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.