The Meghan Effect

The Meghan Effect

Royal Wedding fever is on. With three hours to go and London basking in Caribbean weather, the “Meghan Effect” is that English customs are said to blend with American influence. The wedding is estimated to provide an estimated £195 million boost to the UK economy over the next four months, and why not?
                             

Royal weddings are not just ceremonies.They are steeped in tradition.For the first time in a century a royal will marry an American.This is in keeping with the times.It is what the public want. Most of all it is what Prince Harry has wanted and as he said, Meghan "is capable of anything."

Royal weddings also create business for the nation. With the global spotlight on the UK spending by a flood of tourists to London, we are told will be over £41 million will be spent on wedding related merchandise alone.

Going by the past record, the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge on 11 April 2011, spending in UK rose by 5% in the week of that wedding. Although this year the anticipated rise in sales is forecast to be much less, the euphoria of the royalty and the wedding in particular, the anticipated spending by the public on food and drink alone is estimated at £33.2 million.

The Meghan Gown  

The picture of Prince Harry and Meghan may look simple, but the gown she will be wearing on her wedding day, 19 May 2018 at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, is nothing simple about it.                                                                     

It reportedly costs £100,000 or $135,533 according to inside circles. That is roughly 5 times an average annual salary of a British worker and it is said 87 times the typical cost of a wedding dress.

The Meghan Markle look itself is minting money. It is over twice the estimated cost of Kate Middleton’s Alexander McQueen gown which was said to cost $434,000.

While the designer of Meghan’s wedding gown is still kept secret, a rumour spread by the Daily Mail is casting attention on the Australian real life couple, Tamara Ralph and Michael Russo, renowned for their extravagant couture designs.

The heightened interest on the dress is partly because of the frenzy of the betting odds on the Designer, with bookies promoting Erdem, Roland Mouret (a friend of Meghan),Inbar Dror, Jenny Packham, providing favourites.

The luxury of the Wedding Gown is not only for viewers, tourists or for the competition among Royal Dress Designers. Meghan is known to have cultivated the luxury of wearing beautiful pieces of clothing, everyday for work. Classic and simple is the name of the game, perhaps, subtly romantic.

Royal Tradition

                                     

Prince Harry will not see his bride in her Wedding Gown, before she walks down the aisle. The tradition among royalty is that the Queen is the only one to see the Gown beforehand. And who said traditions do not matter?

After the wedding Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be known as their Royal Highness (HRH) and given the title the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

While we might not know what Meghan bouquet may look like or what their cake will taste like, there are a few details we are absolutely certain about.

This is because the Royal Family have a number of traditions and customs that are expected of them. A short summary is as follows:

1.    The Bride must wear white.

2.    The Bride must wear a tiara.

3.    Her Bouquet must contain myrtle, the herb of love.

4.    The Bride will then lay her bouquet at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.

5.    The Groom must wear a military uniform.

6.    The Royal Family must sit on the right side of the Church.

7.    Guests have to adhere to a strict dress code, military or lounge suits for men and Day Dress for women.

8.    The Bride’s wedding ring must contain Welsh gold, the Groom may or may not wear a ring.

9.    The Bride will arrive in a glass coach in a horse driven carriage.

10. There must be a formal wedding Royal Portrait.

It is believed to be the first time a Royal Couple will break with tradition and not serve fruit cake to their wedding guests.

Prince Harry has asked Prince William to be his Best Man, thus the Chair of the Football Association will miss the FA Cup Final at Wembley on the same day.

Prince George and Princess Charlotte are expected to be involved as Page Boy and Flower Girl.

Prince Harry                                   

                                                               

        

For Prince Harry it is a day of too much solemnity. He is still the Romantic Prince. Meghan and Prince Harry have promised a wedding focussed on fun, joy and a chance to celebrate with the public. They have both invited 600 guests among the public for their wedding. This reflects their individual characters, their love of African and other charities, their love of conservation, natural habitat and of course service to fellow members of the Forces. Prince Harry’s Regiment 3^rd Regiment Air Corps, where he served as an Apache Pilot in Helmand Province, Afghanistan and in comrades in the Royal Gurka Rifles in Afghanistan in 2007, will be in attendance in the celebrations.

