Top Ten lists for health and beauty can make you feel frumpy and dissatisfied. But you are a Top Ten person…you just have to figure out at what.

The makers of the Australian version of Monopoly want to update the next edition to reflect popular landmarks. But why stop there? How about updating the Chance and Community Chest cards to better demonstrate the reality of the Sydney real estate market?

There was time in Australia when an eggplant was a foreign object. And when olive oil was available only in medicinal quantities. People bought olive oil, but had no idea you could cook with it. So how did people use it back then?

There are things we buy where we’re not buying the thing -- we’re buying an emotion. What else explains the domination of cookbooks?

Brigit the tonkinese cat was caught stealing men’s underwear and socks in the New Zealand town of Hamilton. James Valentine uncovers stories of cats creating mayhem in their neighbourhoods.

James Valentine has been searching for our least favourite words for some time now. He calls them squirmy words.

Do you have strong views about the pronunciation of the eighth letter of the alphabet? Scratch the surface, and most of us have a clear view of how ‘H’ should sound.

If you're missing James Valentine's podcast, you'll be happy to discover it's being relaunched in late September. In the meantime, you can listen back to James' show one week after broadcast. Go to abc.net.au/Sydney, click on Afternoons and you'll see 'Catch Up'. Pick the day you'd like to listen to again - or for the first time. Enjoy.

Lee was shocked to receive a letter in the mail from the NSW Environment Protection Authority fining her $250 for apparently throwing a coffee cup from her car window. She said she didn't do it but under this system, she's guilty until proven innocent. Here's James Valentine.

In this week's episode, James explores the difficulty of buying any item at the supermarket that isn't in some way ethically or nutritionally compromised. Is the knobbly organic carrot the only ethical purchase?