Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.

a three-tined fork

Travelling with their granny, who seems more interested in her crossword puzzle than them, they bicker and fight in a futile bid to get her attention. Oh, the joys of travelling during the school holidays!

One of the tragic authors, finding himself assaulted in the dark, had, by way of poinard, employed upon his adversary's throat a knife which lay upon the table, for the convenience of cutting cheese […].