Feeding Hurricane Irma. British Science Brexit Dreams. A Sundog

 Warm Ocean Likely to Feed Hurricane Irma - NASA Earth Observatory

High ocean temperatures along the projected path of Irma are likely to continue feeding the hurricane as it inexorably makes its wrecking way towards Florida. Barbuda was out of contact with the rest of the world today as the storm passed over it. President Donald Trump sided with Democrats for a deal that would ensure disaster relief funding, raise the debt ceiling and continue to fund the government into December. Another hurrican, Jose, is following closely on Irma's heels.

Business leaders were raising eyebrows and concern at yesterday's leaked immigration document, which appeared to suggest significant restrictions on EU citizens coming over to the UK after Brexit. EU citizens in the UK are disillusioned further about receiving a fair settlement of their residence and rights when the UK leaves the EU.

Today's release of another Future Partnership Paper, 'Collaboration on science and innovation' spelled out the governments vision of the future of UK science post Brexit. The key message is in the second summary paragraph:

"In preparing to leave the EU, one of the UK’s core objectives is to “seek agreement

to continue to collaborate with European partners on major science, research, and technology initiatives”.  As the Prime Minister has said, “the UK is leaving the European Union, but it is not leaving Europe.”  The UK wants Europe to maintain its world-leading role in science and innovation, and will continue playing its part in delivering shared European prosperity. It is the UK’s ambition to build on its unique relationship with the EU to ensure that together we remain at the forefront of collective endeavours to better understand, and make better, the world in which we live."

The rest of the document continues to explain how science and research form a major part of the UK's effort, how we contribute one fifth of the collaboration with other EU countries. That international collaboration is essential. That we are tied into complex relationships in fields as diverse as medicine and nuclear science through numerous organisations.

In short, this is another slice of the European cake, and can we please have this slice of cake and eat it like before, but on our terms.

Off to Huntingdonshire Speakers this evening. It was a 'back to school' themed evening of talks and evaluations which at one point had the Chair for the evening in absolute paroxysms of laughter. We all had our laughs through the session. 

Before the start of the event, I was standing outside the Brampton Golf Club, hosting the event, waiting to greet attendees as they arrived. The clouds were breaking up, letting the setting sun through, when to the left of the partially obscured sun, I saw a sundog, or parhelion. A sundog is a bright rainbow tinged spot created by refraction of sunlight in the water droplets of thin cloud. It lasted a minute or so - then disappeared behind darker cloud scudding across the sky.

A rainbow coloured sundog or parhelion, seen from Brampton