Cucumbers could soon be cool again

So, the fightback has begun. No one is more in need of a makeover than the humble cucumber, unfairly trampled on by the Germans in the neverending search for the E-coli culprit. Spanish MEP Francisco Sosa-Wagner yesterday brandished a cucumber as he declared: "We need to restore the honour of the cucumber." Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa has taken the first step. Thanks to him, the cucumber is to boldly go where no salad vegetable has gone before – into space. Meanwhile, we will be looking out for more signs of the rehabilitaion of the humble, much-vilified Cucumis sativus .