(Pix credits:CNN)
While on Tuesday I was frankly much more interested in hearing what Mike Love and Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys had to say about their collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the anchorman had to politely caution them they may need to switch at short notice to a news announcement.
The reason for this was after a on-off-on series of behind the scenes diplomatic activity President Trump of the United States of America and his opposite number Kim Jong-un of North Korea the two leaders met in Singapore, South-east Asia which was the first time a serving U.S. President has ever met his North Korean counterpart in over sixty years.
Being of the generation brought up in the "Cold War" we learned and lived with the history of the Korean War of 1950-53,Eisenhower's doctrine of the "Domino Effect" of how one country would fall to "Red China" the whole of the region would get into communist hands which was our moral mission to prevent leading to involvement in Indo-China and Vietnam specifically.
Whatever our reservations may be other how that panned out and the rapprochement with China in recent decades, that left the states of North and South Korea technically at war each backed by China and the U.S. respectively subject to periodic tensions and missile threats apart from leaving families split and gross human rights violations in the North.
Indeed the worrying back drop to this was the frankly childish even for seven year olds playground spat between these two grown men trading insults and threats of mass destruction that scared South Korea and other neighbouring states.
After all this both men (and I'd like to think they had "Grown up") agreed to look at denuclearization of whole Korean peninsula, working on economic reform and development, human rights and a end to hostilities.
While critics can rightly point out there's not much meat on the bones here and may question if giving up rather than suspending training exercises with South Korea temporarily, the preparedness to at least start the process of tidying up the Cold War mess in a way that respects the legitimate concerns of both Korea's and de-esculates tensions I feel has to be seen as a good thing.
It's been a bit blustery and wet here in the last few days so I've had to wrap up and make sure I'm kinda waterproof when I've been out of doors going for a bit of a stroll around our district.
That's a favourite building of mine here, Ye Olde Black Bear and no your eyes are not deceiving you, it is a bear on the thatched roof of this Seventeenth century public house that serves food. Much of this district is like old as in Sixtieth century or later and actually at the far right just out of view is two objects that are Ninth century, namely Saxon crosses that were full restored after being destroyed during the Civil War.
I have been purposely quiet over the business that saw Sergie Skripal and his daughter become seriously ill on March 4th in Salisbury in England's West Country, a policeman attending been taken ill due to contact with the use of Novichok nerve agent used on Mr Skripal, a former secret agent exchanged in an organized 'swap' between western powers and Russia.
The nerve agent has been identified as coming from a Russian laboratory not being made anywhere else in the world that was part of program that was meant to have been stopped and supplies decommissioned.
It would seem reasonable to conclude that either it was used by persons authorized by the Russian State as no one else would be allowed to have it OR stocks are insecure and held by others that ought to be of grave concern to all including the Russians.
Given a deadline to say what had happened, Russia refused to answer preferring to make boastful comments with sarcasm, treating the matter of attempted murder of two people, the making seriously ill of a another and the potential risk of what in effect would of been a chemical attack on UK soil as little more than a joke.
That is why 23 Russian Embassy staff will be removed together with other measures from the UK - it is that serious, the deployment of Chemical Weapons on UK soil - and frankly I fully support this. It's a long way from agents at midnight with pistols settling scores between themselves and their bosses.
Canada, Australia, The United States of America and some EU countries all agree this and will be consider what (additional) measure they wish to take in concert with the UK.
A sample of the nerve agent will be lodged at the International Chemical Weapons Research Facility in the Netherlands for the record.
Thank god we have a leader with some backbone who is prepared to act even if retaliation is likely because the Russian behavior in all this is totally unacceptable.
