SOTUS - Great Speech, Shame About Some of the Facts. Supermoon in Milton

Blue Supermoon seen from Milton

I watched the whole US State of the Union Address, all ninety minutes of it. From a speech makers perspective, it was very well done, with President Trump looking and sounding Presidential throughout.

There were heartstrings tugged as ordinary, or rather extra-ordinary people had been invited to be celebrated as true Americans because of their bravery and deeds.

From the welder who financed his education to get a job with a company which is expanding, via the helicopter pilot who flew rescue and mercy missions after the Hurricane, to the police officer who, with his wife, adopted a baby from a pregnant heroin addict living rough on the streets that he encountered as part of his duties. From the boy who placed flags on veterans graces to the couple whose son had returned broken from North Korea and died soon afterwards. There was even a North Korean refugee who fled his country after losing his legs and now campaigned in South Korea.

However, for more than half the address, when the camera panned to the Democrat side of the chamber, there were rows of grim faces whilst standing ovations were occurring on the Republican side, Going to a range of fact checking sites, it seems that often the facts were, well, Trumped up, especially with regards to size of the tax cuts and immigration. I looked at CNN, BBC, ABC15 Arizona and NBC News and PolitiFact. The growth of the economy an employment appeared to be benefits from previous president's actions.

Perhaps the most worrying item is that Guantanamo Bay Detention Centre is not going to be closed but continue to be used for terrorists.

For a speech trumpeted to be conciliatory, it seemed to me to still leave half of the audience unconvinced.

After a migraine day (probably caused by watching the address), it was off to Huntingdonshire Speakers for a training evening in speaker evaluations. Robert and Faye both gave excellent presentations. Even the Tabletopics were evaluations, first of a great speach by Nadine on being the 'other mother' in a gay relationship, and then as evaluations of the evaluations. My role in the evening turned out to be the evaluator of the Tabletopics evaluations, fortunately with great hilarity in places.

Coming back late in the evening, the Supermoon was bright in a clear sky. I dug out the camera and 600 mm mirror lens again and took 120 or so photos, of which 30 could be combined into a reasonable stack. I'd caught glimpses of the lunar exclipse on the PC earlier in the day too.

Leaked Government Brexit Impact Report Believable or Not? Sugared Almonds and Photos

BuzzFeed News reported on a leaked document for the Depsrtment for Exiting the EU (DexEU). It reported that, whether you were looking at a soft brexit or a hard one, the current assessment was for 2% to 8% reduction in economic growth. Almost all areas of the economy would be affected. The analysis did include the establishment of new trade deals.

The issue was raised in Parliament where Brexit Minister Steve Baker tried to play down the importance of the document and initiating a new row by suggesting that documents like this, produced by the civil service are not to be believed. However, we are to believe brexiteers on principle, that they are right.

The Guardian drily notes that previously David Davis had stated that reports on the economic impact of Brexit had been made and then, when forced to present it to the parliamentary committee on Brexit, had to reveal that impact assessments did not actually exist. Now the government  is arguing that a recent impact assessment, to be presented to ministers, does exist, but that it is unwilling to share it with parliament.

Made some sugar-cinnamon coated almonds over the weekend and am rationing them each day. Used 200 g skinned almonds from Tesco. Mixed 100 g sugar with 50 ml water, added half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and brought to the boil. Added almonds and kept stirring till solution thickened and became flaky as it coated the almonds. Placed on grease-proof paper to cool and then stored in a tub.

Last night was prompted by a Facebook post to look at the moon and try some photography. Stacking 16 images made using a 600 mm reflector lens gave a good result. Today, moved on from daytime photo-editing for a biography to some macro-photography of spider and a pond skater microscope slides in the evening.

Brexit Burns Brightly Again with Transition Negotiation Positions Stated. Weekend Bentley, Stag and Comedy.

I just lost the will to report on a lacklustre BrexiTrump after Davos and life was busy over the weekend too.

However things are going to liven up a bit, especially with regards to Brexit as today, both David Davis and Michel Barnier put forward their respective positions for negotiating the transitional arrangements for the UK from next March.

The EU 27 apparently took a relatively short time to agree to the next stage of negotiations with the UK, giving Michel Barnier four key principles to start them off. These are in brief:

1. No cherry picking.
2. All existing Union regulatory, budgetary, supervisory, judiciary and enforcement instruments and structures will apply, (including the ECJ).
3. During Transition, the UK will no longer be represented in Union institutions, agencies, bodies and offices.
4. The transition period to finish on 31st Dec at the latest.

However, the UK will be free to negotiate deals with non-EU countries, just not implement them till after the end of the transition period.

No high profile foaming at the mouth comments from Brexiteers on the news yet.but the night is still young.

From a personal perspective, Friday was interesting for to things. The first was the HBN Out and About to the insurance company Coversure, which franchises out branches across the UK. Particular points to note were insuring against digital risks and the impending General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) impact on small businesses.

The second Friday interest was having a lift and a bit of a tour in Graham Buck's Bentley (well, one of the four, this was the two door version). Just the demonstrated acceleration had the blood rushing out of my head and leaving me dizzy. Remarkable road handling, as seen from the passenger seat.