It won’t be surprising to see both Prince Harry and Meghan on royal duties both in UK and the Commonwealth in the months and years ahead.

Victor Cherubim   

One Party Democracy in London

One Party Democracy, is it Local Government?

There are 32 Boroughs in Greater London. In 28 of these Boroughs electors vote for a maximum of three candidates in each Ward,  into which Boroughs are divided.

Electors in each Ward can vote for candidates all from one party, a mix of parties or independent councillors,not belonging to any Party. 

In 28 of the 32 Boroughs the Leader of the Council is decided by the political party with the most number of seats. 

In 4 Boroughs,Hackney, Lewisham, Newham and Tower Hamlets, they vote for a Mayor, who is an Executive of the Borough.

Local Government elections look place in London on 3 May 2018, as part of the wider local Council elections in 150 local communities in England. No local polls were held in Scotland and Wales on this day. 

The Mayor of London election takes place on a different four year cycle, with the next election in 2020. 

Unlike Parliamentary elections people can be registered to vote at more than one address.This generally applies to University students who are 18 years and over who are entitled to vote both at their education and at their home address. 

Voting can be in person at a polling station or by a postal ballot.People can also register for a proxy, appointing someone they wish to vote for them. 

All UK,Commonwealth and European Union citizens aged 18 and over,living in the Borough are entitled to vote.

The anomaly and possible outcomes

In three London Boroughs of Newham, Barking and Dagenham and Islington, one party has taken all the seats in the Borough. All three Boroughs are controlled by the Labour Party, which at this time happens to be the party in Opposition in Parliament. 

Newham has all 60 Ward Councillors belonging to the Labour Party. Barking & Dagenham and Islington between them have 47 Councillors each,also belonging to one party, the Labour Party.

Disadvantages of accountability,transparency and scrutiny

Having a single party control of Local Government has the following disadvantages: 

Having no opposition in the Council, thus only single party issues are taken up and    given priority and actioned.

1. The planning process may not be well formulated and documented,meaning the decision making is not divorced from the actual decision process,perhaps,leading to stagnation in Borough politics. 
2. The strength about what may be happening at the national level, of the local single party     may impact on policies at the Local level.Thus national level issues may probably get prioritised at the expense of local issues, defeating the very purpose of local government.
3.  No healthy political debate,as there is no effective scrutiny process.
4.  No transparency in local issues,all of which does not generate robust policies in local        governance over the long term.
5.  No real accountability, means no real democracy.Issues of contention don't get aired.

Advantages of overall control

1.  Every Local Authority context is different so what works for one Council won't necessarily work for another.It is about working out what will work locally and taking it forward.
2. A single party control will expedite issues,particularly local issues.
3. The idea of single party control  is not necessarily a disadvantage, as nearly all of the single party elected London Boroughs are ethnic minority populated Boroughs,have similar priorities and policy objectives. 
4. Checks and balances may not necessarily be abandoned, but may not be as robust.

Local Election results and national polls

The idea that Local elections are becoming less useful as a means of predicting the result of any future General Election result, particularly for Labour, is because the party may be increasingly reliant on their voters who are traditionally inclined not to vote in the locals.

The fact that Conservatives did not do as badly as expected in the heartlands of Labour and held on to their own strongholds in Westminster, Wandsworth and took control of Barnet,speak volumes, as the over expectations of Labour strategy was put to the test and failed.

The result of metropolitan London Boroughs, it must be said, is no template for what may happen in the country at the next General Election. 

There is also no guarantee that the local government results in London and elsewhere mirrored the referendum vote. In years to come the Brexit division of the "Leave" and the "Remain"voter will be forgotten and considered as past history.

