primitive library

Andrew, David I've seen a lot of traffic about the primitive library, in which you two are playing a leading role. Clearly something interesting is going on, but I have not been paying enough attention to work out what. Maybe lots of unrelated things? Maybe a handful of closely related things? Would you consider putting out a summary (to libraries and ghc-devs) to give an overview of the main threads, and any driving motivations. Why has all this blown up now? Meanwhile, thank you for being so active. Simon