The Great Norris Museum Launch

Queens Elizabeth I and Boudicca comparing notes on ruling England

Set off early today to catch the guided bus to St Ives for the first public open day of the Norris Museum. Seeing Captain America with her shield taking the bus into Cambridge seemed a good portent for the day to come. When I arrived early at the Norris at around 9am, the team were already in full swing getting volunteers sorted and I was soon assigned to help out on the plaza beside the museum. Face-painter Jeanette hijacked my services to make her gazebo safe and painted a Mammoth on my cheek in return.

Visitors soon started arriving and there was s steady stream all day. After a stint on the Rattle production table, I ended up helping as part of the T-shirt and bag printing team. I was on the sales table with Ann, directing people next to the 'make your own design and cut it out' table from where they then joined the queue for the actual screenprinting. With the white T shirts resplendent with bold designs in blue to blue green gradients, we volunteers also succumbed to the magic and made our own when there was a lull in customers!

Since the Norris is at one end of the town, there was a parade in which practically all visitors joined in, taking banners and various large models on sticks. The mediaeval drummers led the procession and the children enthusiastically shook their button and bead rattles as we temporarily brought the town to a festive halt and distracted people from the competing beer and music festival on the Market Place. After a minute's silence at the war memorial we all marched back again, dragging along some new visitors in our wake. I ran around a bit with my camera to try and get some good pictures of the momentous day and someone else was also doing video and photography.

It was a great day, where I learnt a lot about mediaeval potters and how a new class of traders arose, discovered spectacles were being mass produced in the Netherlands/Belgium in the late 1500's and imported into England, and learnt from no lesser person than Queen Elizabeth I herself, with Queen Boudicca in attendance, that underwear was a late entry to clothing, not becoming established till the Victorians.

A brilliant event with over a thousand visitors, I returned suitably exhausted after helping pack up at the end of the day.

Photo Albums available:

• Renactments: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7H9P3rVtBT1hUu2t1
• T-shirt printing, face and cookie decorating: https://photos.app.goo.gl/WjyQxhtYfAVzrX803
• In and around the museum: https://photos.app.goo.gl/W2FWyrfXGL4vDRQE3
• The Norris Museum Procession: https://photos.app.goo.gl/j32IbdKPnL0NONvH3

US political insults sink to new low. Brexit planes and NI. Norwich outing

A busy 24 hours or so in the US as President Trump fires/accepts the resignation of Reince Priebus from post of Trump's Chief of Staff and announces his replacement as General John Kelly, who currently heads the Department of Homeland Security. Senator John McCain deals the final low to the current attempts to vote to repeal Obamacare. Using the 'F' word and a 'paranoid schizophrenic' as an insult to denigrate a political opponent has apparently become acceptable in US political discourse. North Korea launches an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to the mainland US.

Brexit issues in discussion today included the problems in the aviation industry that could halt flights and international manufacturing collaborations, on Newsnight. Sky News picked up that, with a UK exit from the customs union, Ireland proposes that Northern Ireland remains within the customs union, placing the EU UK border into the sea, whilst the UK proposes a technological solution to a re-instated land border. The overall accusation from Ireland mirrors EU Negotiator Michel Barnier's view - the UK has not prepared enough/provided sufficient detail in negotiations.

All this was put aside as Jane and I traveled to Norwich by train from the wonderful Cambridge North Station. We had a tasty lunch at Roger Hickman's Restaurant, then visited the Catholic Cathedral. This was built in the Neo-Gothic style and completed in 1910 as a church for the Catholic community. Whilst much is made of the stained glass from the famous makers Clayton & Bell in reviews, I was impressed by the varied but subtle art nouveau glass windows and took pictures of as many designs as I could. Also, many of the columns were made of a marble that contained crinoid fossils. At the entrance, rain had eroded the stone slightly to enhance the relief of these fossils.

We were going to wind our way through to the Anglican Cathedral but got sidetracked in the Norwich lanes and the Norwich Museum, where entrance was free today. A recuperative tea at Harriet's Tea Rooms and it was then back to the train home for a birthday cake with family.

Factual UK Immigration study whilst Trump's wall budget approved

Sand from Frinton Beach

Just over a year after the Brexit referendum, the government has decided that it is time to start a study on the impact of EU migrants on the UK economy and  workforce. Unusually, in this post-expert period, Amber Rudd declared that this would be 'Fact based'. Work will proceed speedily so as to give business some reassurance on what is going to happen and how to plan, with the results likely to come out six months before we exit the EU, in September 2018. Surely enough time for businesses to prepare, if they have not already set up EU branches to ensure that they can continue trading in the EU after Brexit.

Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis stated today that immigration control would be in place when we left the EU, whilst his boss Amber Rudd explained that there would be no cliff edge as there would be a transitional period.

Meanwhile, across the pond, there were several counter-reactions to President Trumps recent comments. Senate speakers suggested there would be 'Holy hell' to pay if the President removed the Attorney General or made any move agains Mueller, investigating the Russia links. The Senate voted overwhelmingly to impose more sanctions on Russia. The Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh announced that "I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree." and the memo sent to all military chiefs that transgender individuals could continue to serve openly until  Defense Secretary Jim Mattis received the Presidents direction on Transgender issues. Apparently the military don't do decree by Twitter.

There was however a ray of light for the President as $1.6bn spending on the Wall was approved by the House of Representatives.

All this occurred while I had a relatively busy but quiet work day with a break for cross-channel computer assistance.

Trump transgender notice, Milton Elm lost

Traces of  Elm bark beetle larvae and Dutch Elm Disease fungus

Today, with three tweets, President Trump, put several thousand transgender military employees on notice that they would not be able to continue to serve. This for a saving of between 0.004% - 0.017% defence spending on health. It achieved the result of deflecting interest from the Russia enquiry and, in part, from the Health care debate. Jeff Sessions still publicly attacked.

Yesterday I noticed tree surgeons working on a large tree next to Milton's All Saints Church. Today they had completed reducing a venerable giant into pieces that would fit into a skip. Curious, I wandered over and asked why the tree had been felled. It was a 100 year old plus Elm that had finally succumbed to Dutch elm disease. It was one of the very few last giant survivors of the Elm in the UK. 

The disease is caused by Ophiostoma species of fungi, which are spread by elm bark beetles. The beetles bore into and under the bark, and the fungus they carry in then spread into the wood underneath. To protect itself, the tree block off the vessels transporting water and nutrients up and down the tree, effectively resulting in a slow death.

One of the tree surgeons picked out a piece of bark and there was a decorative filigree of the channels the bark beetle larvae had carved, some of them lined with white, where the fungus had multiplied.