Victor Cherubim

Gene Editing

Gene Editing

Heart disease, alzheimer's, cancer are the most common illnesses that can be eradicated in 20 years, according to Genetic research.

Genome editing or Engineering (also called gene editing) is revolutionising biomedical research due to its high efficiency,ease of use and relatively low cost. It has come after decades of scientific research and ethical and environmental concerns about its efficacy.

This consists of a group of technologies that give scientists, called geneticists,the ability to change an organism's DNA. These technologies allow genetic material to be added,removed or altered at particular locations in the genome.

A recent platform is known as CRISPR -Cas9, which is short for "clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats," has generated a lot of excitement among geneticists and scientists because it is faster,cheaper, more accurate, and efficient than other existing genome editing methods.

Gene Therapies

There are two different categories of gene therapies,"Germline" therapy and "Somatic" therapy. Germline therapy can alter many cell types. But by definition,they also change genes in reproductive cells (like sperm and eggs). Germline therapy could "potentially" prevent inheritance of diseases. Somatic therapies on the other hand target non reproductive cells. These changes only affect the person (the individual) who receives the gene therapy. This therapy could be used to slow or reverse the disease process. 

What then, are genes? 

"Genes are the biological templates the body uses to make the structural proteins and enzymes needed to build and maintain tissues and organs. They are made up of strands of the genetic code, denoted by the letters G,C,T and A". The letters of the Genetic Code refer to the molecules Guanine (G) Cytosine (C) Thymine (T) and Adenine (A). In DNA, these molecules pair up: G with C and T with A". 

Many diseases from cancer to asthma have genetic  bases.Through the application of genome editing technologies,physicians "might" eventually be able to prescribe targeted gene therapy to make corrections to patient genomes and "prevent," stop or reverse disease.

Gene tools 

Gene editing "rewrites DNA,the biological code that makes up the instruction manuals of living organisms".

Laymen should come to know the vocabulary used by Geneticists. Words such as "gene knockout," "mutagenesis," "activation/ repression," are some among others regularly used.          

                                         
In simple language,with gene editing,researchers can switch off and on, disable,turn on target genes,correct harmful mutations and change the activity of specific genes in plants and animals, now in humans.

What will our Genome tell us?   

The DNA can tell us our sex,hair colour,eye colour,Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Body Clock, Long Life,Obesity and other diseases. 

The simplest thing DNA can tell us is whether someone is male or female.All you need to know is whether they have X and Y chromosomes (making them male) or a pair of Xs (which makes them female). 

We are also told if you have TP3 you have a 90% chance of having cancer. In Breast Cancer,up to 80% of women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 Genes will develop Breast cancer.

The speed of DNA Sequence

The speed of DNA sequencing is increasing. We are now able to read and edit DNA to ascertain whether people are predisposed to certain diseases. Reading DNA letter by letter is called sequencing. 

Soon, in fact in the not too distant future, every new born will have a DNA Sequence Report, similar to having a Passport, as an Identity Health Check. Don't imagine it,it is already here. It is a technological platform to understand our genes, for health care,for prevention of disease and for treatment.
                                        

Epigenetic Information

Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in the gene function. Most often it denotes changes in a chromosome that affect gene activity and expression.

Epigenetic markers are passed on after birth. Epigenetic silencing is the process of making the markers reversible.There are drugs prescibed to silence the "abberated epigenetic markers". It is to control trans-generational influences. Which marker(s) to turn on and which one's to turn off, which gene to go back to the job of protecting and restoring disease, is the science which holds great promise for the future.

The question is the positive or negative impact our genes have over long term health as well as our longevity.

DNA Screen

Every newborn will have a DNA screening. At birth you order your DNA Chart.It is your NHGRI identity.It stands for National Human Genome Research Institute,located at Bethesda,Maryland,USA. Besides, your national passport,one may also have to carry a NHGRI identity to travel the world in the future?

