At first, the grey, austere Mr Jospin seemed scarcely more likely to warm the cockles.

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Tragically, picking cockles in Morecambe Bay, with its racing tides and quicksands, is also perilous.

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One part of Pat's Bar still recalls his youth in County Galway, minus only the jars of cockles and mussels.

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Warm weather has claimed the highest number of cockles, with up to 20% on the densest part of the beds suffering "post-spawning heat-related stress".

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Also, on about 1% of the beds "there is a very unusual infestation of barnacles which appears to have caused a high mortality (75%) of cockles".

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But Scotland defended with a ferocity that would have warmed the cockles of ex-flanker Robinson's heart and Australia failed to keep their nerve when it mattered.

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These are numbers that warm the cockles of one's heart.

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Mussels will be on the menu for the next few weeks, before cockles, sprats and spinach will be added to the diet, which is rather more up-market than its usual fare of jellyfish.

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Mr. MELOY: Selling cockles and mussels.

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