Is Trumps Child Separation a Tool to Turn Family Expulsion into a benefit? Conversations on a Train.

Evening reflections on the Cam

A mixed bag for President Trump today. There is growing dismay and anger in the US about the administration's policy to criminalise illegal immigrants, thus leading to the separation of parents and children.  Indeed, Attorney Jeff Sessions has come under fire from 600 members of the United Methodist Church have have issued a formal complaint against memberof the church Attorney General Jeff Sessions, charging that he is violating church rules with his zero tolerance on immigration and possibly being responsible for abuse.

The president has initially refused to back down, even stating that it is necessary to separate children from their parents whilst simultaneously, and inaccurately, blaming the democrats for the consequences of what is in reality an effect of his administrations policy. He also charged the atmosphere further by stating that immigrants "infest our country".

The most recent comment is that he will be seeking to be able to deport illegal immigrants as families. This now begs the question whether the extreme and cruel nature of the child separation issue might have been a policy to shift public perception of immigration in the direction of a hardline policy. Then when he speaks of deporting whole families, it appears as a benefit, not a hardening of rules/actions.

Traveled to London today for a Quekett Committee Meeting and a Gossip meeting, the latter on hand-lenses and suitable subjects for them. The journey there was leavened by chatting to a family taking a young child to St Ormond Street Hospital for a checkup; the journey back shortened by learning of the gentler side of a couple who were both with the police and in the throes of renovating a future dream home.

Arriving back at Cambridge North, I unlocked the bike and rode home by taking the slightly longer road and path along the rivcer/

Melania's Follow all Laws but Govern with a Heart. May's £20bn NHS promise. Visiting Oxburgh Hall.

Popularity going up or down?

The growing outcry about the nearly 2000 children of illegal immigrants being separated from their parents took some unusual turns. Whilst the action appears to be a direct result of the Trump administration making all immigrants liable to a criminal prosecution, the President himself has repeatedly blamed the Democrats for the situation! Comments during an interview also appeared to give the impression that he was using the problem as a negotiating tool on immigration with the Democrats. Then today I hear that Melania Trump issued a statement broadly agreeing on the need to control immigration but ending with:
“Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform. She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with a heart.”

Meanwhile Prime Minister Theresa May issued a promise of an additional £20bn a year towards the funding of the NHS (a 3.4% rise), partly as a direct benefit of Brexit - a so-called Brexit Dividend. On current figures, The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said that even the government had accepted that an immediate post-Brexit boost to UK available funding would not happen. However, the taxpayer might be willing to suffer the necessary tax rises to cover the costs of the NHS. The government looks ahead to another turbulent week in parliament on Brexit related voting.

We spent the day with visiting Dutch friends on a trip to Oxburgh Hall. It was also a costume day there and we learned that every mediaeval person carried a spoon around with them, from the pewter spoon of the lord of the manor to the wooden spoons of the cook. We tasted oatmeal flapjacks and potage, and also had a potted history of the Hall and its changing fortunes from the scribe of a mediaeval merchant. After admiring different handmade wallpapers, paintings, documents, Mary Queen of Scots' embroidery done whilst in captivity, and the priests hole, we completed the day with a meal at the Bridge pub at Clayhithe.

Trump Policies Punish China and 1,995 Children. Networking, Photography, African Names and Stracciatella

Having single-handedly solved the North Korean problem, rapped the knuckles of his western partners by imposing steel and aluminium tariffs,
President Trump is now tackling the US' intellectual property theft by China, with a 25% tariff on 1300 goods. China has said that it will retaliate.

The claim that the US loses intellectual property to China is not a new one recent studies suggest the value is $50bn.

Preconceptions about China do apparently lag behind reality. a report by "The Diplomat" suggest that China has been tightening is patent protection and IP laws. As a result, foreign firms bringing cases to court in China have a similar success rate (in excess of 70%) to that of Chinese domestic companies. The difficulty, especially for smaller companies , is the cost of providing evidence and paying for the court cases.

Both sides are likely to lose out in a trade war. Is the benefit of this action again a message to the domestic US audience that the president keeps his promises - and please reelect me when the time comes?

President Trumps harder policy on immigration, especially at the border with Mexico, has now lead to 1,995 children being separated from their parents and going into camps/care. This is a direct result of adult immigrants crossing the land border being placed in custody. Children with them are taken into care.