Saturday was my first attendance at a Stag do, fortunately organised to be a civilised event by a female best (wo)man for L's fiance S. It began in London at the Swingers Club - with indoor crazy golf, followed by a visit to a cocktail bar, then a high class indian meal and finally, an evening at the Comedy Club near Seven Dials.

Sunday was a recovery day.

Today, Jane and I paid a visit to the Beehive centre - initially to get replacememt wipers for the car. then it was on for a wonder around the Aladdins cave of Hobbycraft for a magnetic clasp and various other items.

Trump and Theresa's Bright Brexit Future. The Joy of Disney's Singing Princesses

Looking out from Tintern Abbey

With President Trump pronouncing at Davos that he and Theresa May are joined at the hip, and Theresa May emphasising that they are standing shoulder to shoulder, it is a relief that they "like each other a lot". What a relief too, in the light of an impending Brexit, that the President  sees the opportunity for a "tremendous increase" in UK-US trade. Downing Street has even asked officials here in the UK to prepare for a Trump visit later this year.

So how long could it take to get a trade deal? There is a report from the World Economic Forum back in 2016 on the question. It states that the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) crunched the numbers. Some countries like Panama, Columbia and Canada took seven to eleven years ot agree and implement a deal. However, out of the 19 deals considered, ten were signed within 18  months. On average, it then took anywhere between 18 months to 102 months for all the deals to be implemented, with an average of 45 months (nearly four years). That would be an average of five and a half years, assuming the chlorinated chicken issue can be dealt with and we can retain an NHS.

Jacob Rees-Mogg was exasperated by the cautious government approach and aim to stick to the EU as closely as possible. He used phrases like the UK becoming a vassal state of the EU and exerted pressure to leave the EU faster. There are mutterings again about Theresa May's future.

The Presidents Club charity event fallout has led to the closure of the club, the Prime Minister expressing concern about what it says about societal attitudes, and a Labour front bench attendee at the event stepping back from his role.

Spent the late afternoon giving a photoshow, by invitation, to a local community at a casual drop-in event. There were interesting and informative conversations. The unexpected highlight was the young girl (3 or 4 years old?) who was an authority on Disney Princesses and the films they were in. As it became quieter during the later part of the session, we switched the laptop to a YouTube half an hour of songs by Disney Princesses, to the absolute delight of the little princess who animatedly and joyously watched and commented on each one!

Davos Expectations, Abuse at President's Club Event, Paxton Mammoths and Man

Wicker Woolly Mammoth Paxton Pits Nature Reserve

Everyone is waiting for the business and politics leaders meeting to kick off at Davos, with President Macron looking to Steal Chancellor Merkel's post as leader of the EU and President Trump looking to make an impact later in the week. Prime Minister Theresa May will also be there. 

The main news in the UK was the sexism and abuse at the Presidents Club all-male event with hired-in women as hostesses(?) which fell foul of an undercover female reporter exposing the abuse by some. It dominated Prime Minister's Question Time (or at least the time in parliament afterwards) where all the women MPs on both sides of the house were unanimous in their condemnation. Later on Radio 4, all the male journalists affirmed that they would not attend any all male events. Which begs the question about attendance at stag dos and hen nights and whether behavior and mysogeny at  those is likely to change over time.

Whilst the weather was absolutely abysmal today, with torrential rain interspersing a generally wet and grey day, I had a fun afternoon with the Friends of Paxton Pits Nature Reserve. Forty-five people turned out for my talk on Mammoths and Man, which was well received, with great questions afterwards. They have beautiful examples of proboscidean fossils on display: a meter long tusk from a female woolly mammoth, a lower jaw with two large molars in situ, which might be mammoth or possibly even straight-tusked elephant, and a lovely vertebra with a long spur that could well have come from the shoulder region to allow attachment of strong muscles to bear the weight of the head and the long tusks. Picked up S on the way for support and he helped with the sale of my book and generally chatting to people after the talk.

In the growing gloom as we left, managed to photograph the large walk-in wicker woolly mammoth outside the education centre at Paxton Pits.

Unfilled NHS Posts. Home Office Blocked Doctors. Community Cafe

One of the consequences of the Brexit referendum has been the spotlight on immigration and the governments aim to curtail it. So, on the one hand, Jeremy Hunt concedes that the NHS might need more investment and Boris Johnson wants Brexit money for a substantial cash injection.

Yet on the other hand, that same institution is suffering from the hardened immigration stance. The Royal College of Nursing is alarmed at the peak in nursing vacancies rising to 34,260 in the third quarter of the last year. According to the Guardian, Hospitals in London are finding it impossible to fill the advertised 2,545 posts for nurses and midwives of three summer months. Only 42 posts were filled. Further north, the West Midlands were most successful, filling 42% of advertised posts.

Meanwhile 33,000 nurses quite the NHS each year, adding to the pressures and dissatisfaction felt by many in the NHS.

Even more perverse, is the Home Office blocking overseas senior doctors from filling essential roles, because their salaries were seen as lower than the required minimum salary of £55,000. Here, Cambridge University Hospital found that three appointees had their visas declined for this reason.

