Fallon has been replaced by former Chief Whip Gavin Williamson as Defence Secretary. A move seen by some as bringing in the next generation of aspiring politicians; as a misuse of his position to remove Fallon and fill his post by others.
Spain has arrested members of the disbanded Catalonian government and imprisoned them pending trial. The Spanish government is considering taking out an international arrest warrant for the former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont.
I took the bike out to Histon today, suffering the indignity of more people overtaking me on their bikes than I overtook others and then failing to find 'The Geographer'. My subconscious visualisation of a village pub meant that I went straight past the small cafe on Station Road, mistaking it for another house. When I did finally get there, it was a small but lively networking group in a busy but very pleasant cafe that has made a success as a daytime village venue.
I cycled back out through Impington and along the rural cycle path back to Milton. Just beyond Sunclose Farm, on Butt Lane, There was a row of five large container lorries, one of which was being loading with sugar beet via a conveyor belt across the hedge from the mounds in the field. A second was ready to take its place.
The drivers of the remaining three were taking the opportunity for a quick mug of tea and a chat. I stopped out of curiosity and entered a bit of banter as to whether I should go off and get them some bacon butties whilst they were waiting. It turned out that it was not five loads of sugar beet to be moved, it was 71, all destined for the sugar beet works in Bury St Edmunds.
The sugar beet is a variety of the common beet Beta vulgaris, one of the Altissima cultivars. It originated in Silesia. The King of Prussia initiated research into the development of sugar rich beet in the mid 18th century. By 1801, Moritz Baron von Koppy and his son further selected for white, conical tubers with a 6% sugar content. The variety was named 'Weiße Schlesische Zuckerrübe', (white Silesian sugar beet).
Napoleon encouraged further research and development in France as the British were blockading the delivery of cane sugar during the Napoleonic Wars. By 1880 sugar beet accounted for 50% of the world's sugar production. The widespread destruction of agricultural land during World War I and replacement of sugar beet by cereal production led to a resurgence of cane sugar. Modern cultivation has increased again and by 2009, sugar beet accounted for about 20% of sugar production worldwide.
The biggest irony for Milton is, that whilst we are producing sugar beet and sugar in our region, our Tescos store has switched from stocking Silver Spoon sugar from local sugar beet to sourcing sugar from Tate and Lyle, which uses cane sugar imported from tropical countries, thousands of miles away.
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