Post Trump Jerusalem Protests. Hectic Irish Border Negotiations. Camilla, Artists and Craftists.

Following President Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Palestinians on the West bank went on strike and demonstrations began. Predictably this led to 31 Palestinians injured, rockets fired at Israel, and Israeli retaliation.

Negotiations are continuing into the night on the EU - UK solutions to the Irish border. UK and EU sounding more positive, apparently wording agreed that Westminster DUP team finds acceptable. This still needs to be confirmed with the DUP in Belfast.

New multi-billion pound aircraft giant carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth commissioned by the Queen. The fighter jets  promised for the ship are getting more expensive by the day, due to the pound's devaluation - they are bought in dollars.

Camilla sourdough had been languishing in the fridge for a fortnight and therefore in danger of dying. Last night, refreshed the culture, placed half in the fridge and another half weighing 300 g was allowed to recover overnight at room temperature (about 17 deg C). Today, made the culture up to a 500 g mixed wholemeal and white bread flour, placed in a bread tin and allowed to rise over the next 8 h till doubled in size. Baked and cooled, had two slices of this delicious, tasty, moist sourdough loaf.

Otherwise spent the morning taking photos of photo prints for a family history in production and the afternoon on final edits on a children's book. Went to the Milton Artists and Craftists meeting. A small select group today with Minoan dolphins being painted on one side of the table, cross stitch started on another and mosaics rounding off the set. I've been working on an alphabet in pen and ink and managed to complete C.

Modern Fairy Tale of the Cabinet's New Clothes. Trumpeted Jerusalem. Toastmasters' Xmas.

Remarkable news today as David Davis reveals to the Exiting the EU Committee that the 57 Brexit impact assessments don't actually exist, that some of the material submitted to the committee was of a poor standard, and anyway, most of the information was in the public domain. In fact, David Davis thought that it wasn't even worth conducting economic impact assessments because Brexit was such a great paradigm shift that predictions were useless.

This seems to confirm that Brexit has more of the nature of an ideology than a rational, evidence based action.

The difficulties in the Cabinet were further revealed when the Chancellor Philip Hammond revealed that the cabinet had not yet had discussions on the final target for Brexit negotiations.

Prime Minister Theresa May has a bit of a challenge on her hands. There's an intransigent DUP and Barnier has set a Friday deadline for submitting a proposal that can actually be reviewed by the other EU states before the critical meeting next week.

A plot to kill the Prime Minister was foiled late November, but the news only emerged overnight.. The attacker wanted to plant a bomb outside the gates of Downing Street and use the ensuing confusion to penetrate into 10 Downing Street armed with an explosive vest and knives to assassinate Theresa May.

President Trump has broken the 50 year old consensus on the status of Jerusalem. Since annexing East Jerusalem in the 1967 war, Israel has declared Jerusalem its capital, whilst the Palestinians still regard East Jerusalem as theirs, although it is in Israeli control. Because of the special nature of Jerusalem for the three Abrahamic religions, sacred to the Jews, Muslims and Christians, most nations have avoided placing their embassies there, awaiting a political solution to the Palestinian-Israel conflict.

The US has had a nuanced approach to date, acknowledging Jerusalem as the Israeli capital but deferring moving their embassy there.

President Trump has now officially recognised Jerusalem as the capital and initiated the US embassy move there. He claimed it was acknowledging the status quo. Israel was delighted by the decision, The Palestinians are upset at an apparently partisan move. Most of the rest of the worlds nations disapprove as it could be a trigger for renewed violence in the region.

What a relief to be able to go to the Toastmasters' Christmas Event for a light-hearted evening of preposterous hats (puddings, presents, reindeer) and jumpers. With a floppy hat on my head and brightly coloured scarf around my neck, I went as a earlier version of Dr Who. Lots of laughter and a turkey free meal, though fortunately there were mince pies! Discovered a Dalek app for the smartphone that simply calls out "Exterminate" when tapped.

Did Chivers Silver Plate Its Jam Making Vessels to Decrease or Enhance Taste of Sugar?

President Trump to move US embassy to Jerusalem. Prime Minister Theresa May to come up with a new solution acceptable to Brexiteers, the EU and the DUP.

David Oakley from the Histon Village Society gave a talk to the Milton Local History Group tonight, on the 'Chivers' Jam Factory from 1873 to 1960'. Apparently, you could tell which jam or marmalade was being made by the smell emanating from the factory. The greatest pride of the founder and later his sons, was the number of local men and women that they employed.

The company was founded by fruit farmers who exported to the North of England and added making preserves of all forms to their skills. The company started with one factory on site and then expanded. Fruit was not just sourced locally, but as far afield as Scotland. They also diversified into canning and dried foods.

