Dietary Iron

Good sources of iron are:

• Liver, beef and lamb
• Clams, mussels and oysters
• Kidney beans
• Leafy green vegetables
• Dried figs and apricots
• Oatmeal and rye
• Brewers yeast
• Soy beans
• Lentils
• Quinoa
• Chickpeas
• Pinto beans

# Haem iron is the most efficiently absorbed (found in animal products).

# Non-haem iron is not so well absorbed (found in plant foods)

# Vitamin C promotes iron absorbtion.

# Foods which have a small negative impact on iron absorbtion: spinach, nuts, chocolate, parsley, rhubarb and dairy products (yoghurt, cheese, milk and eggs).

End

How to Cat Nap

A cat nap can be useful if you've had some late nights and need to catch up on sleep, but if you cat nap in your bed you may fall too deeply asleep, which can leave you feeling groggy when you do wake up. Here's a tip to get your cat nap without sleeping too deeply.

• Lie on the floor on your back, legs stretched out in front of you, head on a cushion, placing your hands on your tummy.
• In one of your hands, hold a pencil upright.
• Close your eyes and relax.
• When the pencil drops it will wake you up, reviving and recharging you just enough to get through the rest of the day.

Source: Twiggy: a guide to looking and feeling fabulous over forty by Twiggy with Jenny Dyson. Michael Joseph, 2008.

The Collapse of Complex Societies

The Collapse of Complex Societies by Joseph Tainter, 1988.

[This book was analysed / reviewed in an article by John Harris in The Guardian. Have not read the book yet, but it sounds interesting.]

Joseph Tainter is a US anthropologist and historian. While The Collapse of Complex Societies looks at historical periods, there are implied parallels with more recent events.

Published in 1988, just before the fall of communism, Tainter argues that one key pattern applies to whole chunks of history, summarised by John Harris thus:. "The way that increasingly complicated systems initially deliver big economic benefits, only for diminishing returns to set in, as systems of power and control become overstretched. Ever-increasing burdens are not matched by material rewards, and popular resentment kicks in."

Tainter focuses on the demise of ancient Rome, the collapse of Mayan civilization in the 9th century, the Minoans and Hittites, and the Chinese Zhou dynasty. JH notes: "He identifies common features of these falls: “revolts and provincial breakaways”, the end of long-distance trade, resource depletion, declining economic growth, and the point when societies are “able to do little more than maintain the status quo”. Currencies become debased; “bridges and roads are not kept up”. Precipitous changes in climate often underlie what happens."

Tainter's thesis is that at certain points in history “declining returns make complexity a less attractive problem-solving strategy”. Under such conditions, the option to “sever the ties that link localised groups to a regional entity” could gain traction. Considered in a global rather than a national view, that could summarise Brexit, and similar movements in Europe.

JH contacted Tainter, who agreed that complexity held the key to a lot of current developments. “JT: The simpler past seems more attractive than today’s complex reality, and so people vote [thanks to] inchoate frustrations. They choose simplicity and locality over complexity; identity over internationalism. Politicians promote themselves by giving voice to this. Hence, in addition to Brexit, we have calls for Scottish independence, Catalan independence, and so forth.”

While imminent social collapse seems unlikely, JT writes: “Civilisations are fragile, impermanent things.” And while he says that "It’s a common belief, that our technological capacity, energy resources and our knowledge of economics and history mean our civilisation should be able to survive “whatever crises ancient and simpler societies found insurmountable”, he also says we should remember the German classicist Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff’s view of the lessons of the Roman empire: “Civilisation can die, because it has already died once.”

Source: John Harris, The Lesson of Trump and Brexit: a society too complex for its people risks everything in The Guardian, 29 Dec. 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/29/trump-brexit-society-complex-people-populists

Fixing Globalisation

Globalism - good or bad?

• It can be a force for good overall, but there have been losers (often the lower middle classes) who now feel they have nothing to lose by challenging it.
• 'Right wing liberalism' is perceived as elitist - need to find a new label to save globalisation.
• Hyper globalisation is in crisis - need to return to globalisation.

Hundreds of millions of people worldwide have been taken out of poverty, but at the same time the process has caused more inequality and job insecurity. It worked in China because of the way they implemented it (controlled capital flows, violated trade secrets) and the fact that they were a huge market for the rest of the world; and worked not so well in India.

Bretton Woods (the system of monetary management established the rules for commercial and financial relations among the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia and Japan in the mid-20th century) was developed post WW2, when the US had large surpluses that went overseas - until the surpluses stopped.

The US intention to invest in retraining people who lost their jobs was never carried out - these people remained less employable.

Skills not needed. Chinese approach to over-capacity was to train workers and create new start-up jobs, a guaranteed basic wage, and looking after migrant workers.

It is quicker to close down a factory in the UK due to poor labour laws (can be as little as 45 days), than to close a factory in France or Germany, which can take years.

Companies now focus on shareholder interests, but the majority of shares in UK companies are held overseas, often for only a few months before being sold on. Companies should have workers on their boards - the UK is the odd one in not having such representation.

A future for globalisation needs to work better for those who lose out, and needs to stimulate world trade in order to avoid extremism and mass migration.

Source: Radio 4 programme series New World - episode Fixing Globalisation broadcast Fri. 6th Jan. 2017. Listen now http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b086s822 or download podcast for later listening http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04nglqv, but not sure how long these will be available.

How Politicians' Character Flaws Influenced Brexit

Ros Coward in The Guardian explains how character flaws in our politicians helped the Brexit vote.

The consensus about the Brexit result is that it expressed resentment about how politicians had driven forward social changes without the consent of the affected communities. While this is part of the reason, it was helped along by misjudgements based on the character flaws of the leaders.

Tony Blair’s hubris about the Middle East discredited his centre-left politics.

The fratricidal competitiveness of Ed Milliband helped to deprive Labour of victory and a platform to rebuild the centre-left.

Nick Clegg’s abandonment of the student fees pledge, his 'class chemistry' with David Cameron and his evident liking for his position caused him to massively disappoint his voters – a move that in effect wiped out the Liberal Democrats.

Cameron was left unchallenged except by his own right wing. His laziness and lack of attention to detail made him supremely confident about the referendum, relying on electoral “reasonableness”.

After Cameron's resignation, Michael Gove and Boris Johnson seemed to be more concerned with becoming Prime Minister, with delusions about their own strategic cleverness. Johnson reflected the  popular mood, echoing and manipulating the popular press, and got the result he almost certainly didn’t want. His stricken face on Brexit morning suggested he had really sought to be the “unifying” leader in a close Remain vote. Gove’s downfall came from opportunism, disloyalty, and an overestimation of his ability to outmanoeuvre Johnson.

What of the future? Theresa May is a secretive and controlling prime minister in charge of the biggest team of negotiators to be assembled since the 1945 peace conferences. For a negotiation unwanted by a significant proportion of the electorate, who need to be won over, it doesn’t inspire confidence. Jeremy Corbyn's vanity stopped him from turning down the leadership, a position for which he was clearly unsuited. We need leaders who can see the wider picture. Policies are vital, but character is more important than ever. Start worrying.

Source: People voted Brexit, but Cameron, Blair and other flawed leaders made it possible by Ros Coward in The Guardian, 28 Dec. 2016.