A quiet day

Woke up today feeling literally disconnected. Could think, but not initiate action without a lot of effort. Weird. After a couple of hours it wore off with a migraine starting, so took tablets and was fine by the afternoon. With Cambridge Open Studios four weekends starting this Saturday, Jane and i wnadered down Fen Road to deliver leaflets advertising the Milton Studios. Rhiannon was going to be open this weekend. The rest of the five arts groups in the village are preparing to start in a weeks time. At least the walk confirmed that the worst of the pollen overload was over and hayfever under control again. 

Giving Brexit and Trump a miss today!

Fading dreams of staying in Europe and the wrong sort of US climate change

I had to cancel an appointment today.  I was still affected by sneezing and light sensitivity to a minor degree. Till I went out into the garden briefly and was overcome again within a couple of minutes. Dastardly grass or weed pollens were still dominant, waiting to attack at any opportunity. Interspersed work with making a fruit and nut chocolate bar just before lunch. 100 g chocolate liquor, 100 g chocolate butter, 20 g maple syrup were melted and tempered. then added chopped dried cranberries, raisins and broken pecan nuts and cast into foil lined 20 cm square tin. Placed into fridge for 15 minutes to set then took out and stored in cupboard. Worked some more in-between baking bread.

MP Chuka Umunna had sought an amendment to the Queens Speech, suggesting the UK remain within the single market, against Labour policy. When this was put to the vote 50 labour MPs rebelled, including pro EU Daneil Zeichner, Cambridge's MP, who had stepped down from his post as Shadow Transport Secretary beforehand. The change was voted against by 322 to 101. Three front bench Labour MPs were also sacked for defying Labour policy. What does this mean?

Well, the single market, to which Norway and Liechtenstein belong. eliminates tariffs, quotas or taxes on trade, it also includes the free movement of goods, services, capital and people. The latter conflicts with both Labour and the Conservative aim to restrict immigration.

The next fall back position is therefore the customs union, on a par with Turkey who is also in the customs union. Here, countries agree to apply the same tariffs to goods from outside the union and allow shipping of goods that have been cleared in one country to be shipped to others in the union without extra tariffs. However, we could then still not negotiate with other countries on trade as the EU still does that. We'd still be governed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and would have to make payments to the EU. The advantage, there would not have to be a border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. This does not currently look like a realistic option within the current parliament.

Which leaves us with negotiating a Free Trade agreement, where there are no tariffs, taxes or quotas on goods and/or services from one country entering another. Negotiations for a free trade agreement take years to complete - we would need an interim transition period. This is a hard Brexit and the EU would want to ensure that there is a greater cost penalty to the UK than staying in the EU.

The Guardian has a gloomy article on the Brexodus of EU nationals from the UK beginning. It is still a trickle, but a definite trend, as people feel insecure and, quite frankly, unwanted in the UK.

President Trump demeans the presidency with a highly distasteful set of tweets this morning about "I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came......to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!" Even some Republican Senators (Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Ben Sasse of Nebraska) tweeted remonstrations in reponse to the attack.

The environment also took a back seat to the Unleashing American Energy event where, according to the White House, "President Donald J. Trump has taken action in his first five months to remove unnecessary and burdensome roadblocks that would have prevented the United States from achieving energy dominance." Comments were made on the reserves of natural gas  and coal, capable of lasting 100 and 250 years respectively. That's a lot more carbon being irrevocably being pumped into the atmosphere if the policy is actually maintained.

Rain, Hayfever and Pay Cap Kept Firmly On

Traveled over to Suffolk to meet up with fellow microscopist and author Lewis Woolnough to talk about a second revised edition of his stereomicroscopy book. Was treated to a lunch and returned the favour by updating Lewis on the iNaturalist site and its potential. We both share an ambition to get people engaged in natural history and microscopy.

Managed to identify a 2.5 mm insect caught in the fruit fly trap I set up last week as Ectopsocus petersi, a wild relative of the so-called book louse.  I uploaded the record to iNaturalist - see if anyone else cares to agree.

The latter was done in an evening of streaming eyes and nose as I had a bad attack of hayfever after going out into the garden briefly. The most likely explanation for this is the fact that after the rain we had earlier today, there was a particularly high evening release of grass pollens. Grasses apparently tend to release their pollen in the early evening after 7:30pm. A bin full of tissues was testament to the devastation effect.

The Tories were celebrating in parliament today after defeating a bill to remove the pay cap for public sector workers. Possibly a Pyrrhic victory, considering the high profile of fire-fighters, police and nurses in the news after all the recent tragic incidents. Fiscal prudence could now easily be misinterpreted as ignoring the needs of our front line social and safety services. Yet there is a national trend where there is now an increasing willingness to pay slightly more in taxes to maintain services.

According to the Guardian, a leaked European commission analysis finds that Theresa May's proposals for EU residents in the UK still doesn't match expectations. The income requirements would still hold for EU citizens wishing to bring in non-EU spouses. The proposal would even force children having to apply to stay in the UK. There is still a big chasm between the two negotiating positions.

According to the Spiegel, there is another unexpected consequence looming due to Brexit. With a 10bn Euro gap in EU funding, there is an increasing pressure to link the substantial financial grants to some Eastern European EU members to good and fair governance in the future. This is a response to the closing of borders and refusal to accept refugee quotas, whilst asking for more funding.

Cake, Post-Brexit Transition and Time Cover

Community Cafe day today. Picked up the wheelchair and other items we loan from All Saints Church in he morning just before the first showers arrived. Dashed to the dry cleaners in Milton to buy a large umbrella, which came in very useful in the afternoon, when I picked up my two ladies to take to the cafe. Nathalie had baked three sets of goodies, of which the Gateau was definitely my favourite, followed by a cherry & almond flan, and then scones, jam and cream.. New thing learnt today from Janet on the craft table - how to make a compositae (daisy-like) flower using quilling.

Brexit Secretary David Davis told business leaders today that Brexit was more complicated than a moon landing. This applied to the interim arrangements after the UK left the EU. He intimated that we would be outside of the custom's union and the single market. The Chancellor, Philip Hammond was also talking today, in Berlin, and he apparently expressed views that the length of the transition period could be up to four years - times that  David Davis thought not quite consistent with his. Fortunately, the Prime Minister's official spokesman intervened and confirmed that Mr Davis and Mr Hammond's views on Brexit were consistent with each other, and with the Prime Ministers. Well, that's all clear then.

In Germany, Karl Haeusgen, Vice-President of the German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association, warned that failing to strike a trade deal with the UK “will be bad for all of us” economically. However, I have to agree with Katja Adler's comment in a Brexit program yesterday, that ultimately we will be harmed a lot more than the EU.

President Trump continues to have a good day as three CNN reporters had to resign after publication of an unchecked article on an associate of the president meeting with a Russian investment fund head. He tweeted:
"Wow, CNN had to retract big story on "Russia," with 3 employees forced to resign. What about all the other phony stories they do? FAKE NEWS!"

