This week I thought we'd look at what's been going on in Asia, because while many would like to equate the Brecon and Radnorshire bi-election as something monumental, pivotal, professizing the end times, it says a lot when the Liberal Democrats consider it an achievement to retake one of their long-held seats from a incumbent criminal. It's like boasting about putting on weight or writing in your CV that your key skills involve knowing how to do the Macarena.

In contrast, the Far East however saw couple of genuinely important developments this week. President Trump decided to ratchet up the trade war with a further 10% tariff on $300bn of Chinese products, everything from smartphones to those golden cat toys that wave at you. This is the latest in a series of these moves and the Chinese will find it hard to retaliate seeing as how the bulk of American goods purchased in China are likely counterfeits that were manufactured in China. What they might do however, is start getting more aggressive in the South Sea and a lot less helpful with North Korea

Which brings us onto the next story in which North Korea performed a number of rocket tests. In a strange twist, France and Germany have called on North Korea to engage in "meaningful" talks with the US - presumably a comment designed to annoy the British #irony #brexit And so we once go down the route of North Korea wondering if the only way to get attention is to threaten to kill people, and whether Kim Jong Un sees himself as the nation's father figure or an angsty teenager. Although by "father figure" he could just be referring to his expanding waistline.

Russia too is in on the rocketry game, the US just pulled out of a non-proliferation treaty due to Russia's flagrant disregard for it. It's unclear of course where the US will go to from here, unlike the last time around, there's a world shortage of german rocket scientists suspiciously keen to move overseas.

Finally, the other story which I thought would get more attention is that Japan is back at the whale hunting game. I don't know whether that means the next Star Trek remake will be modern version of that one where Kirk and Spock travel back in time to rescue a whale but certainly I thought it would be getting a lot more coverage than it has done, given the environment outrage stuff of late. A question I have though, is if whales are so intelligent why do they swim near Japan?