The Community cafe was open this afternoon, but our numbers were sadly depleted due to illness and hospital or doctor's appointments. Still, it was a good event. I joined the Carcassonne board game table, we had some new faces and Nathalie spoilt us with her baking - Mango roulade, Lemon and poppyseed cake and white chocolate and raspberry tart.

US Shutdown Halted. Business to Lobby Against Brexit. Milton Pothole

Pothole on the A10

Republican and Democrat leaders have come to an agreement to stop the government shutdown with Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell saying his party intended to consider legislation  "that would address DACA (the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), border security and related issues, as well as disaster relief". The funding will continue till the 8th February. The hope is that a permanent deal can be arranged by then to guarantee the remainder of government funding for the 2017/2018 financial year. DACA currently covers 700,000 'dreamers', children of illegal immigrants who have grown up in the US, know no other home, who are at risk of deportation if DACA is revoked.

Carolyn Fairbairn, the CBI Director General, called for an urgent "Jobs first" Brexit deal to be negotiated. The opinion of a significant number of business leaders is that the benefits of membership of the customs union currently exceed the likelihood of profits from future trade deals. Things may change, the thought is, but currently this is not the time to leave the EU. As Fairbairn put it:

"Looking at this hard choice around customs union or not, the value of our frictionless trade within the European Union is worth more than having the potentially unknown value of trade deals in other parts of the world."

Because not all members of the CBI agree with this, the CBI itself has to stay neutral on the issue. The government is still working on the basis that we will be leaving the single market and the customs union after EU exit day.

Potholes seem to be breeding again and the traffic news today was of a rather unusual hold up - a traffic jam away from Cambridge on the A10 by Milton. It was apparently caused by a pothole right in the carriageway. Curious, I grabbed my camera and walked up the A10 and along the traffic queue towards its nemesis. I eventually reached the front of the queue. A police car was pparked in the centre of the lane to prevent traffic hitting the hole. Possibly a meter and a half long, 50 cm wide and 15 cm deep at the edges, the hole was ideally placed to catch left hand wheels and cause damage or cause swerving into oncoming traffic, causing accidents. The PC came over saying that she couldn't in all conscience have driven away from the hole. Took my pictures and made my way back for breakfast.

Bespoke Brexit Possible but Unlikely to be as Good as EU Membership.

Sheltering from the rain

French President Emmanuel Macron gave the clearest message on the realities of Brexit in his interview on the BBC, broadcast today, stating that any future relations the UK had with Brussels:
“will be by definition less deep than today,

The deepest possible relationship is being a member of the European Union. So you have to be realistic, and be fair with people – as you decided to leave and not be part of the single market, that’s a function of the nature of the negotiation.

You can have some deeper relations than some others. For instance, we have a deeper relationship with Norway than the one we have with Canada. So it depends on the outcome of the negotiations.

But for sure – except if you change your mind – you will not be part of the single market, as you will not be part of the European Union.”

Meanwhile, Jacob Rees-Mogg is concerned that there are no arrangements to have the bells of Big Ben toll on the 19th March 2019 when Britain exits the EU. A House of Commons spokesman said that Big Ben would sound during "important national events" but did not include leaving the EU as an example of one.

Grim rainy weekend continues. Too tired to do much. Apparently France has the seen the least amount of sunshine for a January since records began. seems much like it here.

US Shutdown Opportunity for Trump. Hoffman Brilliant in Hook

Lavenham doors

Surprise Surprise! Republicans and Democrats in the US give President Trump an unexpected anniversary present, Government shutdown. Will this be a win win situation for POTUS? Praise if he can get the opposing parties to come to an agreement. Saving in $10 billion per day in federal expenditure if he cannot, as no payments made. Downside, he cannot get to party at Mar a Lago as he has to stay and be presidential over the weekend. Hopefully he will be able to enjoy seeing the Anniversary Women's March through Washington, as he supportively tweeted this morning:

"Beautiful weather all over our great country, a perfect day for all Women to March. Get out there now to celebrate the historic milestones and unprecedented economic success and wealth creation that has taken place over the last 12 months. Lowest female unemployment in 18 years!"

Had an easy Saturday. Looking for light entertainment in the evening, watched Hook, with Dustin Hoffman in top form, a younger Robin Williams, Julia Roberts and unexpected Gwyneth Paltrow. forgotten how good the film was.

American Government Might Shutdown. Brexit Bites Biscuit packet sizes.

Small figurine at entrance to Norris Museum

Apparently, the US government faces shutdown today unless a last minute deal that can accommodate the White House, the Democrats and Republicans.

Boris's proposed bridge across the channel appears unrealistic as it would cross the busiest waterway that is Britain's connection to the rest of the world.

McVities intends to follow the trend by other companies, shrinking about 10% of its produces, including packets of Digestives.A packet of the biscuits will be shrunk by 20% (7 biscuits). Brexit and increasing material costs are blamed.

Missed the first early bus this morning and arrived at the Taproom in St Ives for the last half hour of the A14 networking. Fortunately there were still some little cakes available, celebrating Jonathan Roth's brithday this week.

Volunteered for a couple of hours at the Norris before setting off to HBN's  lunchtime meeting at Wetherspoons in Huntingdon. then back to the taproom for a late afternoon meeting with a potential client about the early stages of planning their book.