With my bicycle back in action, I set off on my networking day to St Ives, covering half the distance (12 kilometers) to Longstanton Park and Ride and catching the bus onwards from there. I had a fascinating conversation on gender issues in 4 year olds at the A14 meeting. Onwards to the Norris for volunteering work, I was tasked with taking some imaginative pictures of items in the museum shop for use in social media awareness. i made two forays into town with a basket full of goods, trying to photograph a selection of items at different locations. I ended up using the smartphone for taking photos due to the greater depth of field. I ended up with an unexpected free drink at a pub I used as a backdrop.

Unusual fact about African names learnt today from author Nkoli Rowley, Kofi Annan was born on a Friday as that is the meaning of the name Kofi (boy born on a Friday)!

The cycle ride back home was slightly easier as the wind was behind me some of the way. I still arrived hot and therefore had the first portion of the Dr Oetker Stracciatella icecream that I made last night to help cool down.

Government Gets Its Way in Brexit Amendment Votes. SNP Walkout. Roman Secrets

WWI tank floral feature Huntingdon

On Tuesday, the Government won each of the challenges it made to the Lord's amendments to the Brexit Bill. however, it was a close thing on the matter of whether parliament should have a vote on any Brexit deal. One minister had resigned and there was sufficient resistance in the ranks that the government could scent a possible defeat. However, Theresa May apparently made some promises that an amendment would be made when the bill passed back to the House of Lords, one that seemed sufficient for the Tory rebels either to abstain or vote with the Government.

A vote today for Britain to stay within the  European Economic Area (EEA) after Brexit was defeated. Jeremy Corbyn had asked for party members to abstain from voting but 90 Labour MP's broke ranks, with 75 voting for the proposal.

The main excitement came during Prime Minister Questions when the SNP Leader Ian Blackford protested against the short time for debating devolution issues and was asked to leave the house for the day by the Speaker. The SNP leader was promptly followed out of the House by the SNP MPs amidst claims that Westminster was trying to claw back powers from Scotland.

The Government did suffer a defeat elsewhere today, when the EU decided to proceed with the procurement for next round of Galileo sat nav construction and launches. Because no deal has been agreed between London and the EU-27 to allow Britain continued participation in Galileo, it looks increasingly likely that UK companies will not get access to new contracts or even influence on the future of Galileo.

Jane and I visited Histon Library after lunch, to listen to Kate Hadley talk of Roman votive treasures found in the region. It was based on the 'Roman Secrets' DVD and PDF ebook that we had produced an published for Kate.

Donald-Kim Love-In Promises NK Denuclearisation and US Withdrawal. Elderflower Cheesecake and Jelly.

Sambocade cheese cake

I was gradually rising out of my BrexiTrump lethargy last weekend when President Trump swanned in to the G7 gathering to turn it into a G6 v 1. Having riled America's usual allies in Europe and Canada with his drastic import tariffs on steel and aluminium, Trump was persuaded to sign the usual end of summit declaration, only to withdraw it after seeing the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau give the gently acid quote, on how Canada would react to US tariffs with counter tariffs of their own:
"I have made it very clear to the president that it is not something we relish doing, but it is something that we absolutely will do, because Canadians, we’re polite, we’re reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around."
Apparently it is however OK for the president to say in his interview before the summit on tariffs and trade imbalances:
"We’re like the piggy bank that everybody’s robbing. And that ends."

However, The G& was obviously just a sideshow, because there were more important global matters to consider, namely the President's key meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong-un today. Apparently the two got on very well and completed with a signing of four key actions arising from the meeting:

1. The United States and the DPRK commit to establish new US-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.
2. The United States and DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.
3. Reaffirming the April 27, 2018 Panmunjom Declaration, the DPRK commits to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
4. The United States and the DPRK commit to recovering POW/MIA remains, including the immediate repatriation of those already identified.

The President also surprised the world and his own Pentagon by declaring that the USA would suspend its exercises with South Korea, something that has always been on North Korea's agenda. Whilst point 3, the North Korean commitment to working towards complete denuclearisation of the peninsula, is a wording previously made by North Korea, President Trump gave a positive response to reporters:
“We got to know each other well in a very confined period of time, I know when somebody wants to deal and I know when somebody doesn’t.”

We can but hope.

Parliament is busy with voting on the Brexit bill after its return from the Lords. I'll tackle that topic tomorrow!

