Cuba: Obama's olive branches, Trump's stinging nettles

Here is a piece - for The National - inspired by a lovely week in Cuba. It pretty much speaks for itself. Above you see Joelle and I with our friends Lesley and Bill Taylor, plus some bloke's head appearing between the two couples.

But what is it with press officers? You lodge a straightforward question on a Tuesday and, when asked for a deadline, mention Thursday midday. The reply, which appears to have taken relatively little effort, finally comes without apology late afternoon on the Friday, more 24 hours after the article is submitted. Maybe Marks and Sparks can explain (I did still manage to reflect a little of what they said and reproduce the statement in full in a footnote*) ...