As the TV schedules did not hold much interest for me the evening before last, I turned my attention to a podcast on YouTube by the two outstanding British journalists, Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel who call their broadcast ‘The News Agents’ Their analysis was startling and, to some extent, counter-intuitive but they asked the simple question ‘Who is winning the Iran war?’ Although America is bombing every facility they can discern flat to the ground and treating the whole war as though it were a huge video game, it is possible to argue that Iran will emerge as the eventual ‘winner’ This is because despite their military prowess and overwhelming superiority, the Americans cannot keep open the Straits of Hormuz and hence the supply of oil and other raw materials from the Middle East. So the price of oil has broken through the symbolic $100 a barrel pricing point and already even American consumers are having to pay the price at the petrol pumps. This factor alone is likely to make the Americans declare a ‘victory’ even though it may turn out to be a Pyrrhic one. The Americans could no doubt deploy minesweepers to act as a convoy but this would make them vulnerable to attack by missile or drone and significant damage to an American ship would undoubtedly inflict massive psychological damage to the American military. After all, it only takes one or two little fishing dhows to drop a handful of mines overboard to make shipowners frightened they might lose their ship and their cargo and therefore the risk is not worth taking. So via the oil price and the ability to keep the Straits of Hormuz closed, the Iranians possess a huge natural advantage over the Americans over which the might of America is powerless. Those of us with long memories can remember that the VietCong hiding in holes in the ground and using bicycles eventually defeated the might of America in the Vietnam war and the Americans are not very good at learning from history. There are already clear indications that Trump is particularly sensitive to the price of oil and he has declared that the war will end ‘soon’ but the longer the war persists with the oil price high and the Straits of Hormuz effectively closed, then the Iranians have everything to gain by playing for time, even though their country is being flattened around them. Later on in the morning, I have my regular Tai Chi class to look forward to and I do appreciate the cup of coffee and chats that I enjoy afterwards. The domestic political agenda is also proving to be interesting with Keir Starmer experiencing a political reverse with the release of the information concerning the Peter Mandelson appointment on the one hand. But on the other, Kemi Badenoch has had to revise her initial stance of complete support for the Americans from the start of the conflict and has been forced, as Keir Starmer has delighted in saying in ‘the mother of all U-turns’
Later in the morning, I picked up the copy of my daily newspaper and then proceeded to my Tai Chi class where I was pleased to see that the old lady whose acquaintance I made the other day turned up and gamely participated even at the age of 95. Afterwards we had quite an extended coffee break involving my banker friend, the old lady who had recently moved back to the UK from Spain, the married couple who have been married for 64 years and are still going strong and we were joined by one or two others. We had a pretty jolly time amusing ourselves with reminiscences from our younger days and then it was time to go home for lunch. On my way home, I bumped into my Italian friend from down the road who is scheduled to go and live nearer to her daughter. She was shortly to view a much larger house in which she and her daughter might live sharing the accommodation between them. I thought I would carry on with the tradition of a lifetime by making myself a curry – as the number of ingredients make this quite a high volume meal, I cut down on the carbohydrate count that rice would convey by crumbling two water biscuits to act as a rice substitute as the carbohydrate count is very low. I am trying hard to have a slight change of eating regime such that my last meal is taken by 6.30pm and I hope not to eat again until at least 9.30am the following day which give my gut an 15 hour gap between meals. A food gap of 12–15 hours is a form of intermittent fasting, specifically known as time-restricted eating (TRE), where you consume all your daily calories within a 9–12 hour window and fast for the remaining time. This practice is generally considered safe, sustainable, and beneficial for metabolic health and weight management by allowing the body to enter a fasted state and tap into fat stores. After about 10–12 hours without food, the body exhausts its glucose stores and begins to burn stored fat (fatty acids) for energy, a process that can aid in weight loss. While 12 hours is the minimum to see benefits, 14–16 hours is often considered the ‘sweet spot’ for more significant weight loss, improved insulin sensitivity, and cellular repair (autophagy). Regular 12-14 hour overnight fasts can lead to weight loss, lower blood pressure, and improved body composition. It may help reduce insulin resistance, lower cholesterol, and manage blood sugar levels, reducing the risk of chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes. Short periods of fasting allow for ‘housekeeping’ of damaged cells, reducing chronic inflammation, and promoting a healthier gut barrier. A 10-hour eating window (14-hour fast) has been associated with higher energy levels and lower hunger. So there is quite a lot of evidence that the potential health gains (or avoidance of illnesses) is quite attainable so long as one consistently tries to follow this Time Related eating pattern. Later on this evening, I shall probably follow my usual pattern of getting into warm bed to watch the 10.00 pm evening news after which there will be the normal weekly edition of ‘Question Time’ The first question or so which relates to an important political talking point of the day and normally succeeds in arousing a sustained discussion after which I do not mind if I actually drift off to sleep before the end of the programme.