The crew of the Freedom Flotilla boat, Handala, warned Israel to obey international law but are now in captivity, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

A SUCCESSFUL courgette plant can take up a fair amount of space on the vegetable patch by midsummer, so if you’re short of room you could try growing them vertically instead of horizontally.
This approach involves a bit more intervention than growing them on the flat does, and some cultivars of courgette respond better to the treatment than others — one called Black Forest, for instance, is particularly recommended as a climber.
But if you don’t mind the extra labour, it can be a useful way of getting more food per square foot of ground as well as minimising the risk of a rampant courg smothering neighbouring crops.

MAT COWARD presents a peculiar cabbage that will only do its bodybuilding once the summer dies down

A heatwave, a crimewave, and weird bollocks in Aberdeen, Indiana horror, and the end of the American Dream

A corrupted chemist, a Hampstead homosexual and finely observed class-conflict at The Bohemia

Beet likes warmth, who doesn’t, so attention to detail is required if you’re to succeed, writes MAT COWARD