EU Legal Draft and John Major Cast Cat Amongst Brexit Pigeons. Robins in the Snow

Busy Brexit Day with the EU releasing the draft of their draft of a withdrawal agreement. This still needs to get past the remaining 27 EU member countries but does spell out in more legal terms what EU negotiators through had been agreed with UK in December. Where there was absence of definition from the UK, they helpfully put in some suggestions. The major one being about the establishment of a common regulatory area between the EU, the UK and Northern Ireland. This went down like a bomb at Westminster with the Prime minister refuting the option. It also contains an item on restricted rights of movement for UK citizens living abroad. The punishment clause - just in case the UK misbehaves during the transition, is back. The BBC's reality check is a good reference for the document - see here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43228161. Presumably these are all negotiating positions ready for the Prime Minister meeting with the European Council President Donald Tusk tomorrow and before her keynote speech planned on Friday.

In the meantime, Former Prime Minister gave a scathing speech on the current situation and handling of the Brexit negotiation with frequent references to a radical minority gunning for Brexit by all means. He spoke so eloquently at the Creative Industries Federation, Somerset House, that Jacob Rees-Mogg had to immediately rebut with a character assassination in a BBC interview afterwards. I'd never seen John Major so animated and obviously angry at the idiocy of current Brexit negotiations - full copy of his speech here, as media only showing clips. http://www.johnmajor.co.uk/page4412.html.

Minor ructions across the pond as the usual White House turmoil continues. Trump offends his Attorney General Jeff Sessions re a new investigation, who counters "As long as I am the attorney general, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this department will continue to do its work in a fair and impartial manner according to the law and Constitution." White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, (who I had not heard of before but apparently was a key Trump ally) resigns.

Again we have been spared the snow which is causing havoc, especially up North in Scotland. The bit we had led to more activity on our bird feeder and I tried to get some decent pictures with the one of two Robins on the feeder at the same time being one of the best. Also did some more microscope work on a particular on-going project for our Cambridge Open Studios in July.

Corbyn's Custom Union and the Tory Dilemma of an Irish Border. Singular Lack of Snow in Milton

Monday, the Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, gave a very lucid explanation of why the UK should be in a customs union with the EU. He gave a very practical example of the way a BMW mini was built, with components traversing the channel to and from the EU as the car was gradually assembled. Sadly, this was followed by the more unrealistic expectation that his negotiations for a new customs union after Brexit would result in still having a say in trade negotiations conducted by the EU.

The current reality is still that at the moment, whilst in the EU, the UK actually has the best customs union and a say in EU trade negotiations.

Best description of the hazards of brexit was by Sir Martin Donnelly, former Permanent Secretary, who said that a future outside the EU’s single market was like swapping a three-course meal for a packet of crisps!

There was a flurry of activity from the government as first the Trade Secretary Liam Fox was excluding the possibility of a customs union; Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson hinted that a hard border between Northern Ireland and Eire could be managed technologically as between two London boroughs (much to the incredulity of the interviewer); Followed by 10 Downing Street stating that there would be no hard border in Ireland.

A concerned Michel Barnier,  The EU’s chief negotiator, summoned the UK’s Brexit secretary, David Davis, to Brussels for crisis talks over his concern over the major differences that remain over the transition period. The EU will be finalising its document on the agreement reached on the transition period with the UK in the coming days.

Britain continues to be enthralled with the morbid fascination for the late winter that is 'The Beast from the East'. Chatting to someone via Skype based in Kent, they had at least five inches of snow today. Further East from us, in Norfolk, there too heavy snow had fallen in places. Here in Milton - a tentative snow flurry which disappeared into a returning blue sky. We did have some more spectacular snow flurries yesterday but the road and paths were soon clear again with just a hint of white remaining on the lawn.

The temperature today did stay around zero and threatens to plummet tonight. However, the bright sun meant that we had a good attendance at the Community Cafe today.

Labour to Favour Customs Union with the EU. Last Sun Before UK in the Freezer.

Labour is gradually shifting course re Brexit. Not quite yet supporting staying within the existing EU agreement, Shadow Brexit Secretary, Sir Keir Starmer, announced on that being in a customs union was "the only way realistically to get tariff free access", "really important for our manufacturing base" - and the only way to avoid the return of a "hard border" in Northern Ireland. He is still talking about being in a new customs union AFTER Brexit, the half-way house that would give us all the benefits of the EU - apart from an ability to join in the decision making as we do now, and without the ability to do our own trade deals.

However, it is still a welcome change from the pipe-dream of the hardline Brexiteers of cutting all ties with the EU and somehow still having our cake and eating it.

Apparently this is the last sunny day before we are struck by the Siberian, ice cold winds, snow and possibly even Blizzards. Some commentators have warned that it will be colder than the Arctic in the UK without mentioning that this is because the Arctic is currently exceptionally warm with temperatures just below freezing. However the forecast for the North Pole is a return to -20 degC temperatures in the coming days.

