Goal Setting and Achievement

Teaching children how to succeed. (1) There is no 'one way' to success - only the one that suits you and your child. (2) Each child is an individual and they are perfect enough. (3) We decide our own limits and do not let others set them for us.

It is beneficial that children have positive friends who support their dreams and ambitions.

Goal setting: Decide on a goal (can be big or small). Break it down into long term and short term. Make goals precise and specific enough to be able to visualise it. Look at possible obstacles and how to overcome them. Prioritize action on goals and obstacles - which needs to be tackled first?

Use visualization - seeing is believing for the human brain. For the goal (e.g. becoming a chef) imagine wearing chef's clothes, being in the kitchen, the food and smells and sounds, and how proud you feel inside; this helps the brain work in a positive way.

Use what works best for you in the way you learn. If a difficulty occurs, find out exactly what the problem is and work from there. If there is an obstacle, see if there are short term goals that will help you get over them.

Let child set and how to reward/celebrate when they achieve them. Along the way new opportunities may arise - which change the route to the final goal. There will always be ups and downs, and physical exercise is a great way to sharpen a child's sense of self-belief; a family walk which involves reaching to top of a small hill will give a feeling of achievement.

Main source: Make Your Child Brilliant by Bernadette Tynon. Quadrille, 2008 (ISBN 978-184400-579-6)

Eat Before or After Exercise?

The BBC 2 Programme Trust Me, I'm a Doctor, looked at whether it is better to exercise before or after eating.

Turns out that it depends on whether you are male or female, because of the difference in male and female metabolism.

Women. Eat before exercising. Most of their fat burning occurs in the three hours after exercising. Eating up to one and a half hours after exercising can even stop fat burning.

Men. Eat after exercising. If men eat before exercising, they will use the carbohydrates in that meal first and may never switch to burning fat.

BBC 2 Programme Trust Me, I'm a Doctor, Series 4, 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4glyLcrhgqQtPGQYM11l1YJ/the-big-experiment-how-can-i-get-my-body-to-burn-more-fat-without-doing-more-exercise

Celery Storage

Keep celery wrapped in foil in the fridge. It will last for up to a month when stored this way.

If your sticks have already gone limp, soak them in a roasting tin of chilly water and they'll perk up after 15 minutes.

In Good Housekeeping, October 2015

Scams and Unwanted Phone Calls, Visitors or Emails

How to stop unwanted telephone calls, doorsteppers or emails, especially if you are elderly and/or live alone.

• Once cold callers start their script, it can be hard to stop them, so get in quick. Ask 'What is the purpose of this call?' If it is a sales call, say 'no thank you'. If they continue, either repeat this until they get the message or just hang up - you are not speaking to a friend. Never give out personal information.
• Do not feel obliged to ask doorsteppers into your home. Ask them politely to leave, and make it clear that if they do not, you will call the police. You could also tell them you don't handle your own finances and that you will need to consult a relative.
• Ignore emails if they are from a company or person you do not recognise. Move the email to your spam folder and block the address; you can do this by right-clicking on the unopened email in your inbox and choosing 'block sender'. If you get an email from someone you know asking you for money or sending a link, contact them by phone first to check it is genuine. It could be a scam or a virus.
• If you are accosted by charity collecters in the street, keep walking - they must not follow you for more than three steps. If they do get you talking, say:'I'm sorry, I don't want to talk about money in the street. Could you give me a website?'
• Unwanted letters from a charity? Write to them and ask to be taken off their mailing list.

And avoid these scams

• Banks and the police never send a courier to your home saying your card has been compromised and you must give it to them, along with your pin.
• Scammers often call claiming to be from a bank or utility provider - so never hand out personal details. Say you will call back - then find the number yourself, don't return their call. Ideally call back from another line, or type of phone, as they may stay on the original line for several minutes, even when you have hung up, and can intercept your call.
• Wach out for any pop-ups on the internet (any new window that appears without you opening it) that claim your computer has been blocked or is in danger. They will ask you to call a phone line and then attempt to extract your bank details.

