Conflicting Major and Minor reports on Brexit Progress Released. Cold but Snow-free Cambridgeshire

With David Davis heading to Brussels this week to resume negotiations on the transition deal with the EU. Apparently concessions have already been made. These include accepting the EU deadline for the end of the transition period and a fall-back from the fisheries position promoted by Michael Gove, of the UK taking back full control of fisheries.

The debate heated up again to day as the  Exiting the European Union Committee released its main report on progress to date on the negotiations. This concluded that at there moment there was little progress on resolving an open Irish border. The report rejected the EU fall-back position (of a border in the Irish Sea) and urged the government to come up with counter proposals.

The most controversial comment in the majority report was that there could be insufficient time to complete negotiations of the UK's relationship with the EU during the transition period and that preparations should be in place to agree an extension of the transition period. The thorny issue of the UK simply being a 'rule taker', still beholden to the EU and the ECJ was also raised and it is hoped that some level of influence in discussions will be agreed.

The committee was split on this issue in particular and a minority report by the hard leavers on the committee was issued, which accused the major report of having been "written in the slough of despond, despairing and defeatist". (Apparently, issuing such minority reports does occur as committee members are often bipartisan, an issue here with remainer and leaver MP's on the committee).

Whilst Cambridgeshire seems to have been spared the dramatic snowfall seen in Lincolnshire and the South again, it was a gray, bitter day today. At least last weeks cut flowers still provided a touch of warm colour indoors. I spent the afternoon working on the Quekett Bulletin. Jane was busy designing greeting cards.

Was Your Facebook Profile Misused for Trump and Brexit votes? Snowflakes.

Snowflakes on the garden table

There is an unexpected link between Cambridge and the last presidential campaign. Or rather involving Cambridge Analytica. According to an Observer expose, assisted by whistle-blower Christopher Wylie, The company had acquired access to 50 million profiles, about a third of North America's Facebook users.

This was achieved through a personality test app called thisisyourdigitallife, built by academic Aleksandr Kogan (independently of his role at Cambridge University). Users were paid and could benefit from the app in exchange for providing access to their Facebook profiles - and therefore indirectly to those of their Facebook friends. Facebook sought and believed assurances from the company that the information was only for research. However, the data was apparently being offered to clients, including very interested intelligence agencies, as a source for targeted campaigns.

Allegedly, this was recognised as political gold by Steve Bannon and Breitbart, and an opportunity for gaining sophisticated psychological and political profiles to be used for targeted political social media campaigns during the Republican presidential campaign. According to the Federal Election Commission, Trump’s campaign hired Cambridge Analytica in June 2016 for than $6.2 million. Cambridge Analytica denies that the Facebook info was used.

Facebook has since withdrawn access to its services to Cambridge Analytica.

Articles available here: Reuters and The Guardian

Investigations are also being pursued in the UK to see if the information was used during the Brexit referendum campaign see Business Insider article.

You can check your Facebook activities by downloading your FB archive.
Quite amazing what you find out about what you have been involved in, fortunately no obvious link  to thisisyourdigitallife in my archive.

As previously, the Beast from the East 2 missed dumping significant snow on our region today. There were sufficient light flurries for me to be hopeful of photographing some snow flakes. Howerver, the teperature fluctuated around 0 degC, with surfaces not being quite cold enough for flakes to settle without melting till late afternoon. I then tried taking pictures with the smartphone and a 10x lens attached, with minor success. I hope that there will be more opportunities tomorrow morning.

No Border Controls in Ireland or at Dover - That's 'Taking Back Control'

The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee gave a strongly worded warning to the government that its pledge of no border in Ireland is only possible if the UK stays aligned with the EU rules for the foreseeable future.There is no technologcal solution in sight that could be completed and implemented in time for our exit next year.

Watching Chris Grayling (Transport Secretary) on Question Time yesterday, I too heard the claim that there would be no border checks at Dover when we leave. The initially surprising statement shows a level of pragmatism as there is currently not the space available to park the innumerable lorries at the port for checks. It does however make a mockery of the phrase 'Taking back control!'

The main news is still the fall-out from the Skripal poisoning, with the unusual addition of another murder of another  Russian exile and businessman, Nikolai Glushkov, this time by strangulation. Bodyguards for rich Russians are apparently back in vogue.

Decided to forgo networking today as there was further work on existing books.

Holidaymakers Not Warned of Brexit Risks. Recommending Stephen Hawking's Other Books.

The Guardian picks up on the impact of Brexit on travel today, especially as about three quarters of all trips abroad are to the other 27 EU countries.

Which? had warned that holidaymakers were not being warned of the potential risks of Brexit to their  plans when making bookings. There is as yet no agreement in place about how flights are going to be regulated and agreed between the UK and the rest of the EU after 19th March 2019.