Meanwhile, the Washington Post had reported that apparently there was a fake cover of TIME, dated March 1, 2009, featuring Trump and the headline “Donald Trump: The ‘Apprentice’ is a television smash!” on display at a number of Trumps golf courses. The displays had a good run as it was only today that TIME magazine got around to asking for the removal of the faux covers.

Prints, Moths, May's Settled Status and Trump's win

Held a progress meeting with Jane to catch up with work and then set off to pick up our pictures for Cambridge Open Studios. As ever, Streamline imaging had done an excellent job of producing our museum grade prints.

Despite the lift of seeing the prints, we were feeling a bit lacklustre, so headed over to Horningsea to the garden centre to have a light lunch in the cafe there. Using the facilities, I was struck by the number of moths that always seem to be attracted to the white walls of any such facility with an open window. Sadly, I was only able to photograph four properly. As ever, anyone coming in seeing me photographing the moths retained the typical British nonchalance at encountering my activity.

Brexit news today is Prime Minister Theresa May's clarification of the offer to EU residents to right of 'Settled status' in the UK post Brexit. No EU national currently living in the UK would have to leave at the point of Brexit. People will be treated the same irrespective of their nationality. Settled status will be available for those who have lived in the UK for five years, though they will have to apply for it and some form of ID documents (which may be virtual) will be required. Apparently this would be made a simple as possible, avoiding the 85 five page document currently needed. The application procedure will be launched before Brexit - possibly in summer of 2018. However, EU citizens in the UK are still not sure what the offer means and the EU negotiators have said that they do not think it has gone far enough. Labour and London's Mayor Sadiq Khan also feel it is not up to the mark.

The Prime Minister has finally bought the DUP into coalition, apologies, working together, with a £1bn bung. The other devolved nations in the UK are naturally outraged/annnoyed.

President Trump has something to celebrate. The Supreme Court has given partial permission to the implementation of his travel ban - until they come to a final decision in the Autumn. It prevents persons from several primarily Muslim countries coming to the UK with the exception of "foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States". Though it is not clear who decides whether the incomers have a bona-fide relationship on arrival.

Mint lamb, panel fire testing and Turkish regression

Woke up late. Family Skype call to Germany for over nearly an hour. Cooked lamb chops for lunch and enjoyed them with mint sauce. Pottered on the computer to tidy up the iNaturalist Quekett SWD page. Had an ice cream. Watched, enjoyed and occasionally cringed at bum notes on Glastonbury marathon on TV.

Now 60 tower blocks in 25 councils have had their cladding panels fire tested - and all failed. Brexit Secretary David Davis is "pretty sure", but not "certain", that he will be able to get a free trade deal with the EU.Ha Ha Bonk! (Laughing my head off !).

If you want to shape your country's future, manipulate the children's education. News from a couple of days ago that Turkish schools are to stop teaching evolution, as the Board of education chairman says the subject is "debatable, controversial and too complicated for students". President Erdogan inexorably shifting the country away from its secular constitution.

Cambridge For EU Rally, Trump Damned by Video

Dr Cahir O'Kane alerted me yesterday on Facebook to today's 'Cambridge still stands by EU!' demonstration. Fortunately timed for 12:30, I was able to have a lie-in and still get there by bus by 12:15. There was already a handful of cheerful protesters when I arrived, hidden somewhat inconspicuously at the right corner of the Guild hall. At the time we were still outnumbered by the Cambridge Open Studios stand ( where I had a good chat with fellow photographer Ben Dobson, who is also exhibiting pictures through the microscope this year), Greenpeace gathering signatures against Coca Cola's polluting the oceans with waste plastic, a busker and and A. N Other stand which I cannot remember.

However, others arrived in dribs and drabs till there was a crowd of 100 - 200. The local press photographers appeared and started organising a group shot. I was also wandering around with my camera, protesting, taking pictures and just chatting to people. I spoke to scientists, people supporting science, families, dog lovers, people wearing hats and also a number of people originally from the Netherlands, Poland, Australia and even America, who were either worried about their future residence in the UK (after 20 years living and working here). Other worries were whether we would be impoverished by the drain of researchers from the UK that has already begun, or simply laments on how a former open UK seems to be cutting itself off from the world. I was interested in Ibrahim Rahman setting up his smartphone for a Facebook live broadcast of the event.

Finally the speakers arrived, including Rally organiser Paul Browne, Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner, Liberal Lucy Nethsingha, Conservative Lord Richard Balfe and the Green Party representative Jeremy Caddick.

The overall atmosphere was faint optimism that the tide was turning, certainly against a hard Brexit.
There is a full photo album here: https://goo.gl/photos/RpAsiKDyur9b6xx3A.

Getting home was not as easy as getting in, the Midsummer Fair was on and Victoria Avenue limited traffic wise, adversely affecting bus timetables. I finally caught the new N service to Longstanton, and got off at Cambridge North Station, where Jane rescued me.

Finally got around to ordering our postcards for Cambridge Open Studios, using MOO to order 50 cards with 5 different designs featuring my and Jane's work.

Looking at the polls summarised at http://whatukthinks.org/eu/opinion-polls/uk-poll-results/, the delict balance between remainers and leavers has switched , with the remainers at 50% v leavers at 48%. Not sure how significant this is statistically yet. Furthermore, nearly 50% think the negotiations are being handled badly or very badly, twice as many compare to those who think they are still going well.

This currently pales into significance compared to the uproar about fire safety in tower blocks, with all 34 cladding samples sent in from different sources screened so far failing fire tests. The Government plans to screen 600 blocks. More people are likely to be evacuated till their blocks are repaired. On top of this, the government is scrapping plans to relax safety standards in schools.

There was a reminder today via Quartz, that the US Senate Health Bill only mentions women in relation to abortion - and with a definite pro-life, anti-abortion bias - and will also reintroduce healthcare cost inequality again, where women pay 52% to 69% more compared to men. Quartz says "Specifically, it [the Bill] strips out hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid, the insurance for the poor, which now covers over 50% of all births in many US states, and allows states to opt out of covering “essential” healthcare that includes maternity and newborn care."

President Trump has gone on the attack against Obama, as the CIA was apparently aware of the Russian hacking before the election and took (in his opinion ) limited or no action. Trump tweeted:
"Since the Obama Administration was told way before the 2016 Election that the Russians were meddling, why no action? Focus on them, not T!"

However, a much more serious misdemeanor by the President. Critics and golfers gasped in horror as video appeared online of a smiling President driving a golf buggy on the green! https://youtu.be/o6IrmHI5j94. A truly heinous crime in the eyes of the golfing fraternity. No doubt this is the cause of his most recent 3% drop in approval ratings in the Gallop poll/a 1% drop in the Rasmussen poll (delete whichever you regard as fake news).

Leonora, honeycomb and 800 evacuated homes

Despite delaying getting up till 7:25, an ungodly hour, 5h was less sleep than I wanted, but I made the bus in time. The young child who travels on the same journey to St Ives is now into stickers in books. On arrival, I bumped into another regular traveler Pete returning from the market who'd got an earlier bus and exchanged a few friendly words before heading for breakfast at the Taproom. Brown bread toast with jam this time. Why was today a day for haircuts? Three came freshly trimmed, or in Victor's case, with practically a shave. Then after an hours waking up in conversation with the A14 Network regulars and newbies, left with Clelia, who had to dash off for a fringe trim.