Trump Media 5th Least Trusted as he issues Fake News Awards. Macron, Bayeux Tapestry and Channel Bridge. Big Data Science CETC Event.

Spanish Pharmacy. Flu epidemic in UK sees worst season.

President Trump ha published his list of the 'The Highly-Anticipated 2017 Fake News Awards' which, unremarkably features some of the more respected news outlets in the US as determined from a survey of 8,728 consumers of 28 media outlets, conducted by the University of Missouri’s Reynolds Journalism Institute. Interestingly, that service list Trump as the 5th least trusted media outlet. 

I'd missed the fact that two days ago, the majority of the U.S. National Park Service board resigned, basically because they were ignored by the Trump administration, despite asking for meetings, Reuters reported. The feeling is that the term for most of the Obama selected experts was running out in May and that the Trump administration was just waiting out till then to install their own nominees.

President Macron has visited the UK, bringing the promise of the real Bayeux Tapestry to follow for display here in 2022 for a while. On the one hand, Macron reiterated that the UK could only have access to the EU financial markets if it pays for it. On the other, Boris discussed the possibility of a  22-mile bridge across the Channel with the President, who replied: "I agree, let's do it.".

Finished writing a report on the review of a manuscript today, just in time for tonights CETC (Cambridge Enterprise and Technology Club) event on Data Science/Big Data. Daniela Florea from Geo Strategies talked about a variety of projects. Her analogy for big data was Gold. You need Miners to dig and collect the data, Refiners to clean it up and Jewelers to create beautiful results. Interesting correlation found when looking at Romania's consumer demographics - Catholicism correlated with purchases of women's shoes!

Dr Soodamani Ramalingam, Senior lecturer in Microelectronics and intelligent systems group at the The University of Hertfordshire, gave a whirlwind tour of a variety of topics, ranging from face recognition, Automatic Number Plate Recognition, Intelligent Transport Systems and combating farmer suicide in India.

Tim Valdor-Hogg, IT Services at Queen Mary University London, illustrated two key points. The first used ancestry data collection from local records and graveyards to demonstrate that often the issue was getting consistent data collection and entry. The second example showed how local data on traffic and infrastructure in Epping could be used to provide evidence to persuade local councils to make informed decisions.

Brexit Bill Passed Unannounced in UK. Successful Milk Choc Recipe Using Concentrated Dried Milk Solution

Strange that the news of the Brexit Bill passing the final vote in the House of Commons by 29 votes features in Der Spiegel and CNN but not on the BBC News, Guardian or Daily Mail. Sky news mentioned it after midnight.

Apparently the bill is now being passed on to the Lords, where it will receive stiff discussion.

The Carillion catastrophe continues to dominate, with the possibility of the Bayeaux Tapestry visiting the UK second.

Completed reading and reviewing the part autobiography/part philosophy manuscript during the day and attended the Milton Photographic Club evening, discussion our website and what we might want.

Main success today, however, was another chocolate interlude. Having had some success trying to make milk chocolate with condensed milk saturated with sugar, without curdling, I tried a different tack starting with dried milk. I first prepared 100ml warm water with 40 g of dried milk. Added 30 milliliters of the milk to 70 g granulated sugar and warmed in a water bath to dissolve as much of the sugar as possible.

The chocolate mix was then prepared using melted 80 g cocoa liquor drops with 60 g cocoa butter and added 60 g of the saturated sugar milk and a teaspoon of orange essence oil. The warm mixture was allowed to cool with regular stirring until it became viscous as it began to set/crystallise. Reheated to 31 degC and then cast in moulds to set, either in praline form with a sultana or as a 100 g bar wth sultanas and halved hazelnuts. An hour later, the chocolate had a definite shine and a snap when bitten into.

President Trump, The Physician to the President and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment MoCA

President Trump's cognitive facilities are fine, according to Dr Jackson, the Physician to the President. The President himself had asked the doctor to perform a cognitive test.

Dr Jackson has been at the White House since being chosen during George W Bush's presidency, working under the then Physicians to the President Air Force Brigadier General Richard Tubb. President Trump then raised Jackson to his current post in 2013.

The doctor is also known as the 'Shadow of the President', as he always accompanies POTUS on his travels and is capable of providing emergency surgery if needed. I hadn't realised that, according to Wikipedia,

'Air Force One is equipped with emergency medical equipment, an operating table, and operating room lights installed at the center of the presidential plane for emergency use by the White House doctor, but does not have an X-ray machine or medical laboratory equipment.'

So how do you assess the President's cognitive facilities? The physician used the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The MoCA is a one page test for mild cognitive impairment that can be conductied ina bout 10 minutes. Available in 55 languages, you can find an English  version here: http://dementia.ie/images/uploads/site-images/MoCA-Test-English_7_1.pdf.

We had our boiler serviced today and the engineer discovered that not only had his father serviced the same boiler back in 2004, he had also trained a number of the other engineers who had left their names inscribed on the inside door of the boiler.

Carillion Collapse, Norway Brexit Intervention, Boris Bullish Brexit Millions for NHS

Birch leaves macro photo

President Trump takes a well earned break, playing golf on Martin Luther King day. Even Southern states have adopted the holiday. According to Wikipedia, George Washington and Christopher Columbus are the only two other figures which have US national holidays honoring them.