The battle has possibly been going on for thousands of years. The Elm used to be abundant 6,000 years ago, then less so  3,000 years ago. But it was the spread of a more virulent strain from the 1960's onwards that killed more than 25 million trees in the UK alone, till there were only isolated trees like the one in Milton left. 

There are still 17,000 elms in Brighton & Hove, as a result of a strict program of sanitation felling, pruning, girdling (to prevent infection getting to the roots - this also kills infected trees) and root trenches, to prevent the fungus spreading through touching root systems. It is a radical disease control that works locally.

Elms have not disappeared from the rest of the UK -  they are present in hedges. As long as they are kept below 20 ft (6 m), they will not be infected. 

The reason is that above this height, the tree begins to produce future flowering twigs. These attract the female Elm bark beetles who chew the bark. The flowering hormones in the bark stimulate the beetles to become sexually mature, to go out and find a mate and produce eggs. At this stage the female returns and chews deeper into the elm bark to create a brood chamber. It carries with it the fungus, which actually acts as a food source for the larvae that hatch. As the larvae carve out chambers under the bark, the fungus spreads, infecting more of the tree and providing more food for the beetle larvae, which then hatch out to boost the beetle population.

Coppicing or hedging stops the elms from maturing to flowering, breaking the cycle.

How To Identify Bullying Behaviour in Politics

Identifying bullying at work can be difficult. Fortunately there is a place where you can see blatant examples of bullying behaviour - Politics.

If you are a senior politician, or perhaps even the leader, have a look at the "10 Signs You're Being Bullied At Work" given by Forbes in this article https://www.forbes.com/2008/03/22/health-bullying-office-forbeslife-cx_avd_0324health.html. It is in picture as well as (brief) text form, so easily accessible and digestible, whatever the pressures you are under.

For a really brief summary - here's my tailored list of the 10 signs you may be being bullied as a politician*:

1. Work Means Misery (for you, not your colleagues)
2. Constant Criticism (of you, not by you)
3. Lots of yelling (at you, not you at others)
4. Remembering Your Mistakes (mis-representing your successes)
5. Gossip And Lies (about you - not the ones you tell about others)
6. You’re Not Invited To Lunch Or Meetings (or visits to the Pope)
7. You Always Need Mental Health Days (to spend more time on foreign trips and missions)
8. Sabotage (of your work by others  - not you sabotaging them)
9. Impossible Schedules (e.g. last minute meetings arranged when you are unavailable)
10. Others take Credit for Your Work (an occupational hazard, I'm afraid)

*If you find that you are actually using these signs on others around you, YOU may be exhibiting bullying behaviour!

But what can you do, once you have identified that you are the victim of bullying? Acas provides some sensible advice here http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1864 for regular employees. However, you may simply have to move away from the situation. 

If you are a politician, your options are slightly different, popular options are:

1. Turn the tables on/Back-stab your opponent 
2. Switch sides/retire and write the insider's/whistleblower's story
3. Fulfill your desire to "Spend more time with your family"
4. Simply play more golf

On a lighter note. It was Milton Community Cafe day again today. Initially, attendance was low, till we realised that some of our regulars had not been picked up as usual, necessitating a quick dash out to collect the forgotten ones. Nathalie's cakes (chocolate cake, citrus drizzle tartlets and a fruity cheese flan) were delicious. I ended up on the games table playing a strategy game "St Petersburg". We were in the final stages - just as I was getting into a good position (or at least catching up on my opponents) - when it was suddenly it was time to pack up for the day.

Drowned US Maitlin interview followed by contaminated chicken

Shrunken Head!

Perhaps the most amusing thing this evening was seeing Emily Maitlis interviewing two experts, on BBC News, seated in pouring rain in front of the White House. As they calmly debated the political finer points, the rain got worse and worse, their jackets visibly drenched - and finally, the broadcast cut out. hopefully no one was electrocuted. All this after Jared Kushner emerged from his hearing in front of the Senate panel investigating Russia links, stating that all of his "actions were proper and occurred in the normal course of events" of the campaign. He had apparently come late to a meeting with Donald Trump Junior and some people from Russia where he saw no evil, heard no evil and spoke no evil.

Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox is also in the US looking to explore trade opportunities with the UK - but not negotiating a deal yet, as this is still under EU control. His emphasis was on the fifth largest global economy dealing with the worlds greatest economy. The defining item early on in his visit is the chlorination of chicken in the US, with Liam Fox being challenged to eat it in any form of his choice.

So, why the controversy, other than a provocative name?

One of the big problems with keeping lots of poultry for human consumption is, that there is a real risk of Salmonella and Campylobacter bacteria growing in sufficient numbers on chicken meat to cause serious illness. This occurs when uncooked chicken is handled and bacteria are transferred either to other food due to poor kitchen hygiene, or to the mouth via contaminated fingers.

In the US, after the chickens have been slaughtered and eviscerated, the carcasses are sprayed with antimicrobial rinses. The antimicrobials that can be used in the US are chlorine dioxide, acidified sodium chlorite, trisodium phosphate and peroxyacids. Experiments have shown that the treatments consistently reduce levels of Salmonella from 14% to 2% in controlled conditions. Technically, the procedure is safe, as acknowledged even by the European food safety regulator EFSA who found “chemical substances in poultry are unlikely to pose an immediate or acute health risk for consumers." (https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/buying-and-supplying/food-safety/chlorinated-chicken-explained-why-do-the-americans-treat-their-poultry-with-chlorine/555618.article). However, the EU objects in principle to the procedure because it could promote poorer practice in rearing and handling chickens for food, as they are sterilised after slaughter.

In the EU and therefore in the UK, the strategy is to try and reduce the level of contamination from "farm to fork" by good practice throughout the food chain. In the UK, this includes vaccination against Salmonella. The Co-op, for example, is proud to announce that only 2% of British poultry are contaminated with Salmonella, compared with up to 30% in other EU countries (http://www.lovebritishfood.co.uk/british-food-and-drink/chicken-amp-eggs). However, the level of Campylobacter contamination is higher (up to 50% when tested in 2001) and remember the 2015 scandal where E. coli contamination was found in two thirds (75%) of UK chicken in supermarkets.

The reality for us consumers is that, whatever our philosophical food preference and method to reduce contamination, we are likely to encounter Salmonella, Campylobacter and E. coli contaminated chicken. The best protection is good kitchen hygiene, including the separation of handling areas and surfaces for raw meat from cooked meat and other non-meat food preparation, as well as thoroughly cooking chicken to kill any bacteria.

