Burning left-over food and supermarket waste to provide energy sounds like a good idea writes Julia Stephenson. Wind farms, nuclear generators and coal powered gas stations are controversial so anything that can create energy out of rubbish is a great idea. Isn’t it?

Yet the news that that Tesco is sending 5,000 tons of leftover meat a year to be burned to generate electricity for homes created shock waves with vegetarians and meat eaters alike. It seems that green washing has reached a new low.

Every Wednesday, Farmaround, an organic vegetable box company, delivers a large box of British vegetables straight to my door, writes Julia Stephenson

They offer great value and I feel happier knowing that the farmers involved in the scheme get paid a proper sum for their produce – unlike those that must face the nightmare of dealing with capricious supermarkets who can terminate contracts on a whim and reject vegetables if they are the wrong size or shape. It’s also a relief to know that the contents of my box have not been sprayed with pesticides.

When last week, my father celebrated his second wedding, he asked my brother to say a few words after the ceremony writes Julia Stephenson

'I hope you won’t be offended that I haven’t asked you?’ he asked me nervously.  Au contraire, I reminded him, there are some advantages to being female, and one of them is not having to speak in public very often.

However, when the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection asked if I would give a two-minute talk, along some of their other supporters, at the House of Commons recently (they were promoting their popular campaign to abolish the testing of cleaning products on animals) I blanched with horror at the thought and promptly agreed.