The UK government has yet another major crisis on its hands, after the major construction company, Carillion collapses. The Cabinet met and efforts are underway to try and protect vital public services affected by the failure of the constuction giant, which has been involved nationally in a range of major projects from hospitals, prisons and the plannd HS2 rail project. The government had only recently awarded £2 bn to the company and there are effects to square the circle, avoid public money bailing out the mess and yet supporting the tens of thousands of employees by keeping work going.

Brexit is still ticking along with Norway adding pressure to the EU, pointing out that if the UK gets special exemptions in any trade deal, Norway would be pushing for change in their deal with the EU. Currently, they pay more than the UK for their access to the market.

Boris Johnson is on the unofficial campaign trail for his Brexit stance and prospective prime ministerial position. He did not limit himself to repeating the now infamous £350 million a week promise for the NHS if the UK left the EU, made by brexiteers during the referendum campaign. In an interview with the Guardian, he claimed that the figure quoted at the time should have been even higher as the UK's contributions were already at £362 million per week at present and could be at £438m by 2020-21.

Spent most of the day identifying and renaming images in order of possible appearance for a manuscript nearing completion. Took a break to continue with the Histology OU FutureLearn online course.

Hang on to your hopes and dreams!

Minor chatter today: POTUS is quibling with the Washington Post over a D in a quote. 'He did, he didn't' debate re 'stinkholes' quote. Hammond apparently tells EU to show more 'enthusiasm' for Brexit and now thinks Brexit is the only way, whilst Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage fear Brexit may be reversed.

More important was the false missile alarm in Hawaii yesterday, apparently started by accident when someone pressed the wrong button during a shift change. Fortunately this was not the button for a missile launch but a button to send out a state wide alert of an impending missile. Apparently there were no safeguards to prevent false alerts

On a quiet day at home, I'd like to leave you with the positive sort of message we need right now, seen on a toilet door in Alconbury Weald:

"Please don't flush any sanitary products, hopes or dreams down this toilet. Hang onto your hopes and dreams and use the bin for the other stuff."

Brexit factors: UK-US Trade Deal, Scottish Report; 500 bn cost to EU, Milk Chocolate Trial, Macro-photography

Macro Witch Hazel flowers

As ever, mixed opinions today on whether Brexit will be good or bad for the UK. The increasingly fraught relationship between Donald Trump and the UK, decreases the likelihood of a fast trade deal with the US to counter possible financial losses of Brexit. Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon expressed her continued dismay at the inability of the UK government to say what relationships it wants with the EU. Scotland is firmly pro-EU and the report on the imapct of Brexit on Scotland was published today, outlining the financial and other costs of a hard Brexit in 'Scotland's Place in Europe - The Scottish Government'.

The Express, on the other hand, points to a study that suggests that due to the UK trade deficit with the EU, the latter will be over €500 bn worse off - because of the UK's imposition of WTO tariffs after a hard Brexit. Think it through, there is a logical flaw in this argument, surely!

I tried a different method to include milk in home made chocolate. Manufacturers use dried milk, but this gives a grainy texture if done simply at home, the particles would have to be ground a lot finer. 

This time I started off with carnation condensed milk, which is about 55% w/v sugar (55 g in 100 ml). I added 25 g of sugar to 60 ml of condensed milk last night with a lot of stirring. It was very viscous and you could feel the undissolved sugar crystals on your tongue. This morning, a gradually added additional condensed milk to the warmed condensed milk with sugar until I could not detect any crystals on tongue when testing small quantities.

By trial and error with small quantities, I finally settled on making a chocolate with 60 g cocoa buttons, 60 g cocoa butter, 30 g saturated sugar solution and 30 g sugar saturated condensed milk. For good measure I also added half a teaspoon of orange essence in oil. After melting, there were tiny droplets of condensed milk visible on close inspection. I reduced these in size by whisking the chocolate, which at least did not congeal into a solid viscous mass as would happen if adding water. Tempered the mix by cooling to 27 degC and then warming to 31 degC before casting in small moulds, some containing hazelnuts. The chocolate set firm but did not have a crisp bite or snap. Experiments in other ways to add milk to continue.

In the afternoon, took the opportunity of a visit to Anglesey Abbey to practice macro photography. Used the strategy of using a 20mm extension tube with a Nikkor objective set at 300 mm. I used flash and a fixed aperture of 32. This gave me the ability to photograph from 50 cm to a couple of metres from subjects, have a sufficient depth of field ( a couple of centimetres and enough light on what was a dull grey day nearing its end. This was very successful, though as with any hand-held macro photography, you had to take many pictures to get a few that were well framed and in focus.

POTUS Created Outrage, Dodged London and Defered Iran

Old building at Alconbury Weald

President Trump hits the headlines twice today. Once for the alleged description of countries such as Haiti, San Salvador and the continent of Africa as 'shitholes' and asking why the US could not have more immigrants from places like Norway. He denied using the phrase in a tweet later, claiming he just used 'robust' language. The UN, Haiti, San Salvador and the countries of the African continent are outraged and asking for apologies. One attending democrat senator,  Dick Durbin, contradicted the President's statement, stating the derogatory phrase was used multiple times..