Good Housekeeping, April 2016

Allergy Overview

Around 40% of people have genes that allow the development of allergies; this is thought to possibly be the remnant of an anti-parasitic defence mechanism.

An on-going study (no date or indication of country in my notes) on breast feeding mothers: from the instant of birth, mothers ate no eggs, milk, cheese, yoghurt, icecream, fish or nuts. When infants were weaned, these foods were introduced into their diet between 7 and 12 months. There was a large drop (c. 50%) in children who had a family history of allergies developing allergies themselves.

1997: New theory that the immune system has to learn to recognise viral infections in the early years and that immunisation and vaccination procedures and children being kept apart from others with infectious diseases are reducing its opportunity to learn, with the results that inappropriate (allergic) reactions are made.

Asthma: Children are usually around one year old before the first attack. Salt intake has a slight effect on asthma attacks - more salt in the diet, more and worse attacks; the most effect was seen on men and children. Oxides of nitrogen (from vehicles) in the air seems to facilitate attacks caused by other substances. [In Barcelona in the 1980s, a a series of asthma epidemics were caused by soy beans unloaded in port, an onshore breeze blew it into the city where an inversion layer trapped it. Only adults were affected and smokers 5 to 10 times more likely to be victims.]

Smoking: Smokers have 5% more chance of developing an allergy if smoking when first exposed to an allergen. The current increase (date not noted) in smoking in women of childbearing age could affect children in the first 12 months (the period now established as a window for sensitivity).

Various sources

Deepart.io Painting Tool

Deepart.io is an artistic painting tool. Upload a photograph and choose a style, and their servers will then render your artwork for you. There are multiple classical styles available.

It does take several hours for it to get your image back to you, but you can speed up the process with a small payment.

Phil Bradley in CILIP Update, March 2016

Smelly Gym Clothes

When we exercise we sweat to keep ourselves cool. Some sweat is produced by eccrine glands found all over the body, but an oilier kind of sweat is produced by apocrine glands found in places like the armpits. None of this sweat actually smells, but when specific bacteria living naturally on our skin feed on the fats and proteins in our apocrine sweat, they produce an odour which in some cases seems to permanently infiltrate our gym clothes.

A small survey showed that natural fibres like cotton tend to absorb liquids into the fibre structure so soak up more sweat, while synthetic fibres tend not to so feel drier but does smell worse than cotton after wear.

Researchers found up to 300 different types of bacteria in the armpits of our volunteers, including Corynebacteria which are known to produce unpleasant smells. There was no significant differences in the armpits when people wore different fibres, implying that after just one gym session, the fabric we wear doesn’t affect the bacteria actually on our skin and the Cornynebacteria weren’t among those being transferred at all, to any fabric.

The problem seems to lie in the fabric itself. Other research has found that polyester retains more odour, and this odour tends to increase over time. Cotton is absorbent, so the odorous compounds produced by bacteria (such as carboxylic acid) are trapped inside the fibres where we can’t smell them. Polyester fibres don’t absorb moisture, but do attract oils, so while the moisture from our sweat evaporates, the ‘oily soils’ cling to the surface of the fibres, where bacteria can transform them into odour.

Research has also found that a bacterium called Micrococcus (known for its odour producing abilities) seems to love growing on synthetic fibres, but didn’t really appear on cotton or on skin. Having tried growing this bacterium on different fabrics, it was found that it did well on polyester. So these bacteria may be the main cause of our smelly synthetic gym clothes.

So it depends on  what you care most about: keeping dry or smelling fresh. Cotton minimises smells, but can feel uncomfortable when you sweat. The best solution is probably to wear synthetic clothes  and wash them often to prevent the bacteria from multiplying on them.

Should I wear sports clothes from natural or synthetic fabric? BBC 2 Trust Me, I'm a Doctor, Series 5, Episode 1 (1 Sep. 2016)

Age Divide in UK Elections

Analysis by the Resolution Foundation of the British Election Study (BES) , taken after every general election since 1964, shows that the generational turnout gap that began in the mid-1990s has continued to widen. The foundation measures turnout based on those who voted as a proportion of the voting age population - rather than those on the electoral register. In 1964 there was only a three percentage points difference in turnout between 66-to 80-year-olds and those aged 21-to-35. That gap widened to 26% in 2005 and 25% in 2015.

