Trump NHS Comment Riles UK. Dow Plummets. Brexit Negotiations Resume.

Old silver penny

An unusual day in the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt tweeted probably the best reply out of the many from prominent UK politicians, NHS staff and other Illuminati, in response to President Trump's tweet which stated:

"The Democrats are pushing for Universal HealthCare while thousands of people are marching in the UK because their U system is going broke and not working. Dems want to greatly raise taxes for really bad and non-personal medical care. No thanks!"

Jeremy's reply:

"I may disagree with claims made on that march but not ONE of them wants to live in a system where 28m people have no cover. NHS may have challenges but I’m proud to be from the country that invented universal coverage - where all get care no matter the size of their bank balance."

The Dow Jones index continued its dramatic fall today, ending up 1,175.21 point lower than its peak. The FTSE 100 also took a minor hit today and the pound dropped to €1.128. The latter probably a reaction to the press conference with David Davis and Michel Barnier, the UK and EU chief negotiators for Brexit. We had Prime Minister Theresa May emphasising that Brexit meant the UK would leave the EU customs union; David Davis restating that we were going to get the best deal with the EU, gaining unparalleled access to the EU market, whilst being able to negotiate our own trade deals. Poor Michel had to inject a negative note that, in the event of the UK leaving the customs union, there would be trade barriers and, oh, as well as time being short, could the UK please actually present it's plans so that negotiations could actually take place? It was also made clear from the EU side, that during the transition period, with the UK still having all the benefits of the EU, it could not suddenly impose a separate arrangement for EU citizens coming to the UK.

The Irish border has been raising its head above the horizon. The UK government is committed to having a soft border between Northern Ireland and Eire. Yet if we leave the customs union, trade barriers would arise and custom checks would have to be reinstated after a long period of peace.

I came down today to find that the wheat/rye sourdough loaf had risen in the baking tin after almost 16h and could be baked.