Trump and Clinton Support Obama Family. Brexit and Food. Crumpets

Crumpets!

With the harsh polarised political debates in both the US and UK, it is great to see the presidential families in agreement on one issue, the right of their children to privacy. Most recently, President Obama's daughter Malia became the focus of the media. Both Ivanka Trump and Chelsea Clinton tweeted in the teenager's defence, saying she had the right to the same privacy as her peers and not be media 'clickbait'. Chelsea had also come to the defence of Barron Trump, the current president's youngest son, in the past.

Australia's Trade Minister Steven Ciobo has criticised the UK's plans to continue to maintain the quotas for imports into Europe from Australia after Brexit. This leaves the UK less able to negotiate a more positive arrangement with Australia for food imports in the future. Other future trading partners such as New Zealand, United States, Canada and Brazil, would also be affected in the same way.

Worryingly, in the run-up to Christmas, there may be a shortage of brussel sprouts due to Brexit! Many farms are struggling because there are not enough pickers from the EU. This follows a bad year where moth pests caused damage to the crop for the 2016 Christmas and wet weather led to damaged crops back in 2014. There will be tears in many homes and children may march in protest at the absence of this vegetable from their Christmas dinners - or not.

Other news looked at the horrendous aftermath of the massive attack by IS on a Mosque during Friday prayers in Egypt.

With the sudden cold snap, I had a sudden urge to make crumpets. I followed Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's recipe in his 'Bread' book, but halved the ingredients, aiming to make six instead of twelve. It is a strange mixture in that it is a thick batter, first fermented with yeast to get bubbles into the mix, then cooked with added baking powder to get the big bubbles. Jane had bought me some crumpet rings a couple of years ago and i put them to good use. The results were moderately successful with the first three crumpets being a bit soggy in the middle. They were so filling that the next batch of three were allowed to cool and stored for toasting on another day.