Manhattan attack. 5000 extra Brexit Bureaucrats. Witches, Ghouls and Vampires

Yet another idiot has hired a van and used it as a crude weapon, this time cyclists and pedestrians in Manhattan. do date 8 people have died, the attacker was shot  in the abdomen, arrested and taken to hospital. The rolling news on all channels is full of the incident. It is thought that this is a lone wolf attacker - investigations will tell.

So far this year, there have been 1,046 terrorist attacks, with 6,548 fatalities as can be seen on the map here:
http://storymaps.esri.com/stories/terrorist-attacks/?year=2017

On the Brexit front, the government has revealed that it is seeking to hire at least 5000 more staff to help deal with tax and customs issues relating to Brexit. It also stated that the budget allocated to help deal with Brexit is now estimated to be half a billion pounds. What is however disturbing is, that there are 58 studies into the impact of Brexit on most areas of the economy in the UK - and that these are currently not being made available to MPs.

The BBC news site had a day of Brexit news, striving to always have the balance of pros and cons.

Halloween was an enjoyable event this evening. The pumpkins went out just before 5pm as it got dark and were lit until about half past eight. My cookies were branded as snake steaks to anyone trick or treating at the door and seemed to go down well. About fifty children came over the three hours, the vast majority in a variety of costumes. I was up and down like a yo-yo.

There were some great costumes, from the knee high witch who couldn't reach the door bell and timidly knocked on the door  and lisping 'trick or treat', to the collection of zombies, including a zombie footballer. The most shocking was a hairy werewolf which did actually make me jump. Sartorially, the vampires tended to be the best dressed, some with really fine waistcoats or dresses.

Best laugh of the day was the following conversation.

A vampire girl and prom queen arrive trick or treating.
" I'm afraid I've run out of rats" I said, reaching for the biscuit tin.
"That's alright, I'm a vegetarian." replied the vampire politely.
Bringing the home made biscuits into view, I announced "But I can offer you these snake steaks!
"Oooooh goody! replied the vegetarian vampire and took one.