One of Chivers' claims to high quality and fame was the silver plating of their copper vessels used in making jams. Whilst recent studies have shown that silver can have antibacterial properties, there is also the fact that it can impart a strong flavour to some foods. However, metals such as copper and zinc can actually make sugar taste sweeter. The question therefore is, was the silver plating of copper vessels for jam making aiming to reduce the sweetening effect of copper? Or was it to ensure that there was a metal induced flavour enhancement of the sweet preserves (as well as giving an extra aura of novelty/aspiration)?

UK-EU Talks Fail after DUP Intervention. Trump Travel Ban Active. Trump lies?

Prime Minister Theresa May is in an impossible situation. She thought that the UK and the EU were on the verge of being able to agree that sufficient progress. Jean Claude Juncker thought that they were on the verge of an agreement. There had been progress on payments by Britain to the EU. There were constructive proposals on treatment of EU citizens in the UK. May thought that there was a wording to show progress on keeping the Irish border open between North and South.

Then there was a leak from an EU representative and from the Irish Taoiseach that this might mean a special arrangement for relationships between the different parts of Ireland.

Hearing of this, the DUP leadership stepped up to the cameras and Leader Arlene Foster said her party would not accept a Brexit deal that "separates" Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon acerbically commented that they, as Remainers, would also like to have a special deal allowing them to have free borders/trade with the EU.

Bang! Lunch halted as the government has to reiterate that the UK, including Northern Ireland will exit from the EU united. Negotiations now to continue later in the week in the hope of finding an acceptable phrasing in time for the EU meeting next week.

President Trump has another cause for celebration as the Supreme Court allows his travel ban against citizens of eight mainly Muslim countries to come into effect - at least for now. On top of this, his lawyer suggests that the President cannot 'obstruct justice' because he is the country's top law enforcement officer. (An assertion made by President Nixon before he was pressured to resign.)

President Trump came out strongly for Michael Flynn, claiming that the latter is being penalised for lying to the FBI whilst his former opponent Hillary Clinton lied to the FBI and was  not punished for this. Specifically he publicly said "Hillary Clinton lied many times to the FBI. Nothing happened to her. Flynn lied and they destroyed his life. I think it's a shame. Hillary Clinton, on the Fourth of July weekend, went to the FBI, not under oath. It was the most incredible thing anyone's ever seen. She lied many times; nothing happened to her. Flynn lied, and it's like, they ruined his life. It’s very unfair." See https://news.sky.com/video/trump-fbi-ruined-sacked-advisers-life-11156541.

I searched Reality Checks online to find then-FBI Director James Comey testifying under oath to the House of Representatives in July 2016, about Clinton's handling of classified information on a private email server. "We have no basis to conclude she lied to the FBI.""I have no basis for concluding that she was untruthful with us." (from NBC https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/fact-check-trump-accused-clinton-lying-fbi-said-she-did-n826361). "The FBI also did not find that Clinton lied to the FBI, contrary to Trump’s claim." according to FactCheck.org http://www.factcheck.org/2017/12/factchecking-trumps-criticism-fbi/.

I spent the morning visiting a local artist as we catalogued historical material for a book project. Sold the first Milton Calendar and left copies at the Post Office for sale. Late in the afternoon, it was off to drill some holes in a wall at S & L's to put up a curtain.

Pressured Theresa May. Trump Gossip. Positive Paddington 2. Comfort Food. Alexandra Burke Bias?

Polar Bear Fur

A blow to Theresa May's government with the resignation of leader Alan Milburn and the entire Social Mobility team. They did so because they felt that little or no attention was being focused on the lack of social mobility in the UK. Presumably this is due to the overriding problem of Brexit. However, the Prime Minister herself had pledged to tackle the growing social inequalities.

On top of this, hard brexiteers are attempting to apply pressure on her before the critical meeting with Jean Claude Juncker tomorrow in Brussels. They want guarantees from the EU before agreeing any payments to the EU and are adamant about the European Court of Justice not having any say in the UK after the 19th March 2019.

Lots of media gossip about President Trump's tweets  regarding Mike Flynn, the FBI (apparently reputation in tatters), reporting mistake by ABC anchor and the attempt to redirect focus again on Hillary Clinton's historic email account.

Our highlight of the day was a visit to the cinema to see Paddington 2. After a slow start, it romped along a a fair pace of humour and action. A very family friendly movie with a message of good manners and good intentions winning out in the end. A welcome contrast to current politics misogyny and xenophobia. Interesting that there was also a swing in underlying cookery book themes, as mentioned on the BBC's Food Program. Comfort food is in, sharing food and time with family are in, as opposed to narcissistic self flagellation with dieting. In these confusing times, we need our comfort food.