The second time was for announcing that he would not be coming to the UK to open the new US embassy. He explained his rationale in a tweet:

"Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!"

This does flatly contradict the facts.

• The US Embassy's move had been initiated in 2008 during the last phases of the Bush administration. There were practical reasons of security and access.
• Although there are no public figures, the unverified sale price was $500 m
• The new Embassy was built for $1 bn using funding from the sale of other US properties in London.
• It is located in a now desireable and more accessible location with faster access to UK government.

The cynical media view was that this was a way out of risking exposure to possible anti-Trump demonstrations when coming to the UK.

The significant hidden piece of news today was that POTUS deferred upending the existing Iran nuclear deal for another 120 days. Trump had stated in the past that he wanted withdraw from the deal, in total contrast to all the other signatories to the contract and other EU countries.

Today's HBN meeting was at Alconbury Weald. With all the new construction going on on the site, an old building near to the meeting place stood out, where it had been overlooked before. Like any ruin, it had its own fascination, and drew me to photograph it.

The meeting itself was by Luana Mattaey and Graham Buck. They both illustrated hard times and mistakes that they had gone through in their past business careers and what they had learnt.

Sadiq Khan's Cost of Brexit and Farage's Referendum

Melonin dressing

Well, if the government was unable to provide information on the impact of Brexit, London Mayor Sadiq Khan provided his own. He commissioned a report from analysts Cambridge Econometrics. It's conservative estimate was the a hard no-deal Brexit would cost the UK £50 bn and half a million jobs.

According to the Spiegel, the German automotive industry is getting alarmed at the fact that the weak pound and a hard Brexit could mean extra tarifs on the German suppliers to the motor manufacturing sector in the UK, as well as the increased cost of selling continental cars to British consumers.

Nige Farage had come back from his talks to Michel Barnier with the impression that ultimately, the only thing to secure a Brexit would be a second referendum at some point. Generating outrage amongst Brexit supporters and delight with remainers who had been long arguing for a new referendum, he backtracked to saying that brexiteers should be prepared for battle should a second referendum come, so that they could ensure a resounding victory in their favour.

His concerns could well be justified as the Mirror headline shouts "Second EU referendum would reverse the Brexit vote reveals shock poll for the Mirror". The votes for Remain to Brexit were 55% v 45% (http://www.comresglobal.com/polls/18394/), based on a survey of 1,049 adults online on the 11th January 2018. Fortunately for brexiteers, the majority (51%) do not want another referendum.

Apart from book work today, worked on stacking the images and generating panoramas of the photos taken yesterday. Very pleased as generated images good enough for this years Cambridge Open Studios.

Hammond Calls for EU Partners to Tango.

Resorcinol crystals 100x mag

Chancellor Philip Hammond went to Berlin today, to a meeting of Germna business people organised by Die Welt. In a cunning reversal, he bounced back the need to find a solution for Brexit to the EU, witht he phrase "it takes two to tango!" Thoughts of punishing Britain for leaving the EU must be banished. The aim is for Britain to achieve a Canada plus plus deal, including financial services.

The monumental news has not yet hit the German media, not even Die Welt, who organised the event. Other matters appear to have a higher priority.

Meanwhile, the NHS crisis continues in the news with even Jeremy Hunt beginning to admit that more funding might be needed. Britain wakes up to the excesses of plastic packaging as the implications of China refusing to take other countries' plastic waste are realised.

Went to the humanist memorial service for a microscopist friend today In the evening revisited the slides for crossed polar filters, this time photographing them through the microscope. 

Making Nuclear Weapons Easier to Use? Macro Photos of Crystals

Sulphur recrystallised viewed using crossed polarisation filters, showing Newton's rings

According to the Guardian, the Trump administration intends to loosen the constraints on lowe yield nuclear weapons and propose the introduction of two new types (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/09/us-to-loosen-nuclear-weapons-policy-and-develop-more-usable-warheads). One would be cruise missile submarine-launched. The information comes from an expert who has seen drafts of the nuclear posture review (NPR), which could be published after the President's State of the Union Address at the end of January.

The additional concern is that the use of nuclear weapons by the US may be made easier by allowing use where there is a major non-nuclear attack with mass casualties. On the other hand, the policy could be seen as a reaction to increased nuclear activity in apparent violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty.

Chatted to Ulli to seek his advice on macro photography. Apparently lens reversal is certainly worth a try. In the meantime, I made a temporary bodge fitting of a 3.7x microscope objective as a camera lens to card and blue-tacked it to my extension tubes. Then repeated yesterday's photography of crystal or filter slides using crossed polarisation filters. With roughly the same field of view (about 10mm)  the resultant photo stacks gave much better images, without the softening seen at the edge of the field of view. More results can be seen in the album here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4d24Pbqnsldre0zc2

Reshuffled Cabinet?!? Brexit More Likely. Privileged Trump and Unlucky Salvadorians. Macro-Photography

Politics is beginning to hot up again in the New Year with today's long anticipated cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Theresa May retaining all the big boys, Hammond, Johnson, Davis and Hunt all remain in their positions with some cosmetic changes in responsibilities. Hunt in particular is going to extend his version of compassionate conservatism to the Social services. Justine Greening, who wanted to stay in Education, resigned when the option was not available. New blood has apparently been brought in, to ensure the future of the Conservative Party, but their names have yet to make an impact. Overall, I understand this result maintains a balance between soft and hard Brexit in the cabinet. More decisions may still come tomorrow.

