Otherwise, your correspondent is surrounded by clean-cut 20- and 30-somethings banging modified djembe drums.

ECONOMIST: Now it's for corporate executives and old buffers too

The Boundary Commission for Scotland has modified 18 Scottish parliamentary seats as part of its revised proposals to cut the number of MPs.

BBC: Plan to cut Scottish MPs revised by Boundary Commission

The protection they receive from farmers is, in evolutionary terms, a quid pro quo for the fact that their physiologies are modified to serve human ends, rather than being sharpened for the cut and thrust of life in the wild.

ECONOMIST: GM crop plants are less weed-like than weedy

In addition, the report notes that the original rough stone from which The Vivid Yellow was cut must have possessed an extraordinary intensity and thus required no modified faceting in the cutting process to help bring out the color.

FORBES: Flaming Yellow 32-Carat Diamond May Fetch $8M at Auction