I traveled to Brampton over lunchtime to visit a client interested in the production of a company video for their website and had a productive chat. Now awaiting their ideas for storylines. in the evening, off to the Stammtisch for conversation and far too much food, including fruit salad and scones with jam and low fat cream. Hats made an appearance, as did fascinators, which were renamed as the more evocative 'Tantalisers'.

Abandoned Alaskans, UK Food Woes, Wicken Artists, Jam Tomorrow?

With no big news items on Trump or Brexit, an opportunity to pick up on two items seen in the past week on related items.

The first is evidence of the way in which inconvenient truths can be sidelined - by re-posting employees not toeing the party line to jobs that would most likely cause them to resign. In the case of Joel Clement, now former director of the Office of Policy Analysis at the U.S. Interior Department, this did not quite go to plan. He turned Whistleblower and went public to the Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/im-a-scientist-the-trump-administration-reassigned-me-for-speaking-up-about-climate-change/2017/07/19/389b8dce-6b12-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html?tid=ss_fb&utm_term=.8e1165461f22). Joe helped endangered communities in Alaska prepare for and adapt to a changing climate. He had been raising the difficult situation they were in several times. In his own words:

"The Alaska Native villages of Kivalina, Shishmaref and Shaktoolik are perilously close to melting into the Arctic Ocean. In a region that is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, the land upon which citizens’ homes and schools stand is newly vulnerable to storms, floods and waves. As permafrost melts and protective sea ice recedes, these Alaska Native villages are one superstorm from being washed away, displacing hundreds of Americans and potentially costing lives. The members of these communities could soon become refugees in their own country."

Sadly for the Alaskans, a population of 741,894 (2016), two Senators and 1 Congressman, any complaints or environmental concerns will be a minor irritation, lost in the melee of US politics.

The second was a well informed rant by Jay Rayner in an open letter to Environment Minister Michael Gove. Jay's concerns were about food security and sustainability with Brexit (http://www.jayrayner.co.uk/news/michael-gove-asked-me-to-a-meeting-to-share-my-expertise-i-declined-instead-ive-given-him-a-piece-of-my-mind/). It was scattered with facts such as the UK only produced 50% of it food supply it consumes at present, in contrast to 70% back in the 1990's; with a higher demand for protein in Asia, it could be more difficult to maintain imports at low costs to the UK. With Brexit, food inflation is likely to enter double digits for the years to come.

Where I perhaps diverge from Jay is in his view, that with sustainability and quality issues, educating the public will lead to an acceptance of possible food price rises. If food prices rise, those with ever decreasing income in the UK might find that when confronted with hunger, cheaper chlorinated chicken or hormone-fed beef from the US becomes a simple survival choice.

One way to save at present is of course to forgo a holiday abroad. The pound has plummeted to €1.11. Expect costs of other imported goods to rise.

We took a trip out to Wicken, away from these worries, to visit artists active in Open Studios this weekend (https://www.camopenstudios.co.uk/). 

Our first stop was at the joint studios of abstract printer/painter Terry Beard and potter Stephen Murfitt. Terry was my mentor when I started out in 2004. Our conversation shifted with Terry showing me how she worked, Stephen giving Jane an explanation on his techniques and how we researched and developed our ideas for a work.

We then went on to see multimedia artist with dreamy landscapes, Janene Elise Pike and Lindy Jane Rainbow who made gently shaded needle quilted pictures, further worked with stitching. I could see potential for book illustrations there.

The disappointment of the day - my strawberry jam has not set, though it is thickened. Improvement planned.

Could Putin Pardon Trump? Strawberry curd

Ensaimada for breakfast.

I haven't really been following the news today, though I did hear that President Trump had looked into the possibility of a presidential pardon as a solution to the nagging and ever present Russia investigations. A neat solution, though there is the difficulty of the president pardoning himself. However this could be solved either by calling the Pope to give his confession, which should appeal to his followers of faith, or asking a peer to provide absolution. President Putin of Russia seems a good choice, it would also help reset relations with Russia, killing two birds with one stone!

No, today was a slow day, finally an opportunity to do nothing serious. I came down to see that the ensaimada had risen substantially, covering the whole baking tray. It was put into the oven for 15 minutes and, after cooling for a while, served for breakfast. The very light rich bread was OK with butter and jam. It worked much better with butter, jam and whipped cream in the afternoon, with a nice cup of tea and conversation with a visiting friend.

Apropos jam, the pectin powder I had ordered arrived today. This was prompted at the Stammtisch last week, after hearing about making very fruit rich jams with a ration of 2:1 fruit to jam. Tescos was selling 600g packs of Strawberries at a reduced price, so I set about making some jam with pureed fruit and the new pectin. The jars are cooling but a sample on a plate suggests that I might have actually made a strawberry curd.

Farewell to Sean Spicer and making Ensaimada

Ensaimadas rising overnight

Today we lost the one of the defining figures in the Trump administration in the US. Sean Spicer resigned as presidential spokesperson when President Trump appointed Anthony Scaramucci as the new White House communications director, a post Sean had been temporarily filling. Sean's Role is now filled by his former deputy Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Sean Spicer had the unenviable role of representing the President's view of reality, which sometimes contrasted strongly with that of the rest of the world, e.g. on the size of the crowds at the presidential inauguration. His irascible responses and occasional errors provided gripping briefings, such as his assertion that even Hitler did not use chemical weapons, temporarily forgetting the gassing in the Holocaust. Tragically, Sean's departure may also mean another redundancy, that of Melissa McCarthy's portrayal of him on Saturday Night Live.

Today, the UK Cabinet is also miraculously united and apparent accepting that there would be a transitional period with Brexit, during which trade and free movement would still continue to permit business to adapt.

Not having our Open Studio this weekend, I was able to return to networking at the A14 network and help out volunteering at the Norris Museum. The staff have now moved back into the Museum, but there are still workmen around completing the final tasks. The new display area looks great and I took a series of pictures which are embargoed till the official opening on the weekend of the 30th July.

A I write, I have two spirals of Mallorcan Ensaimada, a sweet breakfast bread, rising and fermenting overnight. Ulli had called yesterday to catch up on news and introduced me to the recipe. Ensaimada is a flaky yeast based pastry. I could not do the full 30 minutes kneading of the dough due to the mixer starting to overheat, but, after an hour's rise, I was able to split the dough and roll it out in sheets that were almost transparent. The sheets were then covered with melted butter and rolled into long tubes. These in turn were arranged in loose spirals and left to continue rising for 12 hours. Currently they look as if they might crawl out of the tray by the morning, like giant doughboy snails.