Nigel Farage met European Commission’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier in a bid to counter the constant stream of remainers who he has seen visiting the latter. Apparently Farage found “Mr Barnier clearly did not understand why Brexit happened. I left with the impression that it has not been previously explained to him that the Brexit vote was primarily about controlling mass immigration and democratic self-determination. Unless Mr Barnier can compromise somewhat and be prepared to give on services and financial services, the calls to go out of the EU under WTO rules will increase."

Whilst Tony Blair, Vince Cable and othere still hope that the decision to leave the EU can be reversed, the Chief of the EU commission, Jean Claude Juncker told a conference not to believe "That Brexit won't happen".  Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also stated today that in his opinion it was not possible for the UK to stay in the single market and that his efforts would be to negotiate a best possible position for the UK to retain existing benefits.

Across the Pond, a modest President Trump has proudly told farmers that "You are so lucky I gave you that privilege of voting for me", as he spoke of freeing them from legislation and permitting the use of more biotech crops, and logging for export. His administration has also served notice on more than 200,000 San Salvadorians who fled to the US after the major volcanic eruption in 2001 under Temporary Protected Status (TPS). They are to return home. Nicaraguans already lost their protections last year. This announcement comes weeks after more than 45,000 Haitians lost their protections, granted after Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, and it could be that Hondurans who are in the States under TPS could also be expelled soon.

Yesterday was a bit of a damp squib, being bedridden with a migraine till early afternoon and just pottering around after a walk to the river just before sunset. Today there was letter writing on the occasion of the death of a past friend, humanist and fellow microscopist at the ripe old age of 93.

Had a play this evening taking pictures of crystal slides between crossed polars using a new two way focussing rail. The objective was to be able to use a camera tube extension with one of the camera lenses to obtain macro images. The focussing rail allowed me to fix the camera on the tripos and stably move it over the sample and adjust the focus. I manually generated focus stacks of a number of slides using the rail. Processed images were in focus throughout, but there was a softening around the edge of the pictures. Have read around the subject of Macro-photography with extension tubes, additional achromatic close up lenses, and the reversal of camera lenses.

Trump - Educated Stable Genius. Brexit VAT Import Problem

Winter trees

It's good news that President Trump has confirmed in tweets and interviews that he is a highly educated and successful stable genius, countering the 'Work of Fiction'. The book fire and Fury still dominates some of the headlines, but there are no new revelations. It looks as if the administration can just sit out the current focus until it is pushed aside by other news. sdly, this has detracted from other real decisions that might have been made in his discussions with Republican leaders in Camp David.

On the Brexit side, media and Nicky Morgan, chair of the all-party Treasury select committee, have suddenly become aware of the possible VAT changes. If the UK leaves the EU and customs union, HMRC will require companies to pay VAT and possibly additional duties on goods that have entered the UK, before they are released to you as a business. Currently, with goods coming from within the EU, you still have to pay VAT, but this is deealt with in your VAT declarations later. A bill relating to the subject is being debated in parliament on Monday. The current VAT rules for non EU imports can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/importing-goods-from-outside-the-eu.

Working on a little craft project today and generally taking it easy.

Fire and Fury Damp Squib? Google Technology Relevant to Helping the Elderly

Huntingdon floods 2014

Fire and Fury, the gossipers expose on the inside of the White House sold out today. Apart from that fact, there seems to be few new revelations coming to light and the major media are hardly giving the book much attention.

The main news from the US instead, is the cold 'bomb' that has plunged the East coast of the the US into extreme sub-zero temperatures.

Just briefly popping up from under the radar is the proposal by the Trump administration to expand offshore drilling into hitherto protected Atlantic and Pacific shelf areas. Environmental groups and law makers are already opposing the plans.

First networking day of the year. Traveling the back roads to get to St Ives and later Huntingdon showed rivers in full flow and some fields still partially flooded, though not as bad as seen in the past. I met up with an old friend who is into technology today and marveled at the integration of wifi tech in managing his lighting, energy and security using Google/android based systems. also impressed by the Pixel 2 smartphone ability to generate video with additional augmented reality. A short demo had me in the kitchen being attacked by a mini star wars fighter. Apart from the enthusiasm in what is possible, I could see immediate practical opportunities in the care and monitoring of the elderly with dementia or physical disabilities in the home. It is now quite feasible to have a system set up to monitor motion within the house and also to communicate via wi-fi directly through the relevant cameras. Must follow up.

The Wrath of Trump and the Warnings of Blair. Buying a Long Legged Suit.

Mr Trump is not pleased with Mr Bannon, who allegedly made some incendiary remarks in a book to be published. Trump's lawyers are threatening to sue Bannon for breach of confidentiality. The book was written by Michael Wolff and called 'Fire and Fury' and has not yet been published yet. The lawyers are also attempting to prevent the publication of the book. The publisher has brought the publication forward to tomorrow (Friday). The threat of court action has naturally increased the interest and publicity for the book and its contents will feed the media frenzy for a while. Interesting that even the BBC has been repeating some of the claims circulating - see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42559436.

