There’s nothing quite like the news that the government will soon be telling us to start stockpiling food and water to prepare for an attack by a hostile state or other disruption, to snap you out of your end-of-summer senses, but here we are.
As the August rains started to fall, you could almost hear everyone’s floaty summer bubbles pop. After a long and hot summer, there’s always a sense of needing to get back to normal, it’s just not always clear what normal is these days.
However, as Radhika Sanghani discovered, it was business as usual for those who have been soft-prepping since the conflict in Iran started in March. Meanwhile, Hannah Twiggs talked to the experts about the best foods to stockpile for an emergency and how long bottled water really lasts. She also takes a look at whether the rumours of a cider shortage are really true.
However, if everyone was thinking about getting back to some kind of normal; Trump absolutely wasn't. As the president decreed that Lake Ontario would be renamed “Lake America”, he took his escalating trade war with Canada to the brink of absurdity.
It is evidence, if you need it, that standing up to Trump, as Mark Carney has done, is now less risky than submitting to his bullying, writes Toronto-based Stephen Marche. He says the current iteration of the United States is like seeing your favourite cousin go on a drug binge and show up at your door with a knife asking for money: “If you try to reason, you will get nowhere. If you invite him into your house, it will burn to the ground. Better then, just to get out of the way. But if you need to kick him in the ass, there aren’t any real consequences. He probably won’t even remember.”
Meanwhile, as Trump’s conflict in the Middle East has now passed the six-month mark, leading historian and author Simon Sebag-Montefiore argues that we are entering an intense new era for control of the region and beyond. Imperialist ambitions and battles have been played out across the Middle East for centuries but, he says, the stakes have never been higher.
With so much global chaos, I’m very much minded to just concentrate on those things that are within our control. Like many, I see September as a time for a proper reset instead of the dark days of January, which I believe should be only about pleasure because, well, it’s quite miserable enough.
In his three-part series, senior health and fitness writer Harry Bullmore looks at how we can easily switch up your diet and exercise routines. He talks to longevity expert Professor Valter Longo, who tells him why weight-loss drugs are a short-term solution and details the diet that can naturally trigger higher levels of appetite-reducing GLP-1s. And he finds out why something as simple, easy and cheap as a postprandial stroll really makes a difference to your health too
And if you are already thinking about your next break, I have the perfect place for you. The last time I wrote this newsletter, I told you how my Portuguese husband was embarking on an epic (his words) midlife crisis (my words) motorbike tour which would take him across France and Spain, ending up in Lisbon.
I’m happy to report that he made it safe and happy and, after flying there to meet him, we took a (car) trip to a very special boutique hotel in the Douro Valley. After 20 years of marriage, I know Portugal really well, but I can honestly say it is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever stayed in. Closed only for one month a year, I can only imagine what this landscape would look like in autumn. Surely there could never be any bad days here, whatever the weather
Until next week!
Victoria Harper
