A ceasefire was announced between Hamas and Israeli forces. In the few days between the announcement and the proposed start, Israel killed at least 103 people and injured over 260 in Palestine. Netanyahu didn’t even wait until the start of the ceasefire to threaten even greater killing and destruction, and has called the halt to the bombing ‘temporary’. The start of the ceasefire was delayed as Netanyahu demanded the names of the first 3 hostages that would be released. During the delay Israeli warplanes attacked the northern Gaza Strip and killed 8 people. Hamas has now released a list of 34 hostages who will be released in a phased approach over 6 weeks. They include Ariel Bibas, age 5, and Kfir Bibas, age 1. The trauma suffered by these children, and the children of Palestine is unimaginable.
I like to look at the Guardian’s photography feature, the week in pictures. This week shows both desperation and hope in Gaza. The ceasefire is welcome, but it is merely a pause, it is fragile, and it is just the start. I fear that the international community will continue to fail the people of Palestine and that we will not see justice in our lifetime. But we must continue to demand accountability and repercussions for the perpetrators of genocide; and peace, justice, safety and self-determination for the people of Palestine. I continue to support Osama and his family and hope they get the chance to rebuild their lives and pursue their dreams.
Keir Starmer continues to disappoint. He announced that “AI will be mainlined into the veins of Britain”. You couldn’t make it up. AI is overhyped and is not the panacea it is touted to be. It will not solve the problems of the underfunded public sector. It may have a limited role, but it is madness to pin all our hopes on, and pour all our resources into, a black box whose data centres steal water and power from communities, from people. A single 100-word email generated by an AI chatbot using GPT-4 uses a bottle of freshwater and requires 0.14 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, equal to powering 14 LED light bulbs for 1 hour. Scale that up. Can you really not write that email yourself?
There are less than 3 weeks until I leave for my trip to climb Kilimanjaro. I have not done enough training! I am worried about altitude sickness so I had a GP appointment and acquired some Diamox. I also bought a money belt, more dry sacks, and a pocket foldable tripod and remote to use with my phone. It’s very well designed. I hope to get some good pictures! We beat our fundraising target, but more donations for Women’s Aid and the Samaritans would be very welcome!
It’s still Veganuary and I’ve been continuing to share daily facts. Some of them make me very sad.
I attended the Global Healthy Hospital Food Network Launch. It was really inspiring to hear people from hospitals around the world working to improve the health and environmental credentials of the food served at their institutions. It was heartening to hear that others have faced similar barriers to us. I hope this network helps us accelerate the pace of change.
Our Plant Powered King’s team ran a free plant-based lunch at work, serving more than 300 staff pea protein chilli and nachos! They loved it! Many people said they wished this was served in our canteens and was available for our patients. There were also incredible desserts which did not last long! Our event was generously supported by Nova Farina and King’s (University) Food. We also had free samples of Oatly milk and Linwoods Flaxseed. Animal Aid gave out goody bags of vegan nutrition posters and cruelty free skin cream, and Plant Based Treaty spoke to people about their work to put food systems at the heart of combating the climate crisis, to halt the widespread degradation of critical ecosystems caused by animal agriculture, and promote a shift to more healthy, sustainable plant-based diets.
This week I had several meetings about asthma and COPD guidelines and projects. It’s great to see excitement about the opportunities to improve care. The new BTS/SIGN/NICE asthma guidelines are a huge step forward, but a lot of work in required to support the culture change away from ‘blue and brown’ to modern combined inhaler treatment as standard. I helped with a Greener Practice Q&A of a webinar on the new asthma guidelines. The GPs who ran it and presented are fantastic so it was a joy to help a little.
I have to give evidence to an inquest. It will be my first time. I find medicolegal processes both scary and interesting. I hope this is the latter.
I had no plans for the entire weekend, a rarity. It was great.
drlj 