On potato week, Danish washing machines and Nigel Slater

How the harvest is a time to reflect in the UK as well as in the Nordics, plus why Finnish footballers, Cocomelon and ponies in cardigans are all on my radar this week

Happy potato holiday aka week 42 or kartoffelferie for all living Danishly. Traditionally, farmers would keep their children off school to help with the harvest at this time of year. But teachers became so fed up with the staggered absences - not knowing who was turning up when - that in 1899, Denmark announced an official school holiday in mid-October,…