing expos worldwide and raised millions on crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter.

• 2nd Test, D4: Australia 511 & 69-2 bt England 334 & 241

• Bowler leads charge to victory by eight wickets

For three hours Ben Stokes was hinting at a repeat of the innings that inked his name into Ashes folklore. Headingley 2019 is remembered for its explosion of runs at the end but less spoken about since has been the foundation of stone-cold obduracy on which it was built.

England’s situation going into the fourth day of this second Ashes Test at the Gabba was similarly dire, 43 runs away from making Australia bat again, six wickets down. As Ricky Ponting put it while Stokes was chewing his gum waiting to enter the field: “These are the moments he lives for.”

• 2nd Test, D4: Australia 511 & 69-2 bt England 334 & 241

• Bowler leads charge to victory by eight wickets

For three hours Ben Stokes was hinting at a repeat of the innings that inked his name into Ashes folklore. Headingley 2019 is remembered for its explosion of runs at the end but less spoken about since has been the foundation of stone-cold obduracy on which it was built.

England’s situation going into the fourth day of this second Ashes Test at the Gabba was similarly dire, 43 runs away from making Australia bat again, six wickets down. As Ricky Ponting put it while Stokes was chewing his gum waiting to enter the field: “These are the moments he lives for.”