Homeopathy is Bunk -official

I am sure this is going to upset a lot of people, but a study published in The Lancet today claims that there are no benefits from homeopathic medicines other than placebo effects.

I have always been a bit sceptical. On the one hand, a complementary practitioner provided very valuable dietary and other advice which helped alleviate my son's repeated bronchial problems when he was small, after conventional treatments had failed. But he described himself as a "naturopath" rather than a "homeopath". On the other hand, the idea of homeopathy that a substance could diluted thousands of times, and then thousands of times again, and that the molecules of water used for dilution would still "remember" the essence of the substance, has always seemed to me to be a bit fanciful.

There is a detailed report on the BBC news website.

Whose victory?

Someone asked me why I was so pleased about the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, since Hamas were claiming it as a victory for their tactics, and as a defeat for Israel. Surely, they asked, since you are a supporter of Israel, you should be upset by this defeat? Surely, they asked, allowing Hamas to taste victory means that there will be more terrorist attacks against Israel, and that means that peace in the Middle East is even further away.

I disagree. The Israeli withdrawal from Gaza is not about victory or defeat. It's about doing the right thing. It is so clearly the right thing for 6,000 Jewish civilians to move out of a territory inhabited by 1.5 million Palestinians. It is the right thing to do, ethically, morally and politically. By being an occupying power for 35 years Israel has not only caused great hardship and suffering to the Palestinians, it has also corrupted itself. Leaving Gaza proves that Israel can survive without huge chunks of the territories occupied since 1967, and I hope that eventually it will show the people of Israel that their state can survive without most of the West Bank as well.

The settler rump forcibly removed by the Israeli Army this week represented a messianic fundamentalist Judaism which has a small but vociferous following. It is very significant that their view of the future of the Middle East has been dealt such a serious blow. Most Israelis. like most Palestinians, just want to get on with their lives in peace. The disengagement has very wide support across all sectors of the community in Israel, except of course, amongst the settlers themselves. They had dictated the agenda for far too long. Now it is time to move forward without the messianic baggage.

I am not a romantc who believes that the end to the occupation will bring an end to terrorism against Israel. But it should make it much easier for the moderate, pragmatic Palestinians (who I believe constitutue the vast majority) to reach an accord with Israel that brings hope for the future. I am more hopeful this week than I have been for a long time. If the withdrawal from Gaza is a victory for anyone or anything, it is a victory for optimism.

Low tech gizmo

I've just got a Cool Laptop Stand - not only does it raise the screen to a more ergonomically-correct height, but it frees up some of my desktop space as well. As I am currently using a very small desk, this is a big bonus.
I am amazed at what a simple low-tech idea this laptop stand is - when I phoned the company to check shipping details they told me they had shipped 4,000 units since January of this year. Now, when am I going to have an equally simple-but-brilliant idea, I wonder?