Wisconsin last night:

It is cold - but the main thing preserving the wood is the lack of oxygen. Fresh water entering the Black Sea floats on saline, cold water entering through the Bosphorus. The difference in density between the two layers means that oxygen dissolving from the atmosphere is largely restricted to surface waters. With…

It’s worth pointing out that Russia also views the US as being in breach of the INF with the deployment of Aegis Ashore systems in Romania and Poland as part of the missile defence programme. They claim that the system could easily be repurposed to use nuclear-tipped Tomahawk missiles.

China’s missiles are now mostly there to deter its regional rival - the next superpower of India with which it has a number of unresolved border issues and a growing confrontation in the Indian Ocean. India’s nuclear programme has been making rapid progress with ICBMs, SLBMs and boomers going into service.

‘It’s worth noting that while addressing the incidents directly during a planned speech on the opioid epidemic this afternoon, Trump didn’t manage to mention CNN by name.’

Oh it’s terrible - but it could get worse.

There are lots of things to spend money on in the existing nuclear deterretn from creaky Minuteman missiles (entered service in 1970) through to modernising warheads which need constant maintenance as their plutonium and tritium decay.

It’s possible - although a new referendum bill would need to be introduced to Parliament as primary legislation and passed by both Houses. Whether an acceptable question can be approved, referendum date set and legislated for before we fall off a cliff is another matter as the 29th March date for setting the…

The original amendment has Diane Abbott’s name on it, so I suspect it is supported by the Labour Party (minus that useless harridan Kate Hoey). I’m not sure if the vote will be whipped, but there is a high risk that the legislation will be lost because of the same Murdoch-fellating arseholes who have brought us to…

Then there’s the utter fuck-you from the Brexiteers who are now planning to block gun control legislation which would outlaw certain high-power rifles just so they can show Theresa May who is in charge. The legislation is supported by most MPs, the police and the security services - but 41 MPs are going to kill it to…

It actually sounded worse. It had the voice of something that hides under your bed in the small hours and chuckles at the thought of playing with scissors.

In other news, John Bolton is pushing Trump to exit the Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty which outlaws certain categories of nuclear missiles. There has been some suspicion that Russia is playing fast and loose with the INF, but this is the treaty upon which most nuclear arms limitations are based on. Bolton is also…

15 days after he disappeared, Saudi Arabia has just admitted that Jamal Khashoggi died at its embassy in Istambul. The official line is that he died in a fight with Saudi authorities.

UK television’s uniquely terrifying children’s programmes of the 1970s - not just the obvious things like Doctor Who and Children of the Stones - but the stuff aimed at really young kids.

Another great day from the party of ‘states’ rights’.

It was predicted that after the Republicans got their tax cuts through for the rich they’d suddenly become deficit hawks again and use that as an excuse to go after social programmes.

No chance of him of visiting Saudi Arabia then.

Because he has a lot of friends here - a new video from Randy Rainbow:

Which is doubtless the excuse the Saudis will offer to prevent the US and UK* imposing sanctions. Washington and London will breathe a sigh of relief, say the Saudi’s must apologise, blood money will be paid for the ‘accident’, faces will be saved, the shareholders of Lockheed-Martin and BAE can breathe a sigh of…

Oh accidents can always happen - even in the best regulated Southern Italian families with a construction business.