Hi guys,
 
much as Nick was looking forward to playing out his
recently assumed position as Archduke, he - on his own initiative and without
any encouragement of mine - selflessly chose to offer Mike his
former position.
 
Under those circumstances I see no reason why I
ought to object to Mike's return and hence welcome him back to the game
with immediate effect.
 
My understanding is that we all welcome a
generally more lenient policy. This way we will have also arrived at it in
this particular case, albeit by a rather circuitous route.
 
Nick will thus have served as a de facto temporary
replacement and I thank him for his constructive role in all of this. As
Nick has expressed an interest in instead playing in a later 1648 game I might
run, I shall then offer him as a small thankyou first choice among the
nine great powers.
 
I've now rescheduled the Spring 1660 Moves for
Wednesday, 16 June 6 PM CET.
 
Cheers,
 
Charles