Progress 113 days after Article 50 triggered, pretzels and modelling giant icebergs

Victorian tiling in Cambridge

This week's round of Brexit talks has concluded with some movement, but these are still the preliminary stages. Over 90 UK civil servants had been negotiating in Brussels.

Some uglier issues are arising. From the EU side there is concern for EU citizens in the UK and their continued rights to live there and be free to return if they visit another EU country. The counter negotiating proposal to the lack of promised security for EU citizens was that British people living in the EU might face losing their automatic right to move to another member state.

Whilst David Davis jokingly bounced back Barnier's earlier quote with "The clock is ticking", the spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, Tom Brake, pointed out, “It's now been 113 days since Article 50 was triggered and we have seen almost zero progress on even the most basic issues. With each day that passes, the likelihood of a catastrophic, disorderly Brexit increases.”

Fortunately, despite all these difficulties, at least the UK and Germany can still be friends, as demonstrated by the pretzel making and coxing Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. More seriously, hats off to them for visiting cancer science research labs - the importance of science collaboration has hardly been part of the Brexit news.

The work day was enlivened by tonight's CETC talks on the simulated world. We had two very different speakers. Mark Green talked about the research that went on behind the development of an immersive 3D game 'Rigs', to optimise enjoyment and thrills whilst avoiding 'sim sickness' and eye-strain.

Jan De Rydt of the British Antarctic Survey, showed us how simulating the ice sheets and flows around the BAS Halley Stations was being used to predict the cracks in ice sheets that could leave to calving of gigantic icebergs. The crack 'Chasm 1' which threatened ice stations Halley VI was likely to result in a sheet of 1500 square kilometers breaking off. The Halloween Crack would lead to a 2000 square kilometer island. However, these events were taking place at glacial speeds and could take years , if not decades to complete. The circum-antarctic gyres would then spin these slowly around the continent as they slowly disintegrated. These sheets, despite containing nearly a billion tons of water locked in ice, would not lead to sea level rises, as they were already floating on the ocean. However, the possible increase of ice sheets breaking off due to global warming could lead to a faster flow of ice off the actual continent of Antarctica, which locks up enough water to lead to a 60 m rise in sea-levels.

Britain's Nuclear Brexit Threat and Comedy Assisted Photography

Fen Road Milton, LunaPic edit

With the UK government doing a lot of nuclear processing for other EU countries, it has come up with a cunning plan to pressurise them - by threatening to send back the nuclear waste to the originator country. Now is it just me or is there a serious flaw in this argument? Since the transport will either be by sea or train - and the boat/train etc has to land in another country, surely they can just say, "No, we are not taking it back! So there! Nyah, Nyah!" And residents in those countries will be in arms because those naughty Brits are trying to offload radioactive material.

Tried out a different technique to photograph a camera-shy subject today. I set up the camera with it taking a picture every 2 seconds automatically, on a fixed focus and manual settings. We then listened to a radio comedy show on i-player. We enjoyed the program and ten minutes later I trawled through the 336 shots and found 44 that had a range of relaxed, positive facial expressions. Of these, three can be used for wider sharing.

Brexit News Delays, Trump ObamaCare Fail, Carrots and Origin of Sapphires

The background chatter behind the main news is that the EU is preparing to stall the Brexit talks as the UK seems unprepared for discussions on divorce payments to the EU. Looking at the news trail after a Google search, the following time sequence of making this point was:

• The Express - 16 h before blog
• The Telegraph 9 h bb
• Politico 6 h bb
• The Independent 5 h bb

The main news was obviously from across the pond, where the current attempt to repeal Obamacare is currently stalled, possibly dead. Now President Trump says on Twitter,

"As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned!"

A wonderful political strategy, if it works - wait until problems with Obamacare become so great that another solution is needed - and most importantly, avoid any blame being linked to the Republican Party. Only, one element of doubt - isn't the President supposed to be acting in all the people's interests and finding a solution that will be acceptable to at least a majority.

On the home front, I was tempted to thin out the carrots growing in one of our containers and finding some perfectly formed, though diminutive specimens. Practically bite sized, they tasted good, if slightly peppery.

There was an interesting article on illegal mining for sapphires in Madagascar, with the throwaway line that once gems entered the trade, their origin could not be determined. Remembering that Diamonds can be traced to geographical regions, I googled for similar information in sapphires. 

The international Gem Society gives some basic information on geographic sources of rubies and sapphires, which are both different types of of the mineral corundum https://www.gemsociety.org/article/ruby-sapphire-identifying-origin-understanding-value-rarity-gem-corundum/. There was a lot more detail on internet stones.com site on 'Gemstone Geographic Origin Determination with special reference to Blue Sapphires' http://www.internetstones.com/gemstone-geographic-origin-determination-with-reference-to-blue-sapphires.html.

Madagascan sapphires are generally from metamorphic regions, as are those from Kashmir and Sri Lanka, for example. Sapphires from Australia and Cambodia are from magmatic or basaltic sources. Further characteristics of Madagascan sapphires often contain tight optical growth patterns, have detectable levels of tin and tantalum at dozens of parts per million. Madagascan sapphires from the province of Antsiranana Province often display blue-violet, greenish-blue and greenish-yellow bands within the same crystal. However, the situation my be complicated by two facts, one, that banding in sapphires can be reduced by heat treatment and two, that if these are new illegal mines, then sufficient reference samples have o be collected first for characterisation before future sapphires can be assigned to that region in the future.

Diminished British Brexit Negotiators. On Hoovers

Chalk smear on road after yesterday's rain - Kandinsky effect using Lunapics

Brexit negotiations started again today and were marked by one iconic photograph  negotiators. But Davis Davis' bullish comment "get down to business" somewhat marred in the photo. We see on one side of a practical table, the three EU a pile of files ready in front of them. On the other side, the three British negotiators with nothing except a solitary paper notebook. Then the news that David Davies had left after a couple of hours to get back to the UK. The definite impression was that the EU was prepared but the Brits were not. The petty in-cabinet squabbles have also not been lost on a European audience. The reality is apparently less clueless, a UK team of (hopefully more competent) civil servants remaining behind once the politicians have left.

We started the day gently after the busy weekend, setting off later for town to get a new vacuum cleaner. Not impressed with the offerings on show which look less robust and tackier than our old machine, which we have now taken to be repaired instead. The first portable electric vacuum cleaner was invented in 1907 by James Murray Spangler, a department store janitor, and patented a year later. It had a rotating brush to loosen the dust, an electric fan for suction and crucially, his wife's pillow case as a filter. Sadly lacking the funds to develop it further, he sold the rights to a local leather goods manufacturer, William Henry Hoover, and the rest is history!

