September update: an historic month

September was a truly historic month. There can be no one on the planet who is unaware that Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest serving monarch, died on September 8th after 70 years selfless devotion to the country. King Charles III certainly has a hard act to follow. 

Only two days before the Queen died, her last official engagement, at Balmoral in Scotland, was an audience to receive the resignation of the disgraced Prime Minister Boris Johnstone and to officially appoint his successor, Liz Truss, the UK's 3rd female Prime Minister. Bizarrely, for a PM who had been ousted in disgrace, Johnson had spent the first week of the month on a "Farewell Tour" of the UK, highlighting his many "achievements".

On the day that the new PM was announced Barbara and I were on our way to a nostalgic safari in northern Tanzania, followed by a few days in Zanzibar. On our return we wondered if we should have emigrated to Tanzania, as the new Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng set out his mini-budget of draconian tax cuts, in which 5% of the richest tax payers will receive 45% of the benefits, and the poorest very little, all at a time when many are suffering badly due to the cost of living crisis.

On the 26th Barbara had major surgery, and now she is convalescing at home for a few months, with me as her carer, learning new skills completely foreign to me, such as cooking, washing and other domestic chores. 

Due to Barbara's hospitalisation I was unable to attend the Cornish Mining Conference in Falmouth on the 29th, but the evening before I did manage to catch up with my old friend Ian Townsend, and his son Jeff, at the Chain Locker. Ian was a very well known figure in the minerals industry until his retirement from Outotec in November 2015 brought to an end his 45 years in the industry. 

Jeff and I had never met before, but I felt that I knew him fairly well, as he is the founder of the Critical Minerals Association, one of the industry advocates for MEI Conferences. He also chaired the panel discussion at this year's online event Sustainable Minerals '22. Jeff, who was a speaker at the Cornish Mining conference, is an expert in foreign affairs and international development, which has led him to advise senior ministers, ambassadors and national leaders. He was born in Carltonville, South Africa and grew up in mining communities around the world following the travels of his father and mother, Ian and Pat.

A very memorable month.

@barrywills