The 2015 BES suggests 10.6 million voters aged 50-69 voted - about two-thirds of Britons that age but only 6.4 million - 46% - of Britons aged 18-24 voted.

Turnout as a proportion of voting age population
Year	21-35 year olds	66-80 year olds
1964	71%	74%
2005	44%	70%
2015	47%	72%

There is ongoing concern about apathy among younger voters, with organisations such as Bite the Ballot trying to get more young people on the electoral register. But part of the reason for the gap is that there are more older voters. In 1992, 74% of voters aged 21 to 35 surveyed said they cared "a great deal" which party won, but in 2015 only 56% did. Over the same period, the figure rose from 78% to 81% for voters aged 66 to 80.

The generational divide in turnout matters for democracy but also has profound implications for policy if politicians feel they only need to target the votes of older generations to win power. [My note: witness its effect on the UK-EU referendum result.]

BBC News website: Baby boomers 'dwarfed younger voters in 2015'; 23 Sep. 2016 

Using Last Scraps

With some items it can be hard to use up the last bits.

• Nutella jar nearly empty? Try adding hot milk, then mix to combine, scraping off the spread from the sides. Makes a lovely hot chocolate.
• Parmesan and Grana Padano rinds? Freeze leftover rinds and add them to soups, tomato sauces, stews and risottos while simmering to draw out thesavoury flavour. Then discard the rind before serving.

In Good Housekeeping, October 2015

Magnesium

Magnesium is a metallic element that's found mainly in the bones and is essential to life. From maintaining energy levels to steadying heart rhythm, regulating blood pressure and keeping bones strong, magnesium is vital for the body. Symptoms of deficiency include agitation, restless led syndrome, sleep disorders, nausea and vomiting, abnormal heart rhythms, musclespasm and weakness, hyperventilation, poor nail growth and even seizures. About 30% of UK residents are thought to be be deficient.

Magnesium is found in topsoil, but is missing from many topsoils. Once this would have been easy to get from a mix of wholegrains, green leafy vegetables, nuts and meat. But intensive farming has seen the magnesium content in vegetables decline by as much as 80% since 1950. And modern diets are not just lacking in magnesium, they actively deplete it. Caffeine, alcohol, processed grains and sugar deplete low levels even further. Many have swapped a significant source of magnesium - tap water - for bottled water, which often has far lower levels.

Good food sources of magnesium are: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, soybeans, black beans, cashew nuts, spinach, squash, sesame seeds, almonds and okra.

Magnesium supplements are available, but are usually magnesium oxide which is not easily released into the body. New research shows that magnesium lactate is more effective.

Various sources.

Humankind

North and South American Indians were originally from Asia and reached the New World from Russia via a land bridge; they resemble the mongoloids of Indonesia, Tibet and West Central Asia.

There are three language families:

• Indo-European: Russian, Hittite, Persian, French, Swedish, Hindi, Greek, German, Spanish, English, Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian (may be connected by a common parent language).
• Uralic
• Semitic/Hamitic. Separate groupings of languages of N & S Americans, and of Australian aborigines and Dravidians.

Relationship between bipedalism and the larger brain in hominids. Brain size depends on its cooling mechanism capacity. Bipedal stance presents least amount of body area to hottest sun at midday (quadrupeds present a larger area) thus first step in brain cooling. Present day homo sapiens brain is cooled by veins over the surface of the brain from front to back along midline down to neck. Efficient cooling then permitted development of larger brains

Average height of hunter/gatherers in Greece and Turkey at the end of the Ice Age was 5'10" for men and 5'6" for women due to varied diet, less risk of famine and less disease as not living in large, crowded groups. Everyone (except infants, the sick and the old) joined in search for food, which was shared out equally. With the adoption of agriculture height fell to 5'3" (men) and 5'1" (women) as women's health suffered due to poorer diet, more frequent pregnancies and use as labour.

