A couple of days ago while skimming through an abandoned newspaper on the train, my eyes lit upon the alarming headline “Spice should be Class A drug”. Hastily I donned my reading glasses and with almost trembling fingers perused the article to discover which of the contents of the little jars in my kitchen might be about to become an illegal substance. No more smoked paprika? Curries without turmeric? Chilli devoid of cumin or even chilli?
False alarm – it transpires that the “spice” in question (aka K2) is a form of synthetic cannabis. But you can’t be too careful; in these risk-averse times, who knows what innocuous culinary ingredient might be next in line for official censure.