Biggest disappointment was Alexandra Burke being voted into the 'Strictly' dance-off, despite being one of the best dancers. There appears to be a serious public bias against her which is, to my mind, so unfair.

Trump Keeps Tax Cut Promise. From Barter to the Cashless Economy

President Trump and the Republicans appear to have achieved a major milestone, with the Senate passing their tax reform bill. It reduces tax on business from 35% to 20%  and apparently simplifying personal tax. According to the BBC, private citizens would generally benefit till 2026, after which those families earning less than $75,000 a year could be worse off.

This is a major victory for President Trump in terms of his election pledges.

Cutting tax could potentially mean the need for the US borrowing an additional trillion US dollars. The gamble is that the tax cut will promote business and more than recover the losses.

It looks as if we are drifting increasingly towards a cashless society. I notice it myself in that I make more and more payments by card, from a cup of tea, to bus ticket, to shopping in the supermarket or online. Locally, more bank branches are disappearing from villages and small towns. Apparently, ATMs are also likely to follow them. Retailers might pick up the provision of physical cash - until digital person to person money transfers via NFC or similar become as easy as paying with coin and paper.

Before cash, there was bartering - exchanging goods. This progressed into using either animals such as cattle or physical items such as stones or shells as money. The most dramatic example that I saw of this was a giant stone disk used as money in a Polynesian culture, displayed in the Uebersee Museum in Bremen. Fixed weights of metal, gold or silver began to be used about 4000 BC. The first manufactured coins did not appear till between about 700 BC and 500 BC, seemingly simultaneously in China and the Aegean. The advantage, you could carry the value of an item in the metal itself, although debasing coins with inferior metals was already a phenomenon during later Roman times.

The ribbed or textured rims of coins were introduced later to counter the fraud of  'clipping' as fraudsters looked to stretch out the value of their metal. 'Sweating' was another coin debasing fraud - shaking of a bag of coins and collecting the metal dust!

The conceptual leap to using paper, which is based on the promise that a paper item will be guaranteed as an alternative payment, occurred in during the Song dynasty in China in the 11th century. The idea was taken up in Europe in the 13th century, after travelers like Marco Polo reported its use in China.

It has only been in the last century or so that paper money became disconnected from linkage to actual physical gold reserves and more a feature of confidence in a particular economy. Digital money in our bank accounts and accessed through our cards has been a logical progression.

Going completely cashless has one advantage/disadvantage - all transactions become traceable. The digital solution to this has been the rise of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which can be used for normal transactions (where accepted) but also on black markets.

Whilst the trend to a cashless society might seem simpler and beneficial in some quarters, it also disadvantages the elderly and others either without access to technology or the capability of dealing with it.

Flynn Confessed Liar. Irish Brexit Veto. Cutlery and the Modern Overbite.

Both the US and UK news is going into overdrive with the newest development of the Russia-White House investigation. Former General and National Security Advisor of the United States for 27 days, Michael Flynn has admitted publicly that he lied to the FBI and did hold talks with the Russian ambassador during the electon campaign. There are as yet unverified reports that he was directed to do so by Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law. The Flynn announcement even made the Fox news, normally very supportive of President Trump.

There is of course a lot of hot air being spent on whether this will lead to President Trump's loss of office. I'm not so sure until there is more evidence. The president still has a fall-back position of having been misinterpreted by staff who then acted on their own.

Just a couple of days to go before Theresa May meets Jean Claude Juncker with an offer that will allow Brexit negotiations to progress to the next stage.  Pressure on the remaining Irish border question intensified today. Donald Tusk visited Ireland and gave a joint press announcement with the Irish Prime Minister. Tusk reiterated that Ireland could halt Brexit negotiation progress if dissatisfied with the UK offer/solutions to avoid a hard border, with the full support of the EU.

My second visit to the dentist within a week, this time for minor fillings on two front teeth, on in the top and one in the lower jaw. The option was to try without anaesthetic, as the injections themselves would be very uncomfortable, and fortunately this turned out well.

Part of the work after the fillings was to fine-tune the bite of the two opposing teeth. I have an overbite, in line with a significant proportion of modern day humans in the developed world. Overbite is where the top front teeth bite over the lower ones, rather than the tips of the teeth meeting. this is apparently a relatively recent phenomenon in the human population, with the incidence having increased over the past 250 years. Skulls of earlier humans show that the majority had teeth meeting on top of each other, and also showed considerable wear on the biding surfaces.

The American anthropologist, C. Loring Brace, proposed that this is actually due to the invention of cutlery. Rather than having to bite off pieces of hard/tough food, which promotes the front teeth cutting on each other, we now cut our cooked food into smaller pieces with knives and forks, negating the need for the sharp cutting tooth action and allowing an overbite for chewing with the back teeth. This is not a genetic change but a consequence of changing eating behaviour.