Planned Brexit Punishment. Centenary of Women's Suffrage. Books and Commemorating a WWI Death

Finds from Lance Sergeant Charles William Stevens from Colin Fakes Talk

Hot topic leaked by EU commission sources is that the first negotiating position on the transition period contains a clause to allow the EU to impose a punishment or counter-reaction if the UK does not comply with rules during the transition. Is this simply posturing? Or is it a reaction to the position by Theresa May that EU citizens will be treated differently after the start of the transition.

With the Prime Minister's position in constant debate, Ann Soubry has threatened to resign from the party if Jacob Rees-Mogg or Boris Johnson take over.

Centenary of Emancipation for women (over thirty and owning property) celebrated widely in the press and online. I was intrigued by an interview on local radio with Cambridge author Patricia Fara, on her most recent book "A Lab of One's Own: Science and Suffrage in the First World War". The intro looked interesting but I will hold off buying a copy until the Kindle price comes down a bit. Anyway, I still have to finish reading "Testosterone Rex: Unmaking the Myths of Our Gendered Minds" by Cordelia Fine. If that sounds a bit highbrow, well, I've also been reading my way through the "Last Dragonslayer" trilogy by Jasper Fforde and am now in the unsatisfactory position of having to wait till volume four is published, sometime this year.

Poster for Finding Grandfather Stevens

This evenings Milton Local History Group Talk was by Colin Fakes on finding his WWI "Grandfather Stevens". Lance Sergeant Charles William Stevens he died during an unsuccessful assault on a heavily defended chemical works near Arouex, France, in April 1917. His remains were discovered during a new development and led to Colin Fakes and the French residents of the village creating a memorial to him and the other 81 combatants believed to still lie buried in the mud of war in a nearby field.

What was particularly striking was that engagement and commitment of the local community in the whole exercise. A stark contrast to the narrow minded Brexit we are going through.

Colin also brought along the items recovered from the site, including coins, a trench pick and shovel, metal belt loops, buttons, flask and wire cutters. it was quite fascinating and humbling to see these reminders of a devastating conflict that ended a century ago.