Bickering cabinet to negotiate Brexit?!

The UK Cabinet is showing signs of public rift. There is a drip, drip of leaks,  of unfavorable comments about or by the Chancellor Philip Hammond. They reflect an ire by hard Brexiteers,  reacting against the more cautious approach of a Chancellor, who wants to ensure a minimal impact on the economy. His public response,  that matters spoken in the cabinet meetings should not be leaked, immediately resulted in further vitriol from 'an anonymous Cabinet member.

A food report notes that the UK imports 80% of its fresh vegetables and 40% of fresh fruit and that there are no clear UK plans to deal with food safety and supply regulation after leaving the EU.
All in time to show unity for the next round of Brexit negotiations tomorrow.

Our last Open Studio day went well, with the chalk drawings outside being added to by children. I'd made a large meringue last night which was transformed into my first fruit Pavlova. The recipe was the love child of Jamie Oliver and Mary Berry… and was eaten before being photographed. Very tasty. Celebrated with a well earned pub meal with our future in laws.

I was sent a warning about a very slow Windows 10 update and immediately fell victim to it when opening the laptop to write this blog. Aaaaaargh! It is still chuntering away. Had to write this blog on my tablet.

Open Studio and The MAZE OF DOOOM!

Stuff Brexit and Trump for the day. After a quiet morning, an artist friend dropped by, with two quiet children in tow, obviously a bit intimidated by all the strangers in a strange place. So I put the stereomicroscope on the ground for easier access and backed off leaving them to it, thinking, this was a time to draw a new maze on the road outside the studio as it had been a hit with children last week.

Chalk, drawing - it was a magnet. And at my suggestion they could draw whatever they wanted, as long as I could complete the inside of the maze, the two artist recruits began to join in with increasing enthusiasm. They tested the final design - finding mistakes I had to correct. They helpfully labelled the exit EXIT and as I walked back, the girl was just writing WELCOME below the entrance, so that there was NO doubt of where to start.

Suddenly, a clear child's voice rang out sonorously declaring- "WELCOME, TO THE MAZE OF DOOOM!"

That made my day.

When they had gone, I went to check the dramatically enhanced and extended artwork around the maze. It appeared to have been renamed The Maze Of Delite - I suspect a guilty parental influence there. There was also an additional maze - with a trick entrance - and a complete Wordsearch themed on our studio, with helpful suggestions for the words we should be looking for.

Now, in my heart (and perhaps still secretly in their  minds) I am still the proud owner of the Hall End 'Maze of DOOOM!'

Until the rain comes and washes it away.

Dry Brexit Day and an artistic HBN Out and About

LunaPic interpretation of photo of poppy heads

Like the dried poppy heads, today was a dried up Brexit news day with only three items of note. The first and second were news of Easyjet planning on setting up a separate base in Austria, and Barclays looking to expand its presence in Ireland. These are the practical steps that many other companies trading in Europe are contemplating as this will allow them to continue to do business there after Brexit. 

The third was a statement that Lord Adonis, the Labour peer and ex-minister who now chairs the Government's National Infrastructure Commission. He stated today that if the country was to do a hard Brexit, "then I do believe this will be the worst mistake this country has made since the 1930s," stating elsewhere that this was a similarly large mistake to appeasement at the time. Conservatives MPS are baying for his removal from the Commission he heads.

Joined in a small delegation from HBN on our monthly Out and About visit, this time to the offices of Dame Evelyn Glennie, solo percussionist. It was fascinating to learn how Evelyn and her team rewrote the rules of how an musician gains work and organises the performance. By taking control of the business themselves, the team was able to not only work more practically and get paid more promptly, there were also new projects and collaborations outside of the original musicians role that made Evelyn's work more diverse and far reaching. I wrote a separate blog here at  http://www.miltoncontact-blog.com/2017/07/evelyn-glennie-musician-and.html.

Brexit is like a Chocolate Orange and when Britain played being chicken with atomic bombs

While life might be like box of chololates (Tom Hanks in Forest Gump), Brexit could be like a chocolate orange - falling apart when receiving a knock. That's according to The National Audit Office head Sir Amyas Morse. Governmental ministers and their departments need to come together to present a unified plan - and currently he doesn't see much of this.

According to the BBC, Revenue & Customs (HMRC) estimates this will mean the number of annual customs declarations will rise from 55 million to 255 million after March 2019, with an estimated 180,000 traders making customs declarations for the first time. Currently the system can only handle 100 million customs declarations. There is a new Customs Declaration Service (CDC) being developed. It should be in place about 2 months before the critical Brexit date. Naturally, it will work perfectly as soon as it comes online.

Looking for Brexit news in Der Spiegel, instead found an article on an early plan by the British military to deploy nuclear landmines in Germany to stop the potential advance of the Red Army - Project Blue Peacock. Wikipedia gives a good description here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Peacock. The idea was to have a  a series of 8 ton atomic bombs buried in the ground that could be triggered either by wire, timer or by a motion sensor. The aim to kill and contaminate a significant army coming across the North German Plain. There was however a problem. Being buried in the ground, the bombs could cool down  to a level that would influence the delicate circuitry. The solution - Chickens. Yes, chickens would be sealed in with food and water. They could survive for up to a week and provide just enough warmth to keep the circuits functioning.

The Ministry of Defence cancelled the project, so now, rather that having to worry where you are treading in Germany, you just need to dodge the nuclear missiles that the North Koreans might log at us - or Donald Trump, should he declare war on Europe.

Fortunately, President Macron of France is buttering up and trying to impress Trump as we speak, as he flees the tribulations of the 'White House Witch Hunt' and leaves his son to provide a distraction.

Had to recreate a CorelDraw file, export pages a specifically sized pictures and generate a new Kindle Comic book to send of to a client. Then carried on with the family history ghostwriting.

Brexit is just a clock ticking

Some messes, like this fruit pavlova, are absolutely delicious. Others, like the current Brexit negotiating stance by the UK government, are just deplorable. The 'go whistle' comment by Boris Johnson yesterday, merely initiated a laconic reply by EU negotiator Michael Barnier, "I am not hearing any whistling, just a clock ticking". He went on to comment that the negotiations are coming down to an issue of trust, "How do you build a relationship based on trade and security... which is going to last, with a country with which you don't have trust?" At the moment, we have pretty stark posturing on both sides - with the EU looking as if it holds more cards.

The Royalty of Spain came to the UK for a state visit. King Felipe VI of Spain raised Brexit and the fate of nationals of either country residing in the other needing to be resolved. The other delicate matter will be Gibraltar, where there is increased jostling of Spanish and British craft in the surrounding waters.

