Texas before Tehran.

The American mid-term election results continue to generate excitement in the global media. The BBC quotes a former Portugese Foreign Minister who says, rather pithily, that ' Regime change came to Texas before it came to Tehran '. This makes both of us chuckle.

Christmas is officially here. Heathrow airport has put up one of those minimalist  conical Christmas trees in the departure hall. It does little to generate a festive spirit.

Our flight home leaves on time, arrives ten minutes early and is completely full. There was a time when November would be a quiet off season for flights heading north. No longer. I'd reckon fully two thirds of the passengers are tourists. Many have taken warnings about Scottish weather to heart and are dressed as if they're going to the Arctic. 

Something I've never seen at an airport before. A 'privacy' booth for those conversations that simply can't be overheard.

We take the tram from the airport which gives us enough time to have a coffee at Haymarket while waiting for the connecting train. The platform is full of late 20's something men in black tie heading off to some sports club award shindig. There must be three hundred of them which makes for an unusual sight. Never has the Dundee InterCity looked so smart !

Last night there was a Guy Fawkes firework display on the West Sands. The students enter into the spirit of fireworks displays with unmuted enthusiasm. Young couples seeking a little privacy in the sand dunes are warned of the danger of falling rockets. 

The weather may be chilly but it's dry and bright. Two out of three ain't bad.

The BBC breakfast programme has a remarkably long section on the Zeptoverse. This is broadcast from Cambridge so it is presumably seen as a 'British' field of science :https://thedebrief.org/into-the-zeptoverse-cern-experiments-detect-evidence-of-something-so-rare-it-could-potentially-reveal-new-forces-of-nature/

Taxing food fairly :https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2026/10/whats-the-fairest-way-to-put-a-carbon-tax-on-a-hamburger/

A very Princeton thought :https://press.princeton.edu/ideas/what-brains-are-for

One of my favourite French Xwitter accounts  ( written by their former ambassador in the US ) has this uplifting reminder that eloquence isn't dead :https://x.com/GerardAraud/status/2118279655962931220