I resisted the call of the coiffeur, having a more important appointment with author Gloria Loring. We had set aside a couple of hours to check out the Kindle version of her very first children's book 'Shiny Star Leonora', which we'd published in print 2015, create a Kindle Direct Publishing account and then upload the book and go live on Amazon. Hats off to Gloria who kept a lively interest in the process. We finished off also putting up a print version up for sale. You can access the Kindle version by clicking on the link 'Shiny Star Leonora'. I'm still waiting for Amazon to automatically link the Kindle and Print versions.

By then it was time for lunch, a delicious mixed salad prepared by our host Clelia and another couple of hours conversaiton on family histories, tribulations and achievements, Brexit, immigration, and cacao butter.

Encountered two incidents of sheer stupidity on the guided bus ride home. In both instances people were walking either very close to the track or even on it, deliberately causing the bus to have to brake sharply.

Gloria had previously mentioned in passing that she remembered having chocolate coated honeycomb in Australia and I had not quite got around to trying to make some. I'd made some honeycomb for the first time on Wednesday. It was a simple mixture of sugar and golden syrup, heated to 154 degC (sugar crack), turned into a foaming superhot mix by the addition of sodium bicarbonate and cast in a buttered square dish to set. It does need hammering to crack but small pieces are very light and do melt in the mouth. But it wasn't till today that I got to try making chocolate coated honeycomb. I think I over-crumbed the very brittle honeycomb - but the result was still very palatable.

There was a lacklustre reaction from the EU and EU citizens in the UK, to Prime Minister Theresa May's initial suggestion of guaranteeing EU citizen rights after Brexit if resident for linger than 5 years. For one, it was scant in detail. It also seemed that the benefits to EU citizens could be less than those currently experienced by us all whilst we are still in the EU.

The main UK news erupting this evening was the live evacuation of  more than 800 homes in Camden tower blocks. They had been clad in the same way as the Grenfell Tower. Tests by the police had apparently demonstrated that the cladding was a real fire hazard and that a criminal investigation was underway. Some residents only heard of the evacuation on the TV news. They were now housed in community centres as the blocks were to be renovated.

More smoke and mirrors across the pond. President Trump hints at possible bias or lack of credibility of investigator Robert Mueller, who is heading the Russia enquiry. Apparently Mueller might have been friendly with ex FBI chief Comey. It led to speculation that the president might fire Mueller. This was then denied tonight by Trump. Typical undermining of a potential opponents position and a distraction from the actual investigation.

Books, Activity Trackers, Solar racing and May in Brussels

Well, the heatwave has passed and we are at a mere 25 degC and decreasing. A bookish day today with two sets of print proofs arriving  and two different books requiring slight design changes after having seen their proofs. Moving margins and balancing proportions by two or three millimetres is quite time consuming. Later in the afternoon also looked at converting one of our children's books to an ebook format using comic book creator.

It was a CETC Talk evening (Cambridge Enterprise and Technology Club). Our chair was justifiably aghast when one of the three speakers suddenly decided it was too far to come and cancelled today. Since their talk was on Drone racing, I found an interesting YouTube video on the Dubai Million Dollar Drone Race, won by a 15 year old drone pilot! The problem was at the talk location, where suddenly the hi-tech equipment was inexplicably unable to provide sound when I arrived early. Fortunately the situation was resolved with two adapters and long cabling to the large screen.

The other two speakers more than made up for the missing speaker. Andrew Kadis of TTP introduced us to the hi-tech world of sports data trackers, apparently with us since 2004. The enterprising Australians began collecting real time data from their sports people, developing the range and complexity of data that could be detected. The reality in sport now is, that any winning team in a form of sport will have been using data monitoring and tracking in its athletes as part of training and also recovery after injury. Elena Rastourgeva, student at Cambridge University, gave a great introduction to the Cambridge University Eco Racer CUER, which was going to race in the trans Australia world solar race. Limited to a 5KWh battery and solar panels delivering no more than 1KWh, vehicles in the solar races had to brave kangaroos, road-trains and heat.

Prime Minister Theresa May went to Brussels today to present her first offe to the EU and the remaining 27 members. She proposed that the three million EU citizens living in the UK would be allowed to stay after Brexit, under a new "UK settled status", that is, if they had lived int eh UK for 5 years. However, the offer is dependent on EU states guaranteeing Britons the same rights. The cynical headline in Der Spiegel roughly translates as the Prime Minister *Giving EU ciizens living in the UK vague promises for the first time".

The news today was running articles in parallel on the worries in agriculture, that there would not be sufficient people working in the fields this year to bring in the fruit and vegetable harvests.

President Trump grudgingly admits on Twitter "With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea ... whether there are "tapes" or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings."

Cambridge Lido first on Day of the Queen's Hat (and some Bills)

With the promise of the last day of the current heatwave, Jane helped me find my swimming shorts, discovered falling out of the back of the chest of drawers for lack of use over the past decade. Then it was off to the Jesus Green Lido for the very first time ever, since we arrived in Milton 29 years ago. Being a strong swimmer in the past, I of course started in the fast lane with a front crawl. I made it half way down the 100 yard length before gasping for air and arms aching, I dipped under the barrier into the slow lane to continue very slowly on my back. Taking it a lot easier, I completed a slow 5 full lengths with breaks at each end, before admitting defeat. 

After getting dried, dressed and having a refreshing drink on one of the benches. I sat next to a strapping figure of a man, one who regularly worked out in the gym at Parkside. Turns out that he managed two lengths before getting out exhausted. Psychologically I felt a lot better then but, boy, my arms and legs are aching! Got back for a late lunch and catching up on work.

Much like the Tory party itself, the Queen's Speech for the opening of parliament was cut of much of its pomp and anticipated content. 

The key item of the day was The Queen's Hat - Blue with five flowers sporting gold centres, that were strongly reminiscent of the EU flag

Apart from that, some bills were announced. They were concerned mainly with Brexit, the economy and transport - see BBC explanations here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40339564. Most of the media making much of the fact that key conservative policies such as the reintroduction of fox hunting,Grammar Schools, Pensions, etc. were missing. 

List of Bills below:

Brexit

1. Repeal Bill
2. Customs Bill
3. Trade Bill
4. Immigration Bill
5. Fisheries Bill
6. Agriculture Bill
7. Nuclear Safeguards Bill
8. International Sanctions Bill

Economy

1. Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill
2. Space Industry Bill
3. High Speed 2 Phase 2A Bill
4. Smart Meter Bill
5. National Insurance Contributions Bill
6. Travel Protection Bill
7. Draft Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill
8. Civil Liability Bill
9. Courts Bill
10. Financial Guidance and Claims Bill
11. Data Protection Bill
12. Draft Patient Protection Bill

Defence

• Armed Forces Bill

Housing

• Draft Tenants' Fees Bill
• Good Mortgages Bill

Sunny St ives and Cloudy forecast for Tory-DUP agreement?