Humans not biologically equipped to live in populations far beyond tribal level. But cities have compensations of stimulation and opportunity, and in effect splitting into 'tribes'. An integrated, independent group with a common purpose diminishes its efficiency as its size increases beyond 20-25 people. Voluntary social groups (family + friends) tend to have up to 100 members. Optimum cohesive size extends to some 500 people.

Risk taking was a way to show off strength and fitness as a mate; smoking, drugs and drink are risky behaviours but costs outweigh benefits. Adverts still promote risk taking images. Art requires skill to create and wealth/status to acquire, so is also a display of status.

Genocide is not new; motives are (1) land, (2) power struggle within a pluralistic society, (3) scapegoat killings of a helpless minority and (4) racial or religious persecutions.

Adultery laws, until recently, existed to secure a married man's confidence in the paternity of his children. Sexual jealousy is one of the commonest causes of homicide.

Choosing marriage partners: highest correlation (c.90%) is for religion, ethnic background, race, socio-economic status, age and political views. Next at 40% is personality (e.g. extroversion, neatness). Then 20% physical traits - all mostly subconscious (height, weight, eye and skin colour and down to features such as distance between eyes and lung volume). We tend to marry someone who resembles the parent of the opposite sex and learn subconsciously that imitimate associates from birth up to 6 years old are ineligible as sex partners later on.

Humans view people as 'us' or 'them' and rules about treatment of 'us' do not apply to 'them'. Generally there is a lack of response by outside parties to genocide but surviving victims describe the effecs as psychologically numbing. Today in many countries, people of different races, religions and ethnic groups live together with varying degrees of social justice but without mass murder - perhaps modern travel, television and photography help blur the 'them' and 'us' distinction. However the potential for genocide is still possible and the growth of world population may incite it.

Humans have in the past exterminated other species, mostly for food, sometimes by destroying habitat. Small, long-established egalitarian societies tend to evolve conservationist practices, but damage is likely to occur when (1) people suddenly colonise an unfamiliar environment, (2) people advance along a new frontier when they have damaged the region behind them, (3) people acquire a new technology whose destructive potential has not been evaluated, and (4) centralised states concentrate wealth in the hands of rulers who are out of touch with their environment.

Stan Gooch: Cities of Dreams.
Jared Diamond: The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee.
Terence Dixon and Martin Lucas: The Human Race.
Peter J. Wilson: Man: the Promising Primate.
BBC2 Horizon broadcast 14 March 1994

Tips to Improve Your WiFi Signal

There are some simple things you can do to improve your wifi signal.

1. Put the router in a central location in the house. Solid surfaces (like walls) slowdown wifi speeds.
2. Keep it away from thick walls. The thicker the wall, the harder it is for the signal to pass through.
3. Don't put it on the floor. Wifi signals go down as well as up, so some of the signal willgo throught the floorboards.
4. Ensure it is visible. Don't put it in a cupboard.
5. Avoid windows. Some of the signal will go outside.
6. Keep it away from the TV. Metal objects can deflect the signal.
7. Don't put it near fish tanks. Water can absorb some of the signal.

Read in full on BT web site http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/internet/improve-your-wi-fi-signal-where-to-put-your-wireless-router-11364025075218

Don't forget that cordless phones, microwaves and baby monitors can interfere with an internet signal, so make sure your router is not near these.

Wifi networks are broadcast on one of 13 channels, picked by your router by default. Most people never change this, and the default channel can be busy, especially if nearby homes use the same one.

• Download and run the Insider programme from Softonic (insider.en.softonic.com) on a computer connected to your home Wifi network to identify which local channel is least congested. 
• You can also do this on an Android device with the Wifi Analyzer app.
• To change channel, go to your router's settings. Contact your broadband provider  (if it suplied the router) or the help sections on its website for advice.

Feature in Good Housekeeping, September 2016

Exam Study Tips

Study-skills by George Turnbull    

Parents can play their part - by being seen and not heard. Tea, sympathy and understanding are the best they can offer.

