£135bn Brexit Benefit? Ramsey Museum and Abbey Kitchen Gardens

Display in Chemists Shop at the Ramsey Rural Museum

The UK could benefit by £135 bn if it goes over to free trade, according to a pre-release of new report by the group 'Economists for Free Trade' (EFT), called 'From Project Fear to Project Prosperity'. Interestingly, their summary is written referring to themselves in the third person (Illeism), though it's spokesperson is Professor Patrick Minford, a macroeconomist and long time Eurosceptic based at the Univeristy of Cardiff. The group was previously known as 'Economists for Brexit' and they continue to advocate the benefits of free trade, without restrictions.

Economist Monique Ebell from the National Institute of Social and Economic Research (NIESR) responded. The NIESR is Britain's oldest independent economic research institute and think-tank. She said that Prof Minford "ignores decades of evidence on how trade actually works".

As previously with such economic arguments, it comes down to who in the  UK will suffer job loss and exposure to increased competition, depending on how we Brexit.

The US and South Korea will start their annual joint military exercise tomorrow. North Korea has already issued dire warnings that "reckless behavior driving the situation into the uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war." and that nowhere in the US can "dodge the merciless strike."

With the promise of a reasonably dry afternoon, Jane and I set off for Ramsey (Cambridgeshire, not Ramsey's cafe, Northern Ireland, which my old SatNav helpfully tried to direct me to). We visited the Ramsey Rural Museum (http://ramseyruralmuseum.co.uk/), which fortunately had a free entry to coincide with Ramsey's 40's Weekend, taking place nearby. We lunched at the cafe and wandered around the many displays in buildings scattered over the site, with the refrain of 1940's songs sung by a competent duo, as a musical backdrop. 

We were also told that the Ramsey Abbey Walled Kitchen Garden (http://www.ramseywalledgarden.org/) was also open and a short walk from the museum and well worth a visit. We spent another happy hour wandering around the gardens, taking photographs and chatting to the volunteers. We left with a punnet of damsons.

As we left after a last tea at the Museum cafe, there was a growing roar. At its crescendo a low flying spitfire drew a couple of loops around the museum and 40's Weekend before rapidly ascending and disappearing into the horizon.

The days pictures are here: https://goo.gl/photos/bE9CPUQDfMZv4FRq6