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.