Getting started

• Three hours in your room - with good intentions - but playing with the cat, texting friends and looking out of the window instead, is pointless. Go for 10 minutes only but work in that time and do nothing else. That's all it takes to get started.
• Have a 10-minute break and start again, gradually building up to 20 or 40- minute periods, whilst keeping the breaks at 10 minutes. Try it and see. You may even work for longer periods without a break.
• Each of us is different and if it works for you, then do it. So that when you are working, you work, and when relaxing, you relax. The two don't mix.

Create extra time

• Grab extra quality study time during the day by getting up earlier or shortening your lunch break. Thirty minutes each school day would give an extra two-and-a-half hours a week, which may allow you to have a night off. 
• Recreation should be built into your schedule. Make sure you get some but don't let it take over.

Get organised

• Know when and where your exams are. 
• Do past exam papers for practice. Ask your teachers if you are stuck. 
• Work with a friend, as long as you really do work and it helps. 
• Do two or three subjects in an evening, starting with the one you hate and finishing with the one you enjoy. You may even get to like the hated subject as you work on it and overcome those initial difficulties.

On the day: focus

• A leisurely breakfast and a walk to school would be a good start. Don't rush and don't be late.
• Avoid friends, they can be off-putting and may confuse your thoughts. 
• Mobile phones should be left at home. You could be disqualified if you have one with you.
• Take six deep breaths to relax and ignore those around you. It's your exam that concerns you, not theirs.

In the exam hall technique counts

• Read through the questions, jotting down formulae and points to remember on the question paper. Choose your questions, starting with the ones you can do to build confidence. Don't spend too long on any one question and try to do the number required.
• If you run out of time with only 10 minutes left for a 30-minute question, then do it in outline only by (a) stating the main points and facts, if it is an essay or (b) jotting down formulae and how you would use them to reach a solution, if it is science or maths. More marks can be gained this way with limited time available.

Finish well

• Don't leave the exam room early and avoid friends discussing the paper afterwards. 
• Nothing can be done to influence your marks on that paper now, but a lot can be done on the papers you have yet to sit. And that work should start straight away.
• Put your finished exam papers in a drawer and forget them, until your grandchildren ask to see them. They are of little value to you now, so don't waste that precious study time which you have available before the next exam, where you can make a difference.
• "Work", after all, comes after "success" - only in the dictionary. Remember that and do the best you can. I wish you well.

Source

BBC web site on 5 June 2007

UK Security

The view off Dr David Lowe (lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University's Law School) is that the security of this country - indeed of all countries - is bound up largely in how it can-operate with others. His view is that the UK will always be as safe as it can be, but within the EU the UK is safer.

In the UK the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre brings together expertise from police and other agencies to ensure intelligence is analysed and processed on a shared basis. It is supported by the Joint Intelligence Organisation, which takes the lead on intelligence assessments. Its analysts are seconded from a wide range of departments and disciplines. Finally there is the Joint Intelligence Committee, which sits in the Cabinet Office, reviewing threats and overseeing liaison with foreign intelligence organisations.

Since WW2, there have been multi-lateral agreements between the UK, the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, where the five states share electronic communications interceptions.

How does the UK benefit from remaining in the EU? Groups like Islamic State see most of Europe as an enemy and have decentralised their use of social media to get their message across to a global audience in a variety of languages. In facing an international threat, there needs to be an effective international response. The EU provides this to its members states and to countries around the world through its policing agency, Europol. The current director of Europol is British citizen Rob Wainwright, and a large number of UK police officers are currently seconded to the agency. As a result the UK has played an important role in developing Europol's ability to counter terrorist threats. Since November 2015, French authorities have been looking at emulating the British model. The UK has also been influential in encouraging other member states to adopt 'prevent' strategies.

Post Brexit, the UK will still work alongside European states but will no longer be in the driving seat of agencies like Europol.

Read in full: Leaving the EU has made us all a little less secure by Dr David Lowe, in the New European, issue 4, 29 July-4 Aug 2016 [Available in print only.]