Jane and I enjoyed the air conditioning in the car as we drove up to St Ives, Huntingdonshire to meet up with author Gloria Loring. The face recognised from past Skype conversations to Spain welcomed us with a real smile as we met in Wetherspoons. Sadly, we had caught the pub at a bad week, as I asked for two meals to be sent back for improvement. The staff were very apologetic. We did have a good meal in the end. Conversation initially focused on Gloria's books as we had brought along the proof of Sweet Pea, her newest addition to the 'Beautiful Garden' children's book series. 

With the heat continuing in the southern half of the UK, we kept to the shade for a walk through St Ives and then along the river to All Saints church. It was unexpectedly locked but a quick call and the church was opened for us to view. Returning to the heat outside, we stopped off at Thorntons for a well deserved ice-cream and an impromptu inspection of a possible art exhibition space.

Back home, finished off ordering archival quality single prints in preparation for Cambridge Open Studios. I then spent some time polishing off the inaturalist.org "Quekett Spotted Wing Drosophila Survey Experiment", inspired by last Friday's Connecting the Crowd conference.

The most recent terror attacks are still dominating the news, with the focus continuing to shift to consider right wing and anti-Muslim sentiment. I'm somewhat skeptical as politicians had been drifting towards more moderate 'anti-immigration' and 'them and us' rhetoric over the past years. Problems with Brexit for the UK will most likely result in a reversion to foreigner/EU bashing in the press.

The authorities and government finally seem to be getting their act together to help the victims of the Grenfell fire. Sky news reports that the residents had approved a VMZ fire retardant panel cladding for the Grenfell tower renovation a the initial stages of the consulatation. However, a couple of years later the contractors used the more flammable Reynobond PE for the actual work

The DUP is apparently upset by the lack of respect shown by more moderate Tories through their concern/sniping at the NI party's more right wing views on LGBT rights, abortion etcetera. On the one hand it might seem that the deal with the Tories is in doubt, on the other, it is seen as posturing as part of their bargaining process.

Kirsten, A UK heatwave, and Brexit negotiations begin

It has been exactly a year since my sister Kirsten passed away in Germany. I'd stayed with her day and night in the hospice she had chosen, as the cancer finally ran its course. Our mother and her younger son were also on hand during the day. A week before, she had still been able to welcome friends and reconciled family, before slipping into an ever deeper distance from us. The nurses said she would still be aware of people being nearby. On this day, one year ago, I sat by her bed listening to her laboured breathing, at a loss for what to do. Kirsten loved fairy tales from around the world. I opened a book of stories from the Philippines and began to read out aloud. Her breathing changed almost as soon as I began, becoming more relaxed. Halfway through the story her breathing slowed, and then stopped. Kirsten's eyes opened and as I came closer, a tear ran down her cheek and she was gone.

---

Books have a gestation period that varies by author. After three years since her last book, I was invited to visit and chat with one of our past authors about her new family book. What was fascinating, was to hear that the last family history had led to unexpected connections and re-connections with either forgotten or unknown family around the world. Sipping iced lemonade, time flew by for a couple of hours.

In the afternoon, there was the careful conversion of the chosen images for our Cambridge Open Studios into print ready files. Working in the sun lounge office at over 30degC, the fan was a must. Apparently we have now had the longest period of hot days (five) in June ever.

Last night's attacker has been named as Darren Osborne, from Cardiff. Sadly there was one death. There is again a lot of media hype and political scurrying. The focus has shifted to also examining the far right extremists in the UK.

David Davis traveled to meet the chief EU negotiator, Michel Barnier and was confronted with the reality that, as the country leaving the EU, the UK is in no position to dictate the timing of the negotiations. Parallel talks on trade with the initial divorce were not an option. There was also the EU line that whilst there would be no hard border between the Northern and Southern Ireland, there would have to be checks - very similar to those I remember between Germany and the Netherlands, when they still existed. The issue would be dealt with later in the talks.

Michel Barnier's telling quote of the day, “The UK has asked to leave the EU, not the other way around, so we each have to assume the consequences of our decisions and the consequences are substantial,” he replied, when asked if the EU was making any concessions of its own. “Please do not underestimate those consequences.”

The Daily Telegraph's optimistic headline online is "David Davis and EU rule out soft Brexit on day one of negotiations".

A coral or Jade Anniversary and breaking new London atrocity?

Today could have been a pink day (Coral) or a green day (Jade). Our 35th wedding anniversary had crept upon us. As I learnt last night, this long relationship is encapsulated in the following experience: One of us falls out of bed in the middle of the night with a cry of panic and the other immediately erupts from sleep, instantaneously assesses the situation, whilst only semi conscious, and sweeps the spider off the bed!

In our long relationship, decision making is always a delicate balance between spontaneous extrovert action countered by cautious common sense. This is how we both managed to agree to go out on a celebratory lunch, after a late start to the day, and that this should be at one of the local pubs. We actually went in the evening as we were distracted by getting our image files for Cambridge Open Studiospictures print-ready. I'd spontaneously decided we should go to the Lion and Lamb, who apparently served food till 7 pm. Fortunately, Jane had cautiously checked much earlier that the White Horse served a Sunday roast till 8 pm, so that when we turned up at the Lion and Lamb after 6:30 pm and they were not taking orders, we could simply cross the road to the other pub without even an 'I told you so!' and enjoy not cooking or having to clear up and load the dishwasher. A great meal out, and all the better for being in the cooler part of the day.

Thank you Jane for putting up with my foibles in good humour for all this time!

Brexit negotiations begin tomorrow between an apparently united EU of 27 - and a UK government that is barely in control.

Breaking news - At around 00:20 am, a van collided with pedestrians in Finsbury Park, on Seven Sisters Road, near a mosque. Apparently 10+ injured and some being treated on the scene. One person arrested.

A quiet Saturday

A day of rest, with a late lie in. Carel called from France to see how the conference talk went. Went out for a walk to Tesco and back through country park, with a stop for an ice-cream on the way. Pottered around. I did check out www.inaturalist.org.

Prime Minister Theresa May still in trouble. President Donald Trump still in trouble.

Connecting the crowd and crowds at Grenfell Tower

A day of contrasts on my second visit to London Natural History Museum this week, today for the Connecting with the Crowd Conference. Arriving at the NHM just after nine in the morning on an already glorious sunny day, I could feel the pull of Grenfell tower's location, North West. London life was bustling on Gloucester Road and the tourists were gathering and chatting on benches and the pavement, waiting for the Museum to open. I walked up beyond Imperial College, before coming back to enter the Museum for the conference.

The growing babble of conversation as people arrived for registration, handing in my memory stick with the PowerPoint presentation, tea and a biscuit or two, redirected my attention to the here and now. This was followed by a full program of 20 minute and 5 minute talks. Speakers were diverse, from Professor Chris Lintott talking on the success and lessons from Zooniverse, Dr Visotheary Ung from the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris on The Herbonautes and the NHM's own Ali Thomas introducing us to Visiteering

I struggled to keep up with making notes, grew hoarse at lunchtime in conversations shouted over the animated discussions and then had to drink tea and suck sugar cubes in the hopes that I would still have a voice for my 5 minute slot right at the end of the general sessions of the day. I remember the audience laughing in the right places but otherwise adrenaline amnesia struck after my talk - I'll have to wait and see the YouTube releases of the conference videos.

