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.