The wind did feel icy on a short walk as far as the Fen Road Railway crossing, so we scurried back home and made an upside down sponge pudding with hot custard for tea. This evening, I began a looking at plant fibres in a common household item and too photo stacks and panorama pictures of one sample.

Youngsters put NRA on Back Foot. Cabinet Agrees Brexit Strategy. MacroPhotography, GDPR and Managing Archives. Mune.

Liverpool Street Station Arrival

Impact of Florida shooting continues, with young generation grabbing the initiative and generating interest in change in gun laws, the NRA reacting vocally and President Trump promotng arming teachers in school. Apparently they would have been able to kill the shooter who had a semi-automatic rifle, with a concealed handgun. The likelihood of success perhaps placed in doubt by the the fact that trained armed deputies arrived on scene but did not go into building. The other risk being that a child brings in a toy gun, or just really really annoys the teacher on a later Friday afternoon and provokes a shooting by the teacher.

Theresa May dragged her Cabinet to a work-day out to hammer a consensus on the approach to Brexit, which will not be revealed until a speech by the Prime Minister next Friday. The policy is likely to include a 'three baskets' approach to regulations

1. Regulations to keep unchanged to the EU
2. Regulations to modify
3. Regulations not to follow

The EU Commission has since reiterated that the three basket approach is cherry picking, and that the EU would not permit it.

AS well as work, had four different activities over the past three days.

Thursday evening was the CETC event on Risk and Risk perception, with four industry and academic speakers covering anything from the spread and impact of a pandemic to safety in Aviation. 

Friday morning, I gave the talk/demonstration on macro-photography to the U3A, which was well received and may result in future speaking engagements. 

Friday afternoon, attended the HBN presentation on the new GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) which all companies will have to register for and comply with  from May onwards. For small companies it appeared to be a matter of common sense:

• Identifying personal data held by the company/business. This includes names and contact details, held on company PC's, paper files, and contacts in Smartphones or other devices.
• Creating and keeping a record of a GDPR strategy to ensure that the data is held securely.
• Having a named individual in a smaller company as a contact for GDPR related issues, or a designated Data Protection Officer for larger companies.

The big change is that ALL personal data is covered, including simply names and addresses of business contacts, which had previously been excluded from the current DPA.

Today, traveled to London from by train to Liverpool Street Station and then on to the Natural History Museum at South Kensington. The Circle Line was out of action for that stretch and the route taken was first to Holborn via the Central Line and then taking the Piccadilly line. The Morning was taken up with a Quekett Committee meeting. Lunch in discussions about actions arising from the meeting. The afternoon was a presentation on the digitisation and recording of the clubs extensive collection of historically and scientifically important slides.

Returned tired after a 12h day.

Watched the french fantasy animation film Mune again and found it to be still as good as the first time. Very original story and visualisation of a different fantasy world where The sun is stolen, the moon lost and three unlikely heroes have to recover them.

Listening Trump and Arming Teachers. Scotch Producers See Brexit Clearly. Boxing for a Move.

A Listening Trump at a listening session at the White House today. The President  and Vice Presideent took time to listen to the survivors of school shootings, recent and from the past. Parents and fellow students who spoke with anger, or deep grief, or with a determination to not sleep until some action is taken.

As an outsider looking in, the free reign of the gun culture seems as incomprehensible to me as to the 18 year old Florida student who had lost his friend. But is there this time a glimmer of hope? Will President Trump actually be able to set actions in motion that defeated his predecessor, Barak Obama?

The proposed solutions, of more stringent mental checks and arming and training teachers to use guns in schools so that they can kill shooters who attack, seems a perverse logic. Especially when you look at the dramatic positive effect of Australian assault weapon ban after a horrific massacre in 1996, which caused such attacks to cease. However, even the defenders of the gun lobby, some gun shop and gun owners themselves are beginning to question whether automatic rifles really have a place in society.

Perhaps this time, there will be more action after a school shooting.

Scotch whisky accounts for 20% of the UK's food and drink exports with more than 30% going to the EU! So it is interesting to see that the producers have a remarkably clear eye of where they stand on Brexit. They are broadly against it and for staying in the EU. However, if Brexit does happen, they want a clean break and implementation of WTO rules on trade. This is because:

1. There are no tarifs on the import of scotch into the EU under WTO rules.
2. If and when we enter the transition period and follow this with a customs union, the UK will no longer have any say in regulations that affect the scotch industry!

