VIJAY PRASHAD looks at the web of militias and drug-trafficking gangs that emerged in the Sweida region through the Syrian civil war, and how they relate to recent clashes and Israel’s intervention

ONE of those vegetables that appears in all seed catalogues, but rather fewer gardens, kohlrabi is the Sputnik-shaped brassica that produces a ball of crisp, juicy, sweet flesh on its stem, just above the soil.
It’s relatively easy to grow and yields a decent amount of food for the space and time it takes up.
It’s also an easy crop to find uses for, cooked as a root vegetable or grated in salads.

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