Finding the True Facts

Q. Given all the 'facts' that have been shared in the media about the EU referendum, are there any really good sites for fact checking news stories?

A. Depends on what you are looking for.

• To check UK information, try Full Fact [https://fullfact.org]
• To check US information, try Fact chek [www.factcheck.org]
• Seen something on Facebook, try Hoax Slayer [www.hoax-slayer.com]
• Seen something on Twitter, follow https://twitter.com/IsTwitWrong
• To check photographs, try PicPedant [https://twitter.com/PicPendant]

Phil Bradley column in CILIP Update, June 2016.

Better Baking

For best results, keep your baking ingredients at room temperature.

If you've forgotten to take your eggs out of the fridge, put them in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes before using.

To soften fridge-cold butter, grate it onto a plate with a coarse grater and leave at room temperature.

In Good Housekeeping, October 2015

Human Reproduction

A few facts about human reproduction.

Of 100 fertilised zygotes:

• 44 fail to reach 3 months of pregnancy, 7 are lost through induced abortion and 4 lost after the 3rd month. 
• 1.5 die between birth and maturity.
• Of the 43.5 which reach maturity, 10% fail to marry and, of those that do, 15% are infertile.
• Allowing for reproduction in the never married, there are about 8 losses during pregnancy and childbirth.
• So only 35.5% of zygotes successfully reproduce.

Miscarriage rate

• First pregnancy: 5%
• Miscarriage followed by second pregnancy: 24%
• Second pregnancy after successful first pregnancy: 5%

In the past women often died in childbirth, while gorillas and chimps virtually never do.

• A human mother of c. 100lbs (7st 2lbs or 45.4kg) has a 7lb baby while a gorilla mother of c. 200lbs (14st 4lbs or 90.7kg) has a baby of 4lbs.
• Gestation: gorilla 37 weeks, chimpanzee 34 weeks and human 40 weeks.
• Percentage of final brain size at birth: chimpanzee 40.5% and human 23%.
• Reaches 70% of final brain capacity: gorilla at 1 year, chimpanzee at 1 year and human at 3 years.
• Sexual maturity: gorilla at 6 to 7 years, chimpanzee at 9 years and human at 13 years (female).
• Total growth stops: gorilla at 11 years, chimpanzee at 11 years and human at 20 years. 

Suggested that since degree of  helplessness of human infant at birth is so much greater than that of any ape, 'extra-uterine gestation' of 21 months (84 weeks) takes place in humans. Relative to the apes, the human adult departs far less and more slowly from its embryonic form than does the chimpanzee and so remains relatively undifferentiated, facilitated by a retardation in growth.

E. J. Clegg: The Study of Man.
Jared Diamond: The Rise and Fall of the Third Chimpanzee.
Peter J. Wilson: Man: the Promising Primate.

British Genetic Study 2015

A study into the genetic makeup of the British population was published in the journal Nature in March 2015.

NATURE Abstract     Nature 519, pp 309–314 (19 March 2015)

Fine-scale genetic variation between human populations is interesting as a signature of historical demographic events and because of its potential for confounding disease studies. We use haplotype-based statistical methods to analyse genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data from a carefully chosen geographically diverse sample of 2,039 individuals from the United Kingdom. This reveals a rich and detailed pattern of genetic differentiation with remarkable concordance between genetic clusters and geography. The regional genetic differentiation and differing patterns of shared ancestry with 6,209 individuals from across Europe carry clear signals of historical demographic events. We estimate the genetic contribution to southeastern England from Anglo-Saxon migrations to be under half, and identify the regions not carrying genetic material from these migrations. We suggest significant pre-Roman but post-Mesolithic movement into southeastern England from continental Europe, and show that in non-Saxon parts of the United Kingdom, there exist genetically differentiated subgroups rather than a general ‘Celtic’ population.

The study used a detailed DNA analysis of 2,000 mostly middle-aged Caucasian people living across the UK, each of whom had all four of their grandparents living close to each other in a rural area. This selection criterion enabled the Oxford University-led researchers to filter out 20th-century immigration and to look back to earlier migration patterns. They compared genetic patterns now with the map of Britain in about AD 600, after the Anglo Saxons had arrived from what is now southern Denmark and Northern Germany and by which time they occupied much of central and southern England. They also compared the analysis with the genetic data on 6,000 people from ten European countries.