The closing keynote speech was by Professor Dan Rubenstein of Princeton University, on 'Power to the People: Nature and science benefit when people are engaged'. A really inspiring demonstration on how investment and engagement with communities in Kenya led to the local people taking on the responsibility of counting endangered Grevy's Zebras and then changing their grazing strategies to allow both wildlife and livestock to benefit. In the Q&A, I asked whether there would be a negative effect due to President Trump's less generous attitude to science. Apparently, for the conservation projects Dan was involved in, this was less likely as funding for the work came from zoos and individual states, rather than federal funding.

Overall message from the meeting was that Science is not just for the academics. Reaching out and treating volunteers in crowdsourcing science projects as collaborators in science was enriching. Good programs attracted volunteers and allowed them to communicate, think and contribute new ideas, irrespective of their background or education.

I left buoyed by by new insights, useful tips and a new contact or two to follow up.

As I emerged from the closing NHM around 6 pm, my thoughts returned to the draw of the Grenfell Tower. Checking Google Maps, I used a Boris Bike for the first time to cycle there. The journey started through the leafy Kensington Gardens where the numerous pedestrians had priority. Families, couples, young and old were enjoying the later afternoon sun, walking, talking and congregating around the occasional ice-cream van.

I resisted the soft-ice temptation and pedaled out onto the Bayswater Road, past Notting Hill, amongst the late commuter traffic. Then downhill until I turned right onto Portland Road. The traffic stress gave way to more residential streets. Increasingly people were out walking, in a variety of clothes from bright African cloths to the more demure headscarves and loose dark dresses. I arrived at the entrance to the Bonmore Road, leading to Grenfell Road, which was blocked off by the police and sporting a collection of police vans. By now, there was a general drift of people, couples or threes and fours, past the road block. I continued up Walmer Road. The gentle stream of people went onto footpaths, so I dismounted and followed, passing a granddad playing with his grandchild on a bank in the sun, as the mother came out of the front door to check everything was alright. 

I emerged on Lancaster Road, with the burnt out Grenfell Tower looming beyond a blue tiled building. Staying a bit further back, near the Notting Hill Methodist Church, it was eerie watching the small loose crowd of several hundred that faced the tower. People came in on one side, would linger and talk in hushed tones. Some stayed whilst others then walked on to their local destination, but the crowd stayed the same, or was it growing imperceptibly? The light sussuration of the crowd was broken when suddenly there was a spate of excited barking coming from the tower in the distance, Conversation stopped. Then it went quiet again and people resumed talking. I turned and chatted to a young man who had also been drawn to the tower. After five or ten minutes, we shook hands on our shared feeling of mortality and fate, and I set off in the direction of Kings Cross and home. The mental weight of the Tower's presence growing fainter with distance and increasing traffic.

Back home, on the late news, I discovered that I must have been perhaps a half hour ahead of the raucous demonstrations in  Kensington Town Hall and the angry march along Kensington High Street towards the tower. The Royals had visited survivors and helpers much earlier in the day, at the Westway Sports Centre, a quarter of a mile away.

Tragedy of Grenfell Tower, impressed by Dany Cotton

Peacock feather under the microscope

Spent an enjoyable late morning helping visitor C become familiar with her microscope. Just seeing her sheer joy at getting a good image during the setting up procedure and going through the magnifications was a delight. As we shared a similar camera make, we were able to use my camera attachments and establish how to take pictures with her camera.

After lunch finalised the planning and PowerPoint slides for my five minute speed presentation at the 'Connecting with the Crowd' conference at the Natural history Museum tomorrow. Train ticket bought online and collected as it is an early start tomorrow.

Grenfell Tower loomed darkly in the background of the news stream, dominating the extended 10 o'clock news. Parents and friends were still looking for unaccounted loved ones. There were harrowing stories of relatives reliving the last conversations of trapped family members. The image of speech slowing and then stopping, with crackling of flames being the last sounds coming from the phone; the smokey video of a family who never escaped, they flicker persistently in the memory after hearing about them. Perhaps I'm also sensitised because it is a year ago my sister began gradually slipping into her terminal last few days.

The person who impressed me during the continuing news story, was the Commissioner of the London Fire Brigade, Dany Cotton. She radiated a composed calm when the Mayor and the Police Chief spoke. When her turn came, she spoke with authority and compassion, both for the victims of the fire and the hundreds of firefighters who laboured and risked their lives in a truly towering inferno to rescue others. She painted a clear picture of how they would be working in the building in the days and weeks to come. How some shoring would be required to make sections safe to search. That the benefit of using specially trained dogs would allow them to cover areas faster and safer. I found a fascinating interview with her in the Guardian - a great role model! See (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/05/dany-cotton-london-fire-brigade-commissioner-interview).

Politics began to resume again after a respectful pause. The Tory-DUP talks in order to secure a house majority continue quietly behind the closed doors of Number 10. The Queen's Speech has now been set for next Wednesday and Brexit talks will begin Monday.

Meanwhile, in Germany, Brexit hardly features, as the main Euro news is today's agreement to provide Greece with more credit.

Grim Towering Inferno Overshadows Day

The undercurrent throughout the day was the tragedy of the terrifying fire at the Grenfell Tower.

It was pushed aside for a while during the afternoon as I gave my talk/workshop on realising your book at Histon Library. It was a well engaged audience of over 50's with some being part of a writing group and others having produced books on their own or by commission. The glorious sunshine outside after the event lead to a drop in at Histon Tesco to stock up on Magnum ice-creams.

Why is it, that a burning tower block generates a much more visceral response, compared to the terrorist atrocities? Perhaps it was the stories of people trapped on floors, of witnesses seeing parent throw babies and children to safety, of relatives recounting mobile conversations that then turned silent.

The unusual feature of this fire was its rapid spread, despite UK regulations tending towards passive fire protection - ie limiting fire to blocks of spaces to restrict its spread. Fire experts have already commented on how unusual it was that the fire moved up the floors so rapidly. The refurbished external cladding certainly looked like the fire route up the building.

According to the Sun this evening, the cladding was Aluminium Composite Material cassette rainwater cladding (https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3800401/grenfell-tower-fitted-with-cladding-linked-to-series-of-horror-blazes-at-high-rise-blocks-of-flats-around-the-world/). ACM cladding had apparently been linked to other high-rise fires. A google search found the Booth Muirie information of their architectural-cladding-systems (http://www.euroclad.com/media/3546/booth-muirie-architectural-cladding-systems_web.pdf). Their ACM comes with three different filler options:

1. Polyethylene, which is combustible.
2. Fire resisting - a mixture of polyethylene and minerals that retard burning and smoke generation.
3. A2 - Primarily minerals to retard burning and smoke generation.