Tony Blair returned into the limelight briefly on Brexit. Currently a maligned figure, he has still succinctly summarised the options for Brexit in his briefing "What we know now" (https://institute.global/news/tony-blair-brexit-what-we-now-know):

"In essence, there are 4 options in approaching the Brexit negotiation:

1. To re-think and stay, best done in a reformed Europe, where we use the Brexit vote as leverage to achieve reform.
2. To exit the political structures of the EU, but stay in the economic structures ie the Single Market and Customs Union.
3. To exit both the political and the economic structures of Europe but try to negotiate a bespoke deal which recreates the existing economic benefits and keeps us close to Europe politically.
4. To exit both structures, to make a virtue of leaving, to negotiate a basic Free Trade Agreement and market ourselves as ‘Not Europe’."

Current government policy is to aim for solution 3. A major element of the conservatives would however like to go for option 4. Blair argues that Labour should be clearly for solution 1.

Made a dash into town today with Jane on the hunt for a new suit. Leg length has always been the issue. My last suit was a Hugo Boss bought in Germany at the end of the last century (with very fashionable padded shoulders then and last used in 2006), where it was possible to buy clothes in my size. After trying a number of menswear outlets in Cambridge, lukewarm about my size, it was therefore perhaps a foregone conclusion that we ended up at the BOSS shop. Here, my unusual size was not seen as a problem and much to my pleasant surprise, after three tries, I had a perfectly fitting suit. 

No Nuclear Button but a Nuclear Football and Biscuit

After Kim Jong-un has revealed that he has a nuclear button on his desk. This prompted President Trump to tweet in response "North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!"

According to the BBC, the president does not have a button, he has a football and a biscuit! The football is the briefcase that follows the President around, containing 'communication tools' and manuals. The biscuit is a card that the president has on him at all times, with the codes for activating nuclear Armageddon.

Perhaps the most bizarrely reassuring nugget of information was that when Bill Clinton was president, he lost the biscuit and was without it for over a month.

Very productive second working day on two books.

UK Plastics as US Wall Opportunity? Pride in Higher UK Rail Fares. Record 2000 Trumpitudes Imminent

Throwaway plastics

China has given the UK a new opportunity by banning the import of our dirty plastic waste. With the billion dollar US wall to Mexico offering rich rewards for those who can build it, what better way to show true British innovation than offering to build it in recycled plastic.

It is also with a hidden sense of pride that a great cry has arisen about the 3% plus increase in commuter rail fares. At last something to grumble about aloud whilst secretively rejoicing and celebrating our role as plucky underdog suffering the obvious difference between the UK (high fares) and the rest of Europe (lower fares). The Guardian and Telegraph united on this issue. The Guardian showed the dramatic difference in rail costs on either side of the Channel by giving fares as a proportion of commuter income, whilst the Telegraph gave actual ticket fares for comparable journeys. The exception was the report by Seat 61, which pointed out that on long distance journeys, booked well in advance, for journeys outside of the rush hour, rail travel in the UK was actually cheaper.

Meanwhile across the pond, excitement is growing on the subject of when President Trump will achieve the unrivaled number of 2000 false and misleading claims within the first year of his presidency. The Washington Post database, which records, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement uttered by the president", sets the total up to yesterday at 1,950 claims in 347 days, or an average of 5.6 claims a day. The Washington  Post fact checker page allows this veritable mountain of trumpitudes to be displayed in a multitude of options - see https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims-database/.  It's not what you say, it's the way you say it.

Trump Saves on International Funding. Negative Brexit for Cities. Cold recovery

Tiles at Horningsea Church (January 2005)

With the First of January, President Trump is back into action, saving money to 'Make America Great Again'.

At the end of last year, the President announced a reduction in the US contribution to the UN by $285 million from the estimated $8 billion annual contribution.

Today he tweeted his dissatisfaction with Pakistan:

"The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!"

There are mixed messages about what is happening in the Cabinet, ranging from Prime Minister Theresa May being isolated, to Boris Johnson feeling isolated, to the Prime Minister planning a major cabinet shuffle to underline her position. we will have to wait and see.

Two independent organisations, Centre for Cities and LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance (CEP), have researched and provided a report on the impact of a soft Brexit and a hard Brexit on UK local authorities. "Economic output in cities (as measured by Gross Value Added, GVA) is predicted to be 1.2 per cent lower on average under a ‘soft Brexit’ and 2.3 per cent lower under a ‘hard Brexit’ than if the UK remained in the EU." See summary an d follow link to detailed technical report within it here: http://www.centreforcities.org/publication/brexit-trade-economic-impacts-uk-cities.

Fortunately my cold seemed to have declined overnight, suggesting that this was a virus strain sufficiently similar to one I've had before, allowing my immune system to kill it quickly. Most unusual film of the day watched was the slightly surreal French-German stop-go animation "Jack and the Cuckoo Clock Heart".Technically good though the story-line was slightly melancholy.