With the weather warming slightly over the weekend, I was struck by the many elderflowers in bloom whilst on walks. It reminded me of a recipe for 'Sambocade' in the 'Pleyn Delit' mediaeval cookbook. Essentially this is an elderflower flavoured cheesecake. The cheese mixture is flavoured with elderflower blossom. I picked three or four large flower heads and tried stripping off the small flowers with a fork. It turned out to be easier to use my fingers, which were yellow with pollen by the time I had finished. you can find a recipe online here at http://www.cookitsimply.com/recipe-0010-014d839.html. I could hardly taste the elderflower in the mixture at room temperature. However, after baking and chilling, the cold cheese cake had a fresh elderflower flavour. Sadly Jane was not too impressed and so I have been working my way through a whole cheese cake over the past couple of days.

Seeing so many elderflowers, it seemed a waste not to do more. Wary of making something that I alone would be eating ad nauseum, I thought I'd try to make some elderflower jelly. Using 4 flower heads stripped into 250ml water with the juice of half a lemon and a ring of lemon rind, I boiled the mixture for a couple of minutes and strained it. Still recovering 250 ml of the flavoured liquid, I added 300 g of jam sugar, boiled for 4 minutes, adding a small knob of butter, and poured into a preheated empty jam jar and sealed. The few remaining dregs that didn't make it into the jar were set to cool on a saucer in the fridge. It gave a delicately flavoured spread. Once the jar had cooled, it was into the pantry to save for a different season.

Brexit Backstops. HIBN. Steel Guitars, Shark-art and Recycling Plastic

Art on the Guided Busway.

A lovely quote from BBC Katya Adler's article today, on the response of an EU official watching the UK prepare for the forthcoming Brexit negotiations. They said:
"It just can't work," an EU diplomat told me in exasperation this week. "Theresa May has so many nooses dangling around her neck that one of those nooses is sure to hang her."

Yes, there has been another Brexit storm-in-a-teacup, or Barney in Number 10, amidst threats that our ebullient chief EU negotiator David Davis threatened to resign if he didn't get his way. The cause was the UK proposal for a "backstop" solution, just in case negotiations fail. This was to counter the EU's backstop, which effectively says that to ensure that the border in Ireland does not become a hard one, the whole of Eire could be an EU consistent economic zone, effectively shifting the national UK border into the stretch of water between Ireland and the UK mainland. The hardline DUP can not stand for that.

The alternative that the Prime Minister proposed was that the UK would follow the practice set out below, I quote directly from the Government's technical document:
This arrangement would see:

• The elimination of tariffs, quotas, rules of origin and customs processes including
  declarations on all UK -EU trade; 
• The UK outside the scope of the Common Commercial Policy (CCP), except where it is
  required to enable the temporary customs arrangement to function. This will mean
  applying the EU’s common external tariff (CET) at the UK’s external border, alongside
  the Union Customs Code (UCC) and such other parts of the Common Commercial Policy
  that are required to enable the temporary customs arrangement to function; and
• The UK able to negotiate, sign and ratify free trade agreements (FTAs) with rest of world partners and implement those elements that do not affect the functioning of the temporary customs arrangement. 

The first two points are basically "we will continue to act as if we are within the EU"

Hard brexiteers were up in arms because it could result in an indefinite interim term, which could push any final EU-UK agreement into the distant future - or not at all.

The compromise reached was that the backstop could only last till the end of December 2021.

It is a fudge that appeases all sides and lets the government trundle on in deadlock within itself. Whether the EU will accept it by the deadline for decision making at the end of this month is up in the air.

I've started using my bike for trips to the station (yesterday) or to the Histon and Impington Business Network (today). At the latter, the topic of GDPR raised its head as we tried to clarify whether it required common sense (my opinion) or added an unusual burden on small businesses.

Made several interesting discoveries today. One of the HIBN visitors enjoying the morning teas, coffees and patisserie at The Geographer, played a steel guitar outside of work. I hadn't realised that playing a steel guitar involved not only using a steel (or teflon coated) slider, there were also foot and knee pedals to adjust the tone and pitch of the instrument whilst playing.

Cycling down the guided busway back towards Milton, I stopped and admired the impressive mural under the bridge which featured an excellent shark as you can see from the photo above.

Then stopped again to chat to a person who was testing out whether you could re-use the non-degradable plastic tubes used to protect young trees (internal diameter about 15cm) as simple waste collection bins.

Workwise, today was a day of video-editing a Quekett member's hour long talk. I'm about a third of the way through.