Who knowns whether Prince Louis,newborn son of Prince William, has a NHGRI identity?

My identity, however,is that I was born in Colombo,Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. I had never known until recently that I had inherited the genes of my great,great,great,great grandfather, Changarapillai Mudaliyar who was born in 1695 and lived to a ripe old age of 89 years. 

Personalised Medicine in the future?

Besides, cell free circulating DNA is being explored as a biomarker for treatment of cancer,to monitor their progression (as an alternative to invasive biopsies). 

Pharmaco Genomics involves using an individual's genome to determine whether or not a particular therapy or dose of therapy will be effective. PG information is available in the medicine label in diverse fields such as analgesics,anti-virus,cardiovascular drugs and anti-cancer therapeutics.

DNA Sequencing is being used to investigate infectious disease outbreaks,Ebola virus,drug resistance staphylococci aureas and Klebsieila pneumoniae, as well as food poisoning. 

Genome Testing 

Genetic Testing has exploded. But there is a tremendous shortage of Genetic Sequencers to perform these tests. There are fewer than 5000 Counsellors in the U.S.,which falls short of demand for sequencing of the human genome.

Harvard's Geneticist,Robert Green is of the view that medicines are not needed to live long. All we have to do is to thing long term.He seems to think that pain killing drugs will soon be replaced with non opioid (narcotic analgesics) as there is concern about opiod abuse and addiction.

The change to the process of using genome as a diagnostic is unstoppable.

Ethical and environmental concerns 

Besides, ethical concerns of whether it would be permissible to use this technology to enhance normal human traits (such as height or intelligence), there is the perennial question of longevity.

As I researched this piece, partly in competition with my nephew in the States, who happens to be Geneticist, I also spoke to some other experts who foresee a coming "Uranus" revolution on 15 May 2018,in medicine among other technologies,where we treat age, instead of disease.

To do this, they are trying to figure out how aging works at the molecular level.We know the scientific platform is changing from disease related to age related. 

Life expectancy already varies greatly. It is tied to education,wealth,where you live,what you eat and the amount of alcohol you consume.Life extending therapies could exacerbate these expectancies. This means people with money and resources will have the choice to live longer. 

That cannot be right, can it?

Victor Cherubim  

The Diversity of life in Britrain

The Diversity of life in Britain

Where else in the world can you have so much diversity of opinion, so diverse culture,so much going on, on so many fronts, yet so little for ordinary citizens to really get "hot under their collar,"or even snap their cool,  hardly to start a revolution on the streets.

Walk down a street in Britain especially the bigger cities,you will notice people with different colour,creed, costume,culture and language. You will see people with different hair,skin,eye colours. They may be white,brown or black skin, blond,brown,black,red or multi-coloured hair,with blue brown or green eyes. They are all considered British.

They may be from Poland or from Polynesia, they may look different,speak different languages,worship different religions,but they are still considered British?

People have moved from all over the globe,from time immemorial,over the ages, bringing with them their own culture and often trying to keep their British identity and their own traditions of their home countries alive. A good example is the Notting Hill Carnival which celebrates the Caribbean culture, yet a big part of British life.

Of course, "when push comes to shove" the natives call each other names, as much they themselves are foreign in origin. "You Paki go back home, you Jamaican go play cricket in your beach, you slit eyes,find your chop sticks," are construed as racist, but spoken in jest? 

But where else in the world can you find the "Son of a Gun," sorry, the son of a migrant bus conductor from Pakistan,take over the reins as Home Secretary of H.M. British Government, the most powerful job in the realm, in charge of British security. 

Where else can you have a Marxist leaning left wing politician, a man who opposes Trident and who can get away without condemning ant-Semitism, as the Leader of Britain's Government in waiting, the Leader of the Opposition.

Where else can you also find a new Home Secretary allowed to say in public:"I'll be decent and fair to everybody, including to Windrush migrants," as if by admission all previous incumbent Home Secretaries,from times gone by, were all bigots.