With this crystal insight, it is particularly interesting to see HM Government's 'Draft Text For Discussion: Implementation Period' published today. It seems that there is significant agreement between the EU and the UK, though Northern Ireland, the rights of EU citizens during the transition period, and UK fisheries are still sticking points. Oh, and the UK will have little say in the EU during this time and will not be able to complete any trade deals during this time

I fully agree with the BBC's Norman Smith assessment that this document, that this makes Tory brexiteers uncomfortable. In fact, I'm surprised that so far the strongest action from hardline brexiteers has been a stiff letter from 62 MPs. 

Just as we find the US attitude on gun control seems incomprehensible to an outsider looking in, so is Brexit, where we are leaving the EU, to negotiate a trade deal with as good a relationship with the EU as at present BUT without any say in the EU's regulations and tarifs?

The UK cabinet will be meeting tomorrow to finally try and work out a consensus on Brexit. 

Family dominated the afternoon as we headed over to St Neots to help daughter and son-in-law pack up for their imminent move to a new home and job. To be honest, Jane worked helped harder than me as I was finalising the structure of my Friday talk and the accompanying slides for half the time.

Davis Suggests EU Regulations to be replaced by Equivalent UK regulations? Meetings at SJIC

David Davis's speech in Vienna outlined his view on the future relationship with the EU. Aiming to allay concerns about a potential race o the bottom in terms of regulations and prices, Davis presented a surprising revelation. EU Regulations will be replaced by bigger and better UK regulations. This should allow continued free trade with the EU. (see the full text of the speech here: http://brexitcentral.com/full-text-david-daviss-road-brexit-speech-delivering-future-economic-partnership/)

This is apparently entirely consistent with Boris Johnson's statement when answering a question in Parliament

“There is no reason whatsoever why we should not be able to exit both the customs union and the single market, whilst maintaining frictionless trade not only north-south in Northern Ireland, but with the rest of continental Europe as well.”

Davis's views might be optimistically regarded as meeting the requirement for "full regulatory autonomy" for the UK after March 2019, demanded in a letter by more than 60 MPs to Theresa May. More likely is however that this will actually anger the hard brexit supporters in the Conservative Party, who do indeed want the freedom to cut regulations and red tape.

This has been the third aspirational Europe speech (Johnson, May, Davis). The EU is still waiting for the fine print that firms up the sentiments expressed.

I walked over to the St John's Innovations Centre Bistro today for a manuscript review meeting with an author. We made good progress. As i attempted to leave, I was struck by the familiar phenomenon at SJIC of meeting others that I knew and having short catch up conversations.After a more admin related afternoon, I began fleshing out the planned presentation to the U3A on Friday.

The Tragedy of no Scientific Advisor for POTUS. UK Cities Visit Barnier. Books and Pollen

Lily Pollen 400x, inverted stack

President Trump experienced a renewed protest on US gun laws outside the White House, by students and parents affected by the most recent Florida shool shooting. Will anything real come of this or will business revert to normal once the issue is overtaken by the next headline.

Another worrying long term issue where there has been inaction - The empty post of Scientific Advisor to the president. The president has not filled the post after 390 plus days of his inauguration and the Office of Science and Technology Policy is running on one third of its original staff. The fact has been repeatedly been raised at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  There is no scientific voice to give the president impartial advice on the the consequences of nuclear action by or on North Korea. 

But I personally think that we shouldn't be surprised. The White House and politics in general are focused on short term issues, debates and actions that can maintain their power, influence and popularity. It is currently an adrenaline pumping roller-coaster along the corridors of power, where reputations can rise or crash in the space of a day. Facts have a low priority compared to emotions and deal-making.

Science is also a playground of power, influence and popularity - but these are all subservient to facts and ideas that match the observations of the world around us. However, science is for the long term and works at a much slower pace than politics. 

In the long run, reality and science catch up with you. The most obvious is when medical issues like illness and disease affect you personally and you hope that someone has already researched and developed a solution for you. Climate change is a slow burner that will come back to haunt us if unaddressed.

If President Trump really intends to stay for the longer term, the post of  Scientific Advisor to the President needs to be filled. It provides practical and impartial advice to scope out the real environmental, medical or technological challenges that can appear anywhere on the horizon. Forewarned is forearmed.

A delegation of 10 council leaders and city mayors of the UK's major cities met today with the chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier, the group contained both brexiteers and remainers. Their objective was to raise the issues and interests of their cities in the Brexit negotiations. The group was willing to talk to both EU and UK Brexit negotiators but so far only the EU had shown interest in meeting them. The invitation to talk is still open for the David Davis and the Department for Exiting the EU.

Major news today. Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets in the UK closed - due to a lack of chicken deliveries. Could this be a subversive government plot to push the populace towards healthier eating?

Back to serious work today - one book off to the printer and awaiting a print proof, two books currently going through final edits and a number still waiting in the pipeline. 

I'd had a session taking photograph stacks of lily pollen under the microscope last night. This was in preparation for the talk on macro-photography on Friday. this evening I combined the 400 plus pictures into 6 focus stacks of varying success.