I wonder which was used at the Grenfell Towers? If the grim blog by the Grenfell Action Group is anything to go by, the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation seems to have ignored their prescient warnings about fire risks made as far back as 2013 and then again in 2016 (https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/). 

Good to see the charity not only of people in the area, bur also on facebook in donating food, clothes and other supplies, of people opening their doors to the recently homeless families.

But the sentence that sticks in my mind was a comment in the Evening Standard by Danny Vance, an Associate Pastor at Notting Hill Community Church, that the deadly blaze at Grenfell Tower would not have happened in nearby “£5million flats”.

Space Descent VR, Gogottes, Airlander, DUP and Brexit.

NHM Gogotte

I caught the train from Cambridge North Station to London Kings Cross for the first time today. Arriving just under two hours early for a meeting, I wandered into the Science Museum for a meal. I was a bit irritated by the mercenary desks blocking the entrance that looked like ticket desks but were actually points to ask for a 'voluntary dontation'. There is subtle and then there is all out blatant posing as something you are not to squeeze money out of you. I declined to volunteer, they were going to get my money on the overpriced meal (London prices for a drink, side salad and BLT sandwiches).

With some spare time, I wandered upstairs to the top floor and tried out the 12 minute 'Space Descent VR with Tim Peake'. It was an enlightening and enjoyable experience, using the oculus glasses and getting a 3D feel for space, the space station and descent with the Soyuz capsule. As someone familiar with optics, I was aware of the relatively low image resolution (half a Samsung smartphone screen) and irritated by the chromatic aberration around the periphery of the image. You don't have to put up with crap optics in this day and age.

Then off to the Quekett Committee meeting, followed by a members meeting on polarised light and subjects. These included two different Victorian samples from Cleopatras's Needle, plant epidermis and moss scales.

As usual, we had to trek a meandering route through the NHM late in the evening to get ot an exit. We stopped at a new exhibit, a massive gogotte or concretion, natural works of art, 23 to 33 million years old, that are extremely sought after and valuable. The almost voluptuous fused tubes and discs could almost be Anish Kapoor works. This type of gogotte was formed by calcium carbonate rich water seeping into very fine silicaceous sand deposits. As the water dried off, the fine sand and calcium carbonate fused to form shapes that were harder than the surrounding sand. When the latter was eroded away, the gogotte would be revealed.

The last delight of the day was seeing the Hybrid Air Vehicle HAV 304 Airlander 10 in the evening skies on the train home. I really hope that this project becomes a success.

Prime Minister Theresa May and her team were still in discussions with DUP Leader Arlene Foster, much to the discomfort of  many in the Conservative Party. A deal was imminent but not yet signed. Later this evening, Theresa visited French President Emmanuel Macron. In a joint press interview, Prime Minister May reiterated the direction of the UK towards Brexit - which she wants to continue at the current timetable of meetings starting on the 19th. President Macron wielded both an iron fist in a velvet glove and an olive branch. On the one hand, the UK should be under no illusion that it will be negotiating with the EU negotiators, and not individual leaders, whilst on the other hand, a return to the EU was possible at any stage up to and until the Brexit happened. Meanwhile there are signs that the UK economy is slowing down, it is already difficult to find EU nurses for the NHS (applications down by more than 90%), and inflation reaches a new high at 2.9%. The pound recovered slightly to almost Euro 1.14 but is still v. low.

Across the pond, Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave no ground (or information) at his hearing before the Senate intelligence committee, leaving the Democrats frustrated and presumable President Trump and the Republicans satisfied.

Theresa survives another day as wet ink delays Queen's Speech

Seeing the Shetland pony in a nearby field this evening after the large horses at the College of West Anglia at the weekend, you might be forgiven for thinking this is a metaphor for Prime Minister Theresa May - diminished after the election. But this would be a slur upon these doughty animals. Their origins possibly go back to the first Celtic and Norse pony crosses millennia ago. The hardy breed was used for pulling carts and plowing. When coal became the fuel of the industrial revolution and women and children were banned from the mines, many Shetland ponies found their way into the mines. So this lucky pony is leading a better life than its forbears. Note the shedding of the winter coat on this pony.

There was another interesting aside on the news about the Queen's Speech to parliament being delayed. One reason given was that there would not be enough time to write the speech on vellum and the ink to dry. Vellum is prepared from calf and other animal skins from abattoirs that would otherwise have landed in a landfill site. It has very different properties to paper, apart from a longevity of over 1000 years under the right conditions.

Vellum is still used for Acts of Parliament in the UK and Ireland. There is only one UK producer - William Cowley http://www.williamcowley.co.uk/. The surface is very smooth and also does not absorb the usual modern inks. When books were handwritten on vellum, the ink of choice was iron gall ink. Oak galls and iron sulphate are mixed in an aqueous solution and allowed to ferment. This releases tannic acids that combine with the iron to produce a pale ink in solution. This ink binds to the protein in Vellum. On exposure to air, the ink darkens to a dark blue black. The binding is almost instantaneous, so you get a mark even if you wipe off the still wet ink. To remove a mistake, you have to scrape off the ink layer. To avoid this, ancient writers would try to adapt the mistake to fit the correction needed.

Nowadays, the Acts of Parliament are printed. From other writers and printers on the web using animal vellum and other smooth, non-absorbent surfaces, it appears that you either have to let the ink dry down to avoid smudging over several days or dust the freshly printed wet ink marks with embossing powder and heating to set.

However, The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/12/queens-speech-delayed-has-printed-goatskin-paper-takes-days/) reveals that the Queens Speech is actually printed on goatskin paper. Surreally, this is not really goatskin but archival paper guaranteed to last 500 years. A Pack of 10 A4 sheets for £5.95! As with vellum, it also takes time for the ink to dry on this paper.

I (in common with most political commentators on the TV tonight) suspect that the horse-trading and bickering about what is going to be into the Queen's speech will take far longer than the drying time. Politics will delay the Queens speech, not the printing of the Act.

Although there is still a flurry of speculation and manoevering in the Tory party, it looks as if Prime Minister Theresa May lives to rule on another day or possibly longer, after meeting with back bench MPS. 'I got us into this mess, I'm going to get us out of it'. Noises about the direction that Brexit will take continue to rumble - hard, soft or alternative. The present minority government intends to stick to the planned timetable of beginning talks on 19th June. The EU negotiators are still working on the basis of the original document sent by Theresa May, which implied a full exit from European Union. They are just watching the chaos in the UK with bemusement.

Spinning Wool and Westminster Yarns

Today I learnt that when the Sleeping Beauty to be pricked her finger, it was on a very different machine to the one we are familiar with from pictures or re-enactments. It was Open Farm Sunday at the College of West Anglia in Milton today. After holding a bearded dragon, watching sheep shearing, and admiring a rather tall lama from beyond spitting distance, Jane and I came upon two wool spinners in a barn on the farm. Their spindles seemed pointless, which prompted me to ask, where and how could a fairytale princess prick her finger on the device?