President Trump flew off to France to attend Bastille Day celebration, leaving behind the murky waters created by an apparent meeting between his son Donald T Jnr. and a Russian lawyer who may or may not have had links to the Kremlin and may or may not have had incriminating or embarrassing information to thwart Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

I attended a meeting by Matthew Bailey, global Internet Of Things (IOT) pioneer on preparing for Smart Cities, held at the Future Business Centre, Cambridge. One of the key points was to shift decision making more locally and also give control and ownership of data back to the individual. Very interesting, I took lots of notes. In the evening I went off to Bury St Edmunds, giving one of our group of friends a lift to the monthly German Stammtisch. We ended up sitting outside with a brazier full of burning logs nearby whilst we were served a savoury buffet, followed by a delicious fruit pavlova and a cake accompanied by a home made gooseberry fool. Despite having tried to eat just a little in the evening  before setting off, my calorific intake later must have exceeded at least 2 days of my annual dietary requirement.

Brexit Will Cancel Holidays Abroad and Trump's Smoking Canon

From today I will reverse the order of a day's blog, talking general politics first and personal news after..

Extreme rhetoric was the news of the day, with RyanAir CEO Michael O'Leary talking yesterday about the dire consequences of Brexit on the airline industry to the EU Parliament. With the cessation of the existing Open Skies agreement, his Ryanair flights between the UK and the EU will cease for weeks if not months and Heathrw will become idle. A Telegraph article on the session also quoted former British Airways chief Willie Walsh, now CEO of the International Airlines Group. Whilst not as extreme as O'Leary, he too stressed the importance of getting an agreement in place.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was also in top form in parliament today, answering a question on whether the UK would pay an Brexit divorce bill. In response he said "The sums I have seen that they propose to demand from this country appear to be extortionate. Go whistle seems to me to be an entirely appropriate expression." 

Katja Adler writes a lovely commentary on interviewing EU politicians and policy makers in the BBC online. Once her part of the interview is over, the tables are turned and she is in turn quizzed about what politicians are thinking in the UK. There is incomprehension but acceptance that Brexit is going ahead - but not how and which UK voices they should listen to. Perhaps the greatest underestimation on the UK side, is that, yes, the EU wants a good deal - but the concept of Europe overrides the importance of, say, car manufacturing.

Perhaps the most memorable phrase of the day was coined by Michael O'Leary, 

"Brexit will be one of the great economic suicide notes in history."

The second best phrase came from Nick Akerman, a former US attorney who worked on the Watergate case, to a New York Post reporter. Commenting on the publication of Donald Trump Jnr.'s emails showing links with Russian contacts during the presidential election, he thought This is “almost a smoking canon!”

The most interesting event for me today was an unexpected phone call from New Zealand, relating to the family history I am currently ghost-writing and researching. The caller couldn't sleep and, awake at 3 am their time, they called and filled me in on vital background information on the story.

Art-Ache as Corbyn Rejects May, Plus Nuclear Reaction and Trade Threat

A struggle to get up this morning after the COS weekend with Art-Ache.  My muscles aching from sitting down and getting up repeatedly as over 90 visitors came to our studios over the past weekend.

Workwise, I've been trying to find out a bit more about how child migration in the days of the Empire and postwar Britain worked. it has also been interesting to google for old addresses in countries of the former colonies that have naturally replaced them with more relevant post-colonial ones.

Slightly saddened today that after all the calls for a cross party coalition to look at Brexit, when Prime Minister Theresa May actually opens herself to offering a step in the right direction, Corbyn derisively rejects it. Now that his popularity is way ahead of Mays, is he falling into the same trap that she fell into when popularity polls suggested that she could win the election with a large majority.

Dominic Cummings, who masterminded the vote leave campaign, is railing against some of the policies that have been promoted by the government now in power. One is the decision to leave Euratom. In frustration he is tweeting that May should 'Ignore whining from a small core of MPs who wd have destroyed Leave cmpgn if they'd controlled it, they have <15% support in country'.

The Express headlines "'We'll prove him wrong' British hauliers dismiss EU negotiator Barnier's threats on trade" (http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/826860/Brexit-news-British-hauliers-prove-EU-Barnier-wrong-trade). But read further down and the actual message in the article itself is that both the Freight Transport Association (FTA) and the Road Haulage Association (RHA) fear there is going to be chaos, unless thought is given now in the negotiations on how to handle the flow of trade. From a business, perspective, 2 years is a short time to adapt - and time is rapidly ticking away.

Successful COS Weekend; UK accused of making EU Nationals second rate citizens

LunaPic edit of our COS street maze

After playing with chalks on the road to our studios, we had an immediate visitor lured in, but after that it was quiet for an hour. Looks like people were having a lie-in before coming out to visit artists. Several family groups with GCSE and Sixth form students; furthest visitor today came over from Worcester/Kidderminster. It was Jane's day today with a number of her little books on 'Who's Hoo?' sold. Louise's 'Stained Glass' and 'New York Central Park' quilts received a lot of admiration.  Ended the day with a well earned Chinese. Eveything shut down for the week till next weekend.

The G20 finished with the USA being isolated in a group of one, not joining in on fighting global warming. However, one positive outcome - the proposed ceasefire in Syria, brokered with Russia and Jordan, seems to be setting in.

Mosul in Iraq appears to be retaken today, but it is a Pyrrhic victory, which the city desolated by all the fighting.

Vince Cable - possible future or at least interim Liberal Democrat leader, dares to suggest that, once the economic difficulties set in during negotiations, Brexit may never happen. Guy Verhofstad, EU's Brexit coordinator and other leading MEPs wrote in the Guardian today. They say the UK’s opening offer on citizens’ rights falls short of both the EU proposal  and the suggestion is that this would make EU nationals 'second rate citizens. The UK was also accused of being “the new champion of red tape”, as each family member, including children, would have to make a separate application for settled status.

BT Wake-up Call, Successful COS Opening Day, Belgians Claim 1666 UK Fishing Rights

Luna Pic Edit of COS Davids Visit

Woken by the susurration of an incomprehensible conversation, followed by the irate footsteps as Louise stomped down the stairs, out of the door and to a BT Open Reach van. A conversation was so being broadcast so loud within the van that the noise penetrated through the closed van window, across the street and waking us all at around 8 am. Louise brought this to an abrupt halt.