Where else can you find a country where the Prime Minister backs a probe into claims that the Speaker of the House of Commons, bullied a male Private Secretary,mimicked him,swearing and shouting,once smashing a mobile phone at the desk in front of him." 

Where else could Britain's first ethnic minority Home Secretary,Rt.Hon.Sajid Javid be hit with a wave of online trolling from both the left and the right and brand him an immigrant "coconut, an Uncle Tom" on social media. 

Where else could a white pensioner who sent a racially abusive letter to Shadow Home Secretary, Diane Abbott, be awarded a 12 month Community Order for referring her as "black vermin."

The facts of geography, history and commercial history of Britain are not going to change even if the planet Uranus,will change signs in the galaxy on the 15 May 2018, 84 years after its earlier transit.The prediction of soothsayers is that the world, will not be the same ever again. 

Public sick of Brexit, but could it be a life chance?

Over the years the word Brexit has meant so many things, to so many people,in so many places in Britain. Yet D-Day when Britain leaves the EU is only months away. Brexit D-Day is 29 March 00.00 Brussels Central European Time (23,00 hrs Greenwich Mean Time).The House of Lords has vetoed the Withdrawal Bill so many times in the past month,that nobody wants to remember the number of defeats. As at 1st May 2018,the count was 10 times the Peers defeated the Government's flagship EU Withdrawal Bill. 

The Brexit War Cabinet delayed a decision on UK's Customs arrangements after failing to reach agreement in a crunch meeting for the Prime Minister to ask her officials to draw up "revised proposals" for Ministers to consider again the new proposals.Rumour has it that six out of eleven Ministers were not in favour of the current proposals. 

Brexit backing Tory MP's have made threats to withdraw their support from Prime Minister Theresa May, if she rejects their demands for a clean break.  

Theresa May, a Woman of Steel 

Everyone knows if not for Prime Minister Theresa May's position,steadying the Conservative Party, the country would be made the laughing stock of Europe. "This is the first time she has misstep Brexiters and like it or not she relies on that support." This is a new dynamic.

Everyone knows that the Euro economy has lost speed. Growth in the EU economy has lost some of its momentum at the beginning of 2018, although the expansion continued at a healthy pace well above that of the UK.

The Bottom Line 

The Bottom Line as all know, Britain is well ahead in other fields. Take the race for Technology, Britain is far ahead of the game to transform the economy beyond recognition. We are told,firms such as, "Swift Key, the predictive text firm, Lumo, which uses Met Office Data and Air Traffic information to predict flight delays,GTN which develops new medicines through machine learning,Babylona Digital Diagnostic Service, now in use in the NHS, Deep Minds now part of Google , all think Britain is the best place for technological innovation of the future. 

IBM and Silicon Valley are things of the past, with the work that IBM did now being farmed out to many companies overseas. 

Britain has many advantages over Europe or even the U.S., in the future. For a start,it has a global language, many say a robust legal architectural system, a feasibly light but fairly effective regulatory atmosphere. These will give Britain a head start, whatever happens to Brexit. 

Besides,Britain leads the world in financial Technology. London's Imperial College,Oxford and Cambridge Universities form a triangle of innovation. 

EU regulations have over the years become very heavy handed. United States has become more Protectionist, China is moving ahead and so is India, but it will take a while to catch up with Britain in A.I., with the right skills and the acceptably regulatory business framework. 

Whichever way the Brexit cookie crumbles in future, the magic of Britain,is its ingenuity in innovation. 

Astronomers project the trailblazer planet,"Uranus" could  change the Universe we know and are accustomed to in the future.There could be what they call "creative destruction" and chaos around the world. The one overriding benefit for Britain is its genius as a nation, for the risk it is taking with Brexit. The swiftness of this change and the accompaniment of ingenuity in accepting change vs stagnation, may well be the reward for Britain. 

Victor Cherubim