Brain food

Alex recalls how sweat had ran down my brow whilst eating a Chicken Korma in Clapham on one of our early dates. So I think he met my eyes with admiration and love when I managed to put away a Pork Vindaloo last night at the Goan curry house in Putney. Despite this great sacrifice of taste buds and spice endurance - the act didn't even yield a higher quota of farts, let alone a contraction.

You will gather that I've taken up baking, cleaning, and eating curry - all very de rigueur when you hit full term. Today I am taking a divergent track - less about stimulating the hormones to trigger the bump down and out, and more about exercising another part of the brain - which I fear will miss out terribly on exercise down the track.

I headed out to Waterstones last week to buy a trashy novel, yet found myself buying Noam Chomsky's 'Perilous Power - the Middle East and Foreign Policy'. A strange pretentious purchase, that I have finally tucked into today, in parallel with tuning into radio 5 to listen to Tony Blair put himself forward in the Iraq inquiry. I surprise even myself given the library of films and soap operas I've built up on sky + for inane TV passing of time.

I suspect the sub conscious is worried about those months ahead where conversation will revolve around babies, nipples, burping techniques, and who little orme looks like. I am fearful of the void of not working; intellectual stimulus, and lack of forum to voice my opinion on wider subjects than babies. 12 months off work - brilliant, terrifying.

On opinion - I'll try and summarise what I've heard so far -

Looking back I was anti war on Iraq - but I never came down with a forceful, coherent argument beyond the mockery that the US and UK made of an international process and complete lack of planning around the consequences of the action of war.

Back to the inquiry today, I want Blair to be given a hard time by the various Sir's, Lords and Baronesses who are asking the questions, and am slightly perturbed by the lack of fast witted lawyers on stage to challenge him. To that end I've only been impressed with the one female so far - Baroness Prashur.

The other person to impress is of course Blair himself. Where in the past he has been big on presentation and relatively loose on detail, he is now in complete command: his composition of answers, structure and the compelling conviction he conveys is impressive in the extreme. The only other time I've been taken by a politician in this way, was watching Clinton give a speech at the labour party conference in Blackpool. Doesn't mean Blair is right on each subject in my opinion - but it does show up Brown's inferiority further as the leader of this Country.

If I get back to the content - My take is that Blair was so thoroughly convinced that Sadam needed to be removed through credible rationale (see beeb summary)- that he seriously missed out on leverage with Bush on facilitating a Middle East Peace Deal. Instead he looked backward in gratitude for US support on Kossovo and slapped George on the shoulder and said we're with you - 1 year before the inevitable military attack. 5/10 on negotiation skills Tony.

Also, his conviction and dogmatic self belief prevented him from taking a more democratic process as momentum gathered i.e better informing cabinet and his own close advisors - who you would think would veer him away from war and towards a legal route via the security council. The thin line between confidence, leadership and arrogance.

Although I'd like lawyers to take chunks out of Blair and the decision for war - and however ineffective this inquiry might prove to be - at least it is taking place. We have never seen a US ex president up before an inquiry to answer to the public, (starting with Reagan in Nicaragua, and then the list is too long of 'interventions' that could all be argued to be terrorist acts in themselves).

Where Chomsky gets me thinking is with regard to the whole strategy. Take a smaller state to war, and as that state cannot fight back with the same weaponry might, their only successful tact will be to go down the terrorist / WMD route. And that seems to be my whole frustration with the military approach to Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel's actions in Gaza - you stimiluate the very thing that you're trying to address.

A lunch date and lack of brain power prevents me from continuining with this train of thought, and I suspect I do inane commentary on what is happening to my bodily functions much better!