Last minute preparations for our Open Studio, including a sudden urge on my part to make some more milk chocolate, and we were ready shortly before 11 am. The first guest by tradition was our friendly postman, invited and popping in for a look around before continuing on his rounds. There was a mad rush till about 1 pm, a lull, and then a busy afternoon with 54 visitors. We hade regular returnees, local villagers and the curious armed with the COS guide. By six, we closed up for the day with one picture, several books and a spread of cards sold. As ever, the real enjoyment came from the varied conversation with the visiting public.

Within a week or so of the UK declaring it's withdrawal from a pre EU fishing agreement and reclaiming British waters for British fisherman, an unexpected riposte from Belgium. During the Cromwell era, Charles II sought refuge in Bruges and based his court in exile there. Upon his return to the British throne, Charles issued a charter in 1666, giving rights in perpetuity for 50 Belgian vessels to fish in British waters (https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/uk/belgium-says-1666-royal-charter-grants-fishermen-eternal-rights-english-waters/).  Apparently this might still be legally enforceable.

Dieter Kempf, president of the BDI, the federation of German industries, told the Observer that defending the single market was the priority for the European Union, maintaining the single market and its four freedoms: goods, capital, services, and labour. Ingo Kramer, president of the confederation of German employers' associations (BDA), added that  whilst the UK would remain a very important partner but a fair deal  and cohesion of the remaining 27 EU member states was the highest priority.

President Trump promises Prime Minister Theresa May a very very big trade deal very very quickly! Presumably as long as the terms are very very favourable to the US, and after we have left the EU. He leaves the G20 summit without being turned on his retreat on combating climate change. Hamburg can at last look to calmer times after the shock of destructive demonstrations and clashes between radical protesters and specialist police troops.

G20 hots up both protests and love-in between Presidents Trump & Putin

Photo of Milton Shed edited with LunaPic

Cleared out the garage and began hanging pictures and artwork with Jane and Louise for tomorrow's Cambridge Open Studio. Somewhat delayed by waiting for a routine medical call which did not materialise till much later than planned. We then went over to fellow artist's studios for pre-opening drinks and sharing of small items and best wishes. Marie Georghiou and Richard Morgan are running their first joint studio and I hope they enjoy it as much as I do. Crashed for the evening.

The big news of the day is the G20 conference in Hamburg. Whilst German Chancellor Angela Merkel wanted the focus to be on consolidating Climate Change agreements, two different scenes dominated.

The first was the mass demonstrations throughout the city, with over 100,000 protesters descending on the city. The vast majority wanted to protest peacefully. Unfortunately, a proportion of black clad, masked and gloved, numbering thousands, went violent. There were attacks on the police, trashing and looting of shops, setting cars alight. Residents were quoted as saying 'it was like war'. A cultural and political centre, the 'Rote Flora' (Red Flora) had barricaded itself against the chaos outside and was trying to care for injured people within. The police finally resorted to sending a heavily armed specialist unit, in addition to the watercannon and pepper sprays against the protesters. The situation appears to be cooling down, leaving the Schanzenstrasse in the Schanzenviertel, empty but trashed.

The second was the meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin, with only their closest advisors and translators.  There appeared to be a positive chemistry between the two and apparently some of the tough issues were discussed -  on the election involvement, Syria, Ukraine and North Korea. Memories of what was actually agreed or said did differed when the respective foreign ministers gave their analyses afterwards.

After yesterday's CBI call for continuation of currrent agreements with the EU until a new trade deal had been agreed, Prime minister May countered that the UK could not stay within the custom's union after Brexit if Britain wanted to strike its own trade deals.

Neither Brexit or G20 to be frictionless tomorrow

Clay plesiosaur edited with LunaPic Nouveau

I had an interesting chat with a lady from Spurgeons Orphanage about attitudes to child care and options for parents with difficult choices just after WWII as part of research for a book. Caught up with progress on manuscript draft with a current author and then wandered over to Milton Hall. A parcel due for our address had somehow been accidentally delivered there. When the mystery packet was opened back home, it was the archival copies of 'Harriet Hat' by Gillian Grinham fresh from the printer - looking resplendent and brightening up our day. This evening we went along to the Milton Artists and Craftists for a bit of relaxation. I'd noticed the dusty Spirograph box on the top of a cupboard and took it along for a bit of nostalgic play. After about an hour, my memory was refreshed on the more frustrating aspects of Spirograph - the slip of the pen in the little cog in the final turns , which, ruins the pristine pattern that had emerged till then. My jangled nerves were soothed by playing with some of Marie's clay.

According to the CBI, 40% of businesses had reduced their investment plans because of Brexit. The exit at 2019 is coming towards us a lot faster that politicians will be able to negotiate the trade deal to transition to. The CBI want us to have continued access to the EU during a transition period until the actual trade deal the the EU is negotiated.

Michael Barnier, the EU chief negotiator commented today:

• " I have heard some people in the UK argue that one can leave the single market and keep all of its benefits – that is not possible.
• I have heard some people in the UK argue that one can leave the single market and build a customs union to achieve "frictionless trade" – that is not possible.
• The decision to leave the EU has consequences. And we have to explain to citizens, businesses and civil society on both sides of the Channel what these consequences mean for them.
• Let me be clear: these consequences are the direct result of the choices made by the UK, not by the EU. There is no punishment for Brexit. And of course no spirit of revenge.
• But Brexit has a cost, also for business in the EU27.
• And business should assess, with lucidity, the negative consequences of the UK's choice on trade and investment. And prepare to manage them.

An uncomfortable message not widely broadcast in the UK today.

In addition, the EU finally signed a trade deal with Japan, making the market more accessible. Something we are due to leave and then have to renegotiate as a UK Japan deal.

Suddenly noticed a small positive change in President Trump's entrances - during his state visits abroad. Where before he seemed to rush up or down steps ahead of Melania, during his most recent visits abroad they are both at the top of the stairs of Airforce 1 and come down together side by side.Neither Brexit or 

Hamburg was resounding to major clashes between protesters and police as world leaders arrived for the G20 tomorrow. We'll see what political sparks are likely to fly tomorrow.

Paycap still on, Trump on collision course with Germany, China and Russia?

Early Bumble bee Bombus pratorum

Had the fan on in the office today in the searing heat. In addition to work and a haircut, also created video on how to make an apple cider vinegar fruit fly trap and uploaded to YouTube. Spent the evening at Huntingdonshire Speakers with friends, enjoying 'tabletopics'.

Brexit news in the UK subdued. UK politics still dominated by mixed signals coming from different government officials till the Prime Minister and supporters stood by retaining the controversial public sector paycap. Grenfell rumbles on as residents not yet rehoused by government promised deadline of three weeks. Government send in own team to take over handling situation from Kensington council.