The treadle spindle wheel now often seen was invented and spread widely in the sixteenth century. Before that, spinners used the Great Wheel. This hand driven wheel drove a slowly rotating horizontal spindle - with a point. Princess Rose therefore most likely lived in the pre-renaissance mediaeval era.  

Spinning gave rise to the phrase 'spinning a yarn', as women spinning communally would while away the time telling each other stories. Now we use it to indicate someone telling a embellished tales. The German's have taken this to a more abbreviated form, 'spinnen' also means to lie or talk rubbish.

Today's unusual tale from across the Pond is that, according to the Guardian,  President Trump told Prime Minister May that he did not want to come to the UK if there were large protests, putting the visit on hold. By lunchtime, Reuters reported that both the Prime Minister's Office and the White House denied the account, the talk had never happened, and that the visit was still on.

From being, according to George Osborne in a particularly tasteless phrase, 'A dead woman walking', the Prime Minister has continued to build a new cabinet. She has brought back Michael Gove to the Cabinet as the Environment Secretary, and Boris has now given her his unwavering support. Boris and Gove - an interesting combination that existed almost exactly a year ago, as the battle was on for the Conservative leadership, and Boris's chances were wrecked - by Gove, letting in Theresa May. Lots of speculation on Soft Brexit more likely now than Hard Brexit. Crunch day is June 19th when both the Queens Speech is given, where Jeremy Corbyn expects to attack, and Brexit negotiations are supposed to begin.

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Peaceful Weekend - Broiling Westminster - Misirlou!

Jane & L out to Bury St Edmunds. I spent most of the afternoon planning Wednesday's talk at Histon Library, as one of the 'engage' talks for the over 50's. The talk is on 'How to realise the book within you'.

In-between, baked a loaf of 50% rye bread bread, 150g Camilla sourdough, 200g strong white bread flour, 200g rye flour, 240ml water, teaspoon of dried yeast, half a teaspoon of xanthan gum to compensate for the absence of gluten in the rye. Covered in about 10ml olive oil. Left to rise for a couple of hours to double, then roasted some pumpkin seed, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds and added them to the dough, placed in bread tin, left to double and then baked. Texture OK, flavour OK.

A pondwatch revealed two tadpoles in metaomorphosis - hind legs obvious but not sure if forelegs breaking through yet. Also saw a much larger stickleback briefly appear from under the pot rim. It might be big enough to tackle the mosquito larvae, which have declined in number over the past few days. Added a handful of compost to pond by plants. Hope that it does not cause problems.

The quiet pace of a sunny weekend, with a family meal, was in strong contrast to the broiling speculation at No 10. Tories were flexing their muscle and demanding that Prime Minister's closest advisors go. I hadn't realised that Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill were apparently the gatekeepers to Mrs May, main directors of the Conservative manifesto, the push for the election and resultant campaign. They jumped. By Saturday night, the Tory Chief Whip Gavin Williamson stated that an agreement had been reached in principle with the DUP. Yet, by 1:30am, the DUP issued a statement that talks were still ongoing, though positive. Now No 10 press office saying that their first message had been issued 'in error'.

Aghast to find out that the DUP apparently does not believe in climate change and also wants to introduce creationism into the school curriculum. Never mind their opposition to a woman's right to choose abortion and God forbid (literally in their minds), gay marriage.

Some of tomorrow's papers are suggesting that the internal battles are on in the Cabinet to possibly replace Theresa May with Boris Johnson, though no doubt he will deny it, to avoid  Lord Heseltine's quote from his autobiography: "He who wields the knife never wears the crown". Meanwhile the Daily Mirror states that Jeremy Corbyn is gearing up to oust Theresa May, at the latest when she presents her program to parliament for the Queens speech.

Dick Dale's Misirlou gives the pace of change:

Metamorphosis in the UK

Seeing a tadpole in the pond closer to the surface regularly over the past week. Today, crept closer and managed to snap this (enlarged) photo. The clearly visible developing hind-legs show that the tadpole is undergoing metamorphosis. Metamorphosis is the process of transformation from an immature form to an adult form in two or more distinct stages. in frogs, this is a dramatic change over a period of time. In some species this can be within a day, however, with the common European frog, 14 weeks is the average. Essentially, the change is from a more fish like, vegetarian tadpole that has a long coiled gut to digest algae and a horny spiral mouth, to a four limbed, land living predator with a prehensile tongue and a jaw. Draco, the dragonfly nymph will also undergo metamorphosis from a water based predator to a winged aerial one.

UK politics has also undergone a figurative metamorphosis as yesterdays ballot has resulted in a hung parliament, with no party reaching the magical 326 seat majority. As Sinn Fein do not take up their seats in the UK Parliament, presumably, they cannot vote there, which would make the actual majority required 319 (326 minus the 7 Sinn Fein MPs). The final results were:
Conservative 318, Labour 262, SNP 35, LiberalDemocrats 12, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) 10, Sinn Fein 7, Plaid Cymru 4, Green Party, Independent 1, UK Independence Party 0 (Hurrah!).

The Tory party has reached some form of agreement with the DUP, that allowed Prime Minister Theresa May to go to the Queen to ask to form a government (The Queen cannot refuse). Listening to tonight's reviews on the possible future for Brexit, opinion is that a softer Brexit is on the cards. On the Sky newspaper review, it was even thought that a collaborative approach between the main parties on Brexit might be possible. Whilst this might be a feature of continental democracies, a shift away from the confrontational parliamentary UK style seems unlikely to me - unless it is all talk for show, with quiet agreement on key points in the background.

The media currently see Theresa May as finished - it is not a matter of whether she will be replaced but when. The remarkable public absence of support by big figures in her party (Boris Johnson, David Davies etc.) is seen as a reflection of private sharpening of knives in readiness for the right moment.

All this has obscured the Trump - Comey confrontation in the US yesterday, where ex FBI chief James Comey gave a damaging performance in the Senate hearing. Trump countered today with being willing to testify under oath to give his story. Unless Trump really made and kept recordings of the meetings, it is two men's words against each other. President Trump and his lawyer have started working to undermine Comey's present credibility in tweets, conversations and latching onto Comey's leaking of his memos.

The public scandal itself hides real progress by the Trump/Republican administration to successfully remove the teeth from the Dodd-Frank financial regulations - which were brought in during the Obama administration in 2010, in reaction to the financial crash in 2008.

Nutty Chocolate on an Election Night

The silence before the storm as we all go to the ballot and vote - our walk was shortly after lunch. Anticipating a long evening, both with friends and then later, the election, a new chocolate bar was due to be created. Today's recipe:

• 40 g Cacao liquor
• 80 g Cacao butter
• 40 g Icing sugar
• 40 g Maple syrup
• 150 g mixture of roasted pumpkin seed, roasted sunflower seed, broken pecan nuts, combination of dried cranberries and raisins.

Melted the cacao liquor and butter together and mixed in icing sugar and maple syrup. Added a single cacao butter drop to help initiate crystallisation. Allowed mix to cool with stirring to 27 degC. Then warmed back to 31 degC. Added the mixture of seeds, nuts and fruit and mixed well, then poured into a foil lined square 20 cm shallow sandwich tin and placed in fridge to set. Success!