Several major travel companies have not yet told customers about possible cancellation procedures and refunds, as well as issues arising from items outside agreements, such as car or villa hire. Apparently,  Thomas Cook looks to avoid any embarrassing compensation or reimbursements by changed terms and conditions, which class any airspace closure in the same category as 'natural disasters'!

The Prime Minister has announced the expulsion of 23 Russian operatives (presumably spies) by the end of the week as well as financial restrictions on Russian oligarchs. So far, there have been supportive noises from robust statements from the US, at the UN security meeting and Germany. Russia itself has been fairly dismissive and the opinion generally appears to be that condemnation of Russia plays into President Putin's hands, adding to more support back home for his imminent re-election.

Across the Pond, impressed to see that school students have been demonstrating today against the US gun culture and demanding change. 17 minute silences were held, including outside the White House bounds, one minute for every student killed in the most recent shooting.

Big news today was the passing away of legendary physicist, Stephen Hawking. Yes, I too have a copy of 'A Brief History of Time' on the bookshelf, though I cannot remember if I read it completely or not. Feeling a bit jaded, I thought I would read a more recent updated version of our knowledge of physics: I downloaded the Kindle version of the children's book that Professor Hawking co-wrote with his science communicator and most frequent co-author, daughter Lucy. The book is called George's Secret Key to the Universe and so far I've enjoyed relearning about the origin of stars and been introduced to a pig called Freddy. The series extends to at least another four accessible books  and I like the way that there are hyperlinks within the book to short sections of factual information.

I phoned Ulli to chat about his planned marathon route through the UK and in return received another book recommendation. It's 'Dark Web' by Veit Etzold (in German), which will have to wait until I've finished Cordeila Fine's 'Testosterone Rex', which I am dipping into occasionally.

US Progress on Gun Laws. Firing Tillerson by Tweet. Tigger Hammond. My Two Front Teeth

The V&A on the way to the Natural History Museum side entrance.

President Trump backtracked on increasing the age of gun ownership to 21 after threats of NRA lawsuits, citing there was “not much political support (to put it mildly)” for the policy. Campaigners are obviously disappointed and the current level of support for increasing the age for gun ownership stands at 70%, according to recent polls. On the positive side, the President does support a new strategy of 'Extreme risk protection orders', where guns can be taken away from people deemed to be at risk of suicide or other relevant mental health issues. The evidence based method has shown that in Connecticut, where the orders have been used since 1999, that for every 10 risk warrants issued (and guns temporarily removed)), one life is saved.

However, all this news was overshadowed by President Trump's sacking of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson via Twitter. The news had to be broken to him by an aide as Tillerson did not follow Twitter. Mind you, it was probably only of matter of time as the two were not on the same wavelength and the Secretary of State had been undermined or contradicted by the President over the past year on a number of occasions.

More worrying is perhaps that the replacements for Secretary of State and Head of CIA, Mike Pompeo and Gina Haspel respectively, were supporters of water boarding and Guantanamo Bay. Supporters of torture and internement/prison camps of dubious legality.

Before he left, Tillerson did come out strongly in favour of the UK position against the misuse of possible Russian Novichok nerve gases on UK soil and President Trump seems to be supporting the UK too. Other EU countries have also expressed strong support. Russia is dismissive of the accusations and threatens to respond in kind if there is any action by the UK government. The deadline for the response requested by Theresa May has just passed. We await to see what the consequences announced are tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Philip Hammond gave an upbeat Spring assessment on the UK economy and possible signs of national debt beginning to decline to Parliament, comparing himself to a bouncy, bouncy, bouncy Tigger (of Winnie the Pooh fame), as opposed to the doom-mongering Eeyore's on the other side of the House. However, there were no tax or big spending decisions, merely a more positive outlook, one which is, according to political reporter Laura Kuenssberg, aiming for a future position for the 2020 elections. 

Tellingly, the UK economy is currently the slowest growing of all G7 economies, down to 1.5% in the first part of the year.

The rather mild and partially sunny day was rather eventful, starting with an incipient migraine, fortunately quashed in time. It was followed by a delightful visit to the dentist to have some extensive drilling on my front teeth, fortunately without pain, but still nerve wracking. I rewarded myself with a hot dog on the way home. Yes you CAN eat immediately after having a filling done if it is set using UV. I then traveled to London for the Quekett Microscopical Club AGM, after which I gave my talk/demonstration on macrophotography.

UK Bureaucrats replace EU Bureaucrats. What are Novichok Nerve Poisons and How Do They Work

Painkiller crystals

The solution to ridding ourselves of EU bureaucracy and bureaucrats is - increasing our own! This is according to a study just released by the Institute for Government independent think tank. It is particularly galling to find that a government that has been cutting public spending in a major austerity program has been dramatically expanding the number of civil servants over six departments to cope with the administrative burden of Brexit, to an anticipated tune of up to £2 bn.

