It’s another grey day. My weather app, which began the day warning me of windy conditions, now offers me “light cloud and a gentle breeze”. The sun broke through briefly, clearly took a look at the day and decided to withdraw. Perhaps it’s gone back to bed, an action we can almost all sympathise with. However, in the interests of physical health and mental well-being, we’ll put on our coats and hats and go for a walk.
Further to my ramblings about fasting yesterday, here is writer Jeanette Winterson on that subject.
She’s singing the praises of extended fasting and, in fact, for the last 12 years has been going off to a clinic in Germany each year tomstarve herself for ten days. She writes:
“Yes, I pay for this, and it costs a few thousand pounds a year. When I am there, I swim, take long walks, read, sleep, use the gym every morning, and go to concerts or talks in the evenings. The clinic is peaceful and beautiful, set on Lake Constance, overlooking the Swiss Alps, with extensive facilities and leisure treatments, but crucially, it is run by medical doctors. On arrival, each resident has a session with a doctor, followed by blood tests. No snake oil, no new-age hokum, no untested regimes. Once the bloods are back, the doctor will discuss your profile with you and recommend a way forward, during and after the fast. Fasting lowers cholesterol and blood pressure, modifies insulin resistance, clears diseased tissue, reduces inflammatory conditions, is brilliant for arthritis and gut health, brightens the skin, and leaves you feeling younger by years!”
She recommends it as part of a solution to the obesity crisis. But it must be hard to say to someone who is struggling to feed their family - and buying all the wrong kind of food because it’s cheaper - that they should stop eating altogether for a while.
Here’s another thing; Armink Heliċ, a Conservative member of the House of Lords, is recommending that we should bring injured children in need of specialist treatment from Gaza to British hospitals. She was nominated to the House of Lords by David Cameron back in 2014. She is a Bosnia and Herzegovina foreign policy expert, described as "one of the most impressive foreign policy experts in the Government”, so I assume that’s why Cameron put her in the House of Lords, not just because she contributed funds or whatever. She reminds us of the case of Malala Yousafzai who was brought here by Cameron for specialist hospital treatment. And Arminka Heliċ has personal experience of fleeing conflict.
She suggests this:
“A clear model exists to bring a limited number of children facing urgent medical needs, whether direct casualties of the conflict or suffering from other serious conditions such as cancer, to the UK on a temporary basis for short-term treatment. Once they are stabilised and on the path to recovery they will return to continue their rehabilitation in the region, but the intervention and high-quality treatment in the UK will have turned the course of their lives around.”
One problem, of course, is that there likely be no safe place to send Gaza children back to in order continue their rehabilitation. Another is that if we accept a bunch of injured Palestinian children, Israel will be furious and will assume that we are siding with the Palestinians. There would be accusations of antisemitism.
We must remember that the total number of people killed in the 7 days since the ICJ ruling to 1,155 and the number of injured Palestinians to 2,965... . That might (should) influence matters. After all, America is outraged that three of their soldiers have lost their lives!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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