In preparation for the upcoming G20 summit, it seems that Chine and Russia have reached a common position on North Korea and Germany and China are forging new leadership on Climate Change action, leaving President Trump out on a limb. The UN is also discussing North Korea, with the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, stating that after this escalation,  US military action remained on the table, as well as trade sanctions against China and other countries trading with North Korea.

World Tries Not To Go Ballistic over North Korea

A routine day's work responding to emails and ghostwriting. in the evening, a small meeting at the Milton Local History Group planning how to proceed with the research of WWI war dead of Milton in readiness for 2018.

Major news today is the successful launch by the North Koreans of an intercontinental ballistic missile. It was flown at a high trajectory, reaching a height of 2,802km (1,741 miles) and travelled 933km (580 miles). Basically it was shot very high so as not to go very far (not even as far as Japan. However the same missile on a lower trajectory could now reach Alaska, which has initiated calls for an emergency UN meeting tomorrow.

With Kim Jong-un being unpredictable, especially with any perceived threat to his position, Talks not working, China and Russia stepping back from more sanctions or action at the moment and President Trump's promise of action, we live in very dangerous times. Whatever scenario being looked at is likely to cause massive loss of life, in North Korea, South Korea and possibly Japan if military action initiated.

May Fish Slapping, Emperor Macron and the Putin-Trump Wrestling Match on Friday?

Window Midge (about 10mm long

Finally gave up on the company insurance proposal form which had all sorts of irrelevant fields. Spent morning providing description and passed onto to broker to sort out. In the afternoon, took notes from draft manuscript that I'm rewriting/ghostwriting. Harvested one of the weekly fruit fly traps, did a population count and found a nice specimen of a window midge as bycatch to photograph. In the evening, Core CETC committee meeting reviewing past meetings and looking ahead.

I didn't notice much Brexit news today. The news rages on about the pressure on the government to lift the cap on public sector pay rises. The fallout from Grenfell tower fire still features, as does an explosive findings on child abuse by the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry.

An idle mind leads to speculation on new betting odds on more interesting futures. The world is looking towards the G20 meeting on Friday, where Theresa May meets EU leaders again after the masterstroke of withdrawing from an old fishing agreement. I think she should go armed with a fish and emulate the Monty Python Fish Slapping Dance (https://youtu.be/i9SSOWORzw4) or see below:

Will Emmanuel Macron be Emperor of France by Friday after his Versailles speech today? Have President Trump and President Putin plans for a public wrestling match? Holly Johnson dust off your suit, you may be providing the anthem for the summit. For young people - see music video https://youtu.be/K2QAMqTgPKI from way back in the last century or watch below - skipping the first one and a half minutes:

Gallery preparations, Gove plays to the gallery and Trump plays the bully

First call of the day was from my mother back from her holiday by the Baltic coast, which seemed to have been a good break. This was followed by a bit of problem solving - to get a document page to write in on one side of the screen and an image to transcribe from on the other half. Then it was off to pick up Louise and her artwork in readiness for our joint Cambridge Open Studio. We then spent the rest of the afternoon sorting out the layout of our 3 different collections of art in our gallery for the next weekend, also known as the garage during the rest of the year.

Whilst the other's chatted, I spent the evening trying to solve a microscopy problem. I wanted to illuminate some insect samples in dark field - where the subject glows against a dark background. A strong LED wide field light and a five pence piece covered with black card worked remarkably well in the end. I went on to take image stacks totaling over 1200 images of dog lice, assorted mites, ticks and microscopic chalcid wasps. Now need to process the image stacks.

Environment Minister Michael Gove came up with two different proposals today. The first continued the rising tide within the Tory's, arguing for a relaxation of austerity. Gove suggested that the government should listen to the review bodies on public sector pay. The pressure to remove the 1% pay cap is increasing.

The second was that the UK was to withdraw from an international fishing convention of 1964 with the Irish, Dutch, French, German and Belgian, and regain control of the 6 to 12 mile offshore border. Which created irritation with current allies in Ireland and consternation on Brussels, which saw the arrangement as having been superseded by more recent EU law, The Common Fisheries Policy. The Scots were however pleased as they had been pressing  for this UK decision for some time, though the SNP decried it as a cheap ploy to garner one more bargaining chip in the Brexit negotiations.

President Trump showed the depths towards which his 'Modern Day Presidential' approach towards the media he hates has sunk. He retweeted a video which apparently shows him flooring a man with the CNN logo over his face and repeatedly punching him. Fortunately this is not really the case as this was an edited video of a mock fight he had been invited to play in at a WWE wrestling event, back in 2007. The video had been posted on Reddit by a pro Trump supporter. The President then retweeted it on both his own Twitter feed and that of the official presidential Twitter feed. Quite frankly, the man has no real perception of the climate and promotion of bullying that this furthering.

Speaking to the BBC News on his 75th Birthday, (celebrated here in Cambridge with many from the world of science) Stephen Hawking warned that US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement could lead to irreversible climate change and turn the Earth into a hothouse planet like Venus.

Professor Hawking also feared aggression was "inbuilt" in humans (see today's Trump video tweet and the ongoing attacks and wars around the world reported today. He though that our best hope of survival was to live on other planets.

Prints, Austerity and Kohl

With only a week to go till our Open Studio, Jane and I labelled, signed and mounted our prints. Jane had also begun clearing out the rubbish from the garage. We then went along to Rhiannon Thomas' studio in Milton as she is open this first weekend. There were her new line drawings in silver wire - with a cat walking though a garden being the highlight - and snapped up by another visitor whilst we were there.

The newest Survation poll on Brexit related matters comes up with some interesting trends. If the referendum on Brexit were held today, 54% would vote to stay in the EU with only 46% for leave. More than 50 % would like a cross party working group to tackle the current Brexit negotiations. And in an unusual contradiction, 66% think that leaving the EU without a mutually agreed deal would be bad, yet if Prime Minister Theresa May had to make a final decision, 51 % would accept her judgement! There are increasing noises not just in Labour but within Tory ranks that austerity should be relaxed. There is even talk of tuition fees for students possibly being reduced. Bit late to start vote chasing now after the election!

The funeral of Helmut Kohl, German leader during the critical phase of reunification and key figure in the expansion of the EU to the East, took place today. His coffin lay draped in the European flag in the European Parliament as Leaders and former president Bill Clinton gave their tributes. His coffin was then transported to his birthplace in Ludwigshafen, and then to Speyer Cathedral along the Rhine for a Catholic requiem. Speyer Cathedral is the resting place of many rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, and during his life was seen by Mr Kohl as a symbol of European unity which he proudly showed off to Mr Gorbachev and Margaret Thatcher.