After finishing an afternoon of work and dinner, Hildegard picked us up to go to our monthly Stammtisch with other friends, this time in Bottisham. Took along about 80 g of our new chocolate. Conversation ranged from German regional dialects, our children and inevitably touched on the election. The majority of the group were either personally adversely affected by Brexit or at least had a very jaundiced view on it. We decided to wait until we had seen the exit poll at 10 pm, before departing back home. 

It was a pleasant surprise to see the results of the exit poll suggesting a far lower Conservative majority over Labour and the Liberal Democrats possibly bouncing back. Exit poll figures for expected seats in Parliament out of the 650 available were:

Con:314, Labour:266, SNP:34, LibDem:14, the change being

Con -17: Labour +34, SNP -22, LibDem +6 

By 2 am, a small swing to labour of  9 seats projected. Biggest trouncing so far has been the hammering of the SNP from both Labour and the Tories. UKIP also seems to be a general loser. The current economic reaction was a fall in the Pound against the Euro and Dollar, followed by a slight recovery.

First forecast at 2:16 am Con:322, Labour:261, SNP:32, LibDem:13 (based on about 110 declarations coming in). Good news in that Kenneth Clarke re-elected. The secessionist SNP is now likely to be outnumbered by the combined unionist parties - commentary that this kills immediate independence referendum. Note that Huntingdon's Jonathan Djanogly re-elected.

2:46 Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg loses seat - sad loss of a voice of reason.
2:53 How ironic, Vince Cable - another voice of reason, retakes his seat. in Twickenham.
2:57 Boris Johnson re-elected
3:04 Jeremy Corbyn wins Islington (for the 9th time) with largest vote ever for his borough (40K+).
3:20 Theresa May re-elected to Maidenhead 37,018.
Apparently Tim Farron kept his seat but there had been a recount.

Second forecast at 3:28 am Con:319, Labour:267, SNP:32, LibDem:11

Hung Parliament possible.

3:30 Paul Nuttal UKIP only gets 3308 votes and does not win Boston - Hurrah!

Time for Bed!

Election Promises and Last Minute Odds

The last day before the election passed unremarkably. Caught up with work, downloaded a new Dragon update, and then had a visit from an author to assist in getting their books on Amazon as a seller.

In the evening, off to Toastmasters in Brampton. Some great speakers and evaluations, but the Tabletopics session, where you are given an unexpected topic and have to talk on it for two minutes, was fun. Debbie McManus had taken the election and campaigning as a leitmotif. Speakers had to argue different policies. I found myself with defending a two child policy, another proposed Magic carpets for transport. The very popular winner argued for a four day week. The food and the service is sadly still not up to the previous venue, but they are getting used to us at Brampton Golf Course.

President Trump is facing a couple of uncomfortable days as the former FBI Director, James Comey having released the text of his testimony for tomorrow's Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. However, curiosity about the impending UK election is raising curiosity in media abroad as well as at home. All Party Leaders were conducting a mad dash around the country in marginal seats, trying to swing voters their way. Tomorrows paper fronts have The Sun, The Daily Telegraph and Daily Express clearly supporting Theresa May (and the conservatives); The others at least make a pretence of showing either the two main party leaders or the spread of the top 5.

Polls put the conservatives ahead at anywhere between 41 to 46% with the aveage being around 43%-44%. Labour is at 33% to 40% with most around 33%. Liberals at 6% to 10%, UKIP 4% - 5%. Greens 2% where mentioned.

Betting odds Tory win 1:16 to 1:25; Labour win 7(to one) to 10:1; other parties generally 1000:1.

If you go by followers and likes, apparently Jeremy Corbyns Facebook and twitter pages attract at least twice as many supporters as Theresa May (Hull Daily Mail: http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/general-election-2017-has-social-media-swayed-voters-to-jeremy-corbyn-or-theresa-may/story-30377613-detail/story.html).

Milton Downpour and Human Rights Threat

A beautiful double rainbow in a full bow glowed over Milton as the Milton Local History Group sheltered in the last shower of the day before the evening sun won through.

We were following Clive Milner on a walk around the village where he correlated old photographs of past houses and landmarks with present day Milton. As ever, it was not a totally one way transfer of information as several of the walkers were themselves longstanding residents who remembered long gone village halls, shops and the local laundry. I learnt that, next to the war memorial, there used to be a large water pump, where water could be pumped into barrels on carts. We also traced back our footsteps to rediscover the still existing village water pump, now so totally hidden in a hedge enclosure on the boundary between the High Street and Cambridge Road that few visitors know it is still there. I remember when it was still clearly visible. We warmed up after the chilly walk with tea, Jaffa cakes and the hot air of conversation in the Milton Community Centre Lounge.

With the last but one day before the election, Prime Minister Theresa May ramped up her rhetoric on action against the terror threat, promising to "rip up human rights laws to fight terror!" according to Sky News. The most difficult reality is, that there is a difference between people sympathising with radical views and actually engaging in terrorist acts. At what point do we act on 'Thought Crimes' in order to prevent potential terrorist acts. The pressure for greater restriction of human rights and freedoms is increasing. Precisely the sort of polarising activity that extremists want, as it drives more people to them. At least the Labour party has increasingly become a visible opposition, whether you like their policies or not.

Spocks Brain and Cambridge's Controlled Explosion

Pine needles

I'm currently watching "Spocks Brain" - from the original series - an antidote to the madness of the world and the super saturation of the post terrorism news. On the one hand we are told that it is important to carry on as normal, on the other hand, the media and politicians are now obsessed with reacting to the terrorist incident. The delicate and vital negotiations with Brexit, the risks to the economy, funding of the national health service, immigration - the whole rational electoral process now determined by one-upmanship and platitudes in dealing with terrorism. 

Vigilance is high and even Cambridge was affected, when an abandoned briefcase near St Mary's on Kings Parade raised concern. It was blown up by the army at around 9:50 pm and subsequently turned out to be harmless and not terror related. I do like BBC Mark Williamson's tweet, quoting Varsity on Cambridge diners evacuated after the suspicious package was initially found . One diner recounted "A policeman came down and demanded that everyone get out of the restaurant, so I grabbed my creme brulee and ran'. Quick thinking - will he pay his bill retrospectively, I wonder?

Now I'm watching the Sky Newspaper review of tomorrows headlines  - yes, its terror or calls to back either May or Corbyn to combat terror at the coming election. Internment is fashionable in debates, though there are voices pointing out that it wasn't very successful when tried in Northern Ireland.  You can tell how bad the situation is when the Daily Mail's Consultant Editor Andrew Pierce and Daily Mirror Associate Editor Kevin Maguire agree with each other instead of viscerally squabbling and talking over each other. Oh, relief, they've managed to start arguing again 7 minutes into the program. 

Spent Monday morning getting new front tyres for the car and then caught up with Jane on work plans for the coming week or two before working together on finalising another book cover. Played on the microscope in the evening, taking a number of photo-stacks and panoramas, to be processed in the near future. Today's image is one that I've prepared for Cambridge Open Studios this year.