DExEU: adds 650 new staff
DIT: employs 800 extra staff
DEFRA: Harvests 1200 new brexit related staff
Home Office: expects to bring 1500 staff in by September
HMRC: anticipates requiring 3000 to 5000 extra staff by March 2019

Oh, and that is just the start to cover us for the transition, costs will rise in the period afterwards.

Most amusingly, the EU manages to dealing with agriculture, fisheries and the environment with1,657 staff in three departments (457 more than DEFRA)- but that's for all 28 countries including the UK!

Full details can be gleaned from the downloadable PDF from the Institute for Government site.

Some putative Novichok forms

The Prime Minister announced to parliament today that the nerve agent used to poison former double agent  Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, as well as a policeman, was a Novichok agent. 

Novichok agents were developed by Russia with the following aim, according to several sources referenced in Wikipedia:

• To be undetectable using standard NATO chemical detection equipment;
• To defeat NATO chemical protective gear;
• To be safer to handle;
• To circumvent the Chemical Weapons Convention list of controlled precursors, classes of chemical and physical form.

Their name means "Newbie" or "Newcomer"

These nerve agents belong to a class of chemicals known as organophosphates. They target an enzyme important in nerve message transmission, called acetylcholinesterase and stop it from working.

The way it works is as follows:

Source: Macalester on Nerve Agents

Normally a nerve signal releases a compound called acetylcholine from the nerve to get a muscle or gland to act (like putting your foot on an accelerator).

• After transmitting the signal, Acetylcholine is quickly broken down  by an enzyme called acetycholinesterase, to stop the signal from persisting (like taking your foot off the accelerator).

The figure on the left, from Macalester's article on Nerve Agents, shows the process in more detail.

• Nerve poisons stop the acetylcholinesterase from working (they are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors).

• This allows acetylcholine to build up (foot permanently rammed down on the accelerator). 

• The consequences, muscles are locked into permanent action, glands overproduce their hormones. Eyes begin to stream, mucus to flow and important muscles like those for breathing or the heart are locked. That is how they kill.

The Prime Minister has given the Russians 2 days to come up with an explanation how one of their chemical agents was used for an attempted assassination in the UK, potentially endangering a wider group of people.

On a lighter note. I was quite chuffed today to get a request from an US researcher to use some of my fruit fly pictures (of Spotted Wing Drosophila) from another blog for a conference talk they were going to give next week.

Will US Outlaw Bump Stocks? Cable Blames Over 65's For Brexit. Cheese Cake Success on Mother's Day

Ash black slug on wall in Ely

President Trump's decision to agree to talks with the leader of North Korea continues to make waves as it is not clear whether there any prerequisites for the talks. e.g. North Korea giving clear signs of moving on nuclear weapons. In the meantime, it actually looks as if the US Justice Department is moving towards making the bump-stocks illegal. The is could be by classifying them under 'machine guns', as they help convert semi-automatic weapons into fully automatic ones. Whether the legislation will come to fruition is another matter. in the meantime, the EU-US talks about the US tariffs on steel and aluminium broke up without any decision. 

Liberal Democrat Leader Vince Cable baldly blamed the Brexit vote on an over 65's who had a "nostalgia for a world where passports were blue, faces were white and the map was coloured imperial pink". This contrasted with the 70% of under 25's who voted to remain. He was speaking at the party's Spring Conference, where he also pointedly commented that ."Looking around the auditorium, we are very, very white. We must prioritise making our party more ethnically diverse." By the evening his comments had drawn a backlash from mainly Tory MPs. 

Chancellor Philip Hammond was on the political chat show circuit today with the message that this year would see the tipping point when the budget deficit would begin to decline. However, he also refused to state that there would be more money available for cash strapped councils.

Salisbury nerve gas poisoning story takes a new twist. The 500 plus visitors to the pizza restaurant and nearby pub being urged to wash the clothes they wore on the day. This was to avoid the effects of slow accumulative poisoning by any traces of nerve poison

I had a second try at making a cheese cake with Quark that wouldn't collapse on removal from the oven - this time, yesterday, with success! Just mixing the cheese layer ingredients together rather than mixing in a stiffened separate egg-white worked.

With today, Mother's Day, being grey but drier than yesterday, we took a trip to Ely for a walk around the town. We dropped into the Babylon Gallery for the last day of an exhibition of sculptures and caricatures by Sid Burnard and Ralph Steadman. Since most pubs and restaurants were full, we stopped off for a small snack at the Cathedral cafe. On the way back to the car, spent some time photographing bricks, plants, mosses, lichens and an Ash black slug before returning home to tea and cheese cake.