• Modern Britain can be divided into 17 distinct genetic groups.
• The expectation of a uniform Celtic fringe extending from Cornwall through to Wales into Scotland was not supported by the data and is the first genetic evidence to confirm the archaeological theory that Celts represent a tradition or culture rather than a genetic or racial grouping.
• Genetically there is not a unique Celtic group of people in the UK, but there is a genetic basis for regional identities in the UK. Many of the genetic clusters in the west and north are similar to the tribal groupings and kingdoms around, and just after, the time of the Saxon invasion, suggesting these kingdoms maintained a regional identity for many years.
• The invading Anglo Saxons did not wipe out the Britons of 1,500 years ago, but mixed with them.
• Those of Celtic ancestry in Scotland and Cornwall are more similar to the English than they are to other Celtic groups.
• In Orkney, around 25% of DNA is Norwegian, reflecting the Viking settlement of the Islands around 800 AD which remained part of their country for the next 600years), but this persists at fairly low levels, suggesting that the Vikings and the existing populations coexisted and intermingled more than people had expected.
• People in the north of England are genetically more similar to people in Scotland than they are to those in the south of England.
• There are subtle but distinct differences between those sampled in West Yorkshire and the rest of the country.
• There is a marked division between the people of Cornwall and Devon that almost exactly matches the county border.
• The people of Devon are distinct from those from neighbouring Dorset.
• English genomes are around a quarter German from earlier migrants from what is now Germany. Likewise the 45 per cent French contribution to our genes came much earlier than the Norman Conquest in 1066. Some is from the earliest modern Britons who arrived after the last Ice Age and more came from a mystery set of migrants who settled before the Romans invaded. Other countries to contribute genes to English DNA include Belgium, Denmark and Spain.
• The Welsh have the most DNA from the original settlers of the British Isles but within Wales there are two distinct groups. People in North and South Wales are less similar genetically to each other than the Scots are to people from Kent.
• There are two genetic groupings in Northern Ireland. One of these also contains individuals in western Scotland and the Highlands, which appears to reflect the kingdom of Dalriada 1,500 years ago. The other grouping also contains individuals in southern Scotland and southern England, and probably represents the settlers of the Ulster Plantations.

The results also shed light on what happened during Britain's Dark Ages, in the years between AD 400 and AD 600, after the Romans left (the ancient Romans left little of their DNA behind after their conquest). Towns were abandoned; the language over much of what became England changed (to Anglo Saxon, which became English); pottery styles altered; so too even the cereals that were grown, following the arrival of people from the base of the southwest Danish peninsula and northwestern Germany (the Anglo Saxons).

Earlier theories suggested that this was the result of (a) the Saxons entirely replacing the existing population as they moved westwards (possibly through Saxon introduced disease, for example) or (b) that the existing population simply dropped their old ways and adopted the Saxon way of life. The new analysis shows a modest level of Saxon DNA, suggesting that the native British populations lived alongside each other and intermingled with the Anglo Saxons to become the English.

The study seems to confirm the view that Celts retained their identity in western and northern areas of England where the regions were incorporated into Anglo Saxon territory by conquest.

The variation in the DNA of those of Celtic ancestry in Cornwall, Wales and Scotland might be the result of groups having been separated for a period of time, so they will diverge genetically.

The Viking armies that laid waste to parts of England, and for a while ruled what became known as the Danelaw, left little if any genetic trace, confirming that their success was due to their military prowess rather than large-scale population movement.

Sources

DNA study shows Celts are not a unique genetic group: by Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31905764

Fiona Macrae, Science Correspondent for the Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3000998/Are-Welsh-truest-Brits-English-genomes-contain-German-French-DNA-Romans-left-no-trace.html#ixzz3UovhcRmc

THEVERGE.com http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/18/8252797/uk-genetic-map-reveals-invasions-regional-identity