Seems that a Professor Dhurandar in Lousiana, USA has found that a comman adenovirus, AD 36 is responsible for obesity in humans. Before this we have OB genes and a hormone called leptin which have been held responsible. Obesity is compatible with a life long enough to produce children therefore one would expect many people to have the OB gene, low levels of leptin and then to be infected with AD 36 and these people would be lucky enough to pile on the pounds with just a slice of bread with a drop of lemon juice. In fact this would be so advantageous that one would have thought that the evolutionary advantage would have humans belonging to this select combination only. In fact with improving technology one could breed such humans and a farm in Lousiana could feed the entire human population. The sad truth is that fat comes from excess intake of calories and fat people eat too much. It is possible that their metabolism being more efficient they need less calories rather like a hybrid car but no one gets fat without eating. Truly fat people all over the world behave in exactly the same way. They deny eating too much, steal food when no one is looking and binge from time to time. They behave exactly like addicts. Unfortunately there seems to be some crazy political correctness which is preventing even scientists from telling the truth. Once truth is accepted and fat people are seen to be food addicts then treatment would probably follow.

Seems that there is a lot of outrage over the distruction in Gaza. The British Bakwas Corporation, BBC keeps showing spokespersons from UN agencies and aid agencies calling for trials of Israeli soldiers for war crimes. Strangely no one seems to be talking about Hamas or Hizbollah. Not a single journalist rushed to Lebanon to ask Hassan Nasrallah why his people fired at least six rockets inot Israel. That is if they can find him when he is hiding in his wife's abaya. Hamas chief Khaled Meshal slinks in the backstreets of Damascus while Hamas leaders in Palestine hide behind the diapers of little children. They do not lead their people but use teenagers and little boys to attack Israeli soldiers. Naturally children will be using school compounds to fire rockets and, also naturally, if Israeli soldiers fire back children are going to die. It is horrible that innocent children have been killed and injured in Gaza. No child should ever have to suffer the kinds of horror the palestinian children have suffered but if Israel is to blame then Hamas cowards are equally to blame. Today in DR Congo one Thomas Lubanga has gone on trial for using child soldiers. If he can be charged with such a crime then Hamas leaders surely deserve to be charged as well. As long as there is no truth in journalism there will be no end to wars. When Hamas were firing rockets no one asked them to stop or held them to account but soon as Israel responded every was crying out for a ceasefire. Seems that anitsemitism is thriving.

It has now been accepted that Britain is officially in a recession which is contraction of the economy for two succeeding quarters. The Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown blamed the global economy, read the US, for the gloomy news seemingly forgetting that he has been the Chancellor of the Exchequer for over a decade. During that time he has enthusiastically carried out the policies of the previous Prime Minister, Tony Blair which were said to belong to New Labour. This involved mass privatisation of everything including the railways, the NHS and the utilities allowing, in the process, private companies to make windfall profits at the cost of the hapless taxpayers. He was a supporter of less regulation for the City allowing market players to do pretty much whatever they wanted and earn huge bonuses for ever reckless gambling with other people's money. Mr. Brown did not learn anything from having to renationalise Railtrack a few years earlier preferring to see it as an exception rather than a portent of things to come. When I worked in the NHS patients were treated as necessary with doctors deciding priorities. Today administrators, with little knowledge, are paid vast amounts to run an ever deteriorating service. True the waiting lists for cataract and hip replacement have come down but you have to wait at least six weeks for an ultrasound which surely is worse than the third world. Mr. Brown is throwing humungous amounts of money into the economy hoping that he can stimulate growth so that he can recoup the expense from rising tax collections in a growing economy. Surely he should have learnt by now that his favourite market has a habit of throwing a spanner at your soft spot when you least expect it.

The Prime Minister, Mr. Manmohan Singh has undergone a cardiac bypass surgery this morning at the premier medical institution, All India Institute of Medical Sciences or AIIMS. We wish him well and hope that he recovers quickly to lead the Congress Party at the coming general elections in May. He had a similar operation in England about 20 years ago probably also paid by the taxpayer. As he lies in bed while recovering from the operation he could reflect on the state of health care in the country some 61 years after independence in 1947. Of these 61 years the Congress has ruled in about 55 years, the same Congress that is forever shedding tears about the aam aadmi. Check it out. In India an XRay or ECG costs $ 3, a CT scan of the brain $ 30 and an MRI $100. Drugs are so cheap that people travelling to other countries including Pakistan carry their entire requirement of prescription medicines for their total stay. Yet thousands die every year for lack of treatment. Last year a woman was refused admission to a government hospital in Meerut in UP. She delivered under a tree just outside the gates of the hospital. Both mother and child died. Instead of accepting responsibility politicians blame doctors and since they control the media people accept their lies. While you read the newspapers to pass the time Mr. Prime Minister please note the excitement about the Oscar nominations of Slumdog Millionaire which is based on Dharavi, the largest slum in Asia.

To worldwide acclaim Obama was sworn in as president. On the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln, Obama has chosen him as his role model. Like Lincoln Obama is a lawyer and a very good speaker. He is also a very good organiser as his successful campaign and phenomenal fundraising show. As he starts his period in the Oval office he should remember one fact and that is that Lincoln is great only because he won the civil war. Had he lost the war America would have been divided. The North would be a small industrial state and the South would still be practising slavery. Germany would probably have won the war and Martin Luther King would not have been allowed to have any dreams. By winning the war and uniting the country Lincoln laid the foundations of the modern US, the richest and the most powerful country in the world. Obama has no civil war to fight. However he has a very deep recession on his hands and Al Qaeda still flourishing and threatening the world. It remains to be seen if he is able to tell the truth about terrorism and that is that Pakistan is the centre of all terrorists in the world and has to be effectively eliminated or will he continue the same old and tired line of cooperation with the ISI. The Inca callender predicts 21st December 2012 as the day the world ends which will be at the end of the present term. We wish him well and hope that he is successful in his endeavours as president. Otherwise the Inca prediction might well come true.

Do not get what the Arabs are playing at. Egypt is trying to mediate between Israel and Hamas and its proposal includes plans for foreign monitors along the border to prevent smuggling of weapons by Hamas. All the tunnels are ending inside Egypt and Iran is supplying weapons to Hamas through Egypt. Thus Egypt is allowing Iran to use its land for illegal purposes which surely is an insult to its sovereignty. Assad of Syria said, in an interview on the BBC' that Israel's actions will increase extremism and breed terrorists. That is so much rubbish. Public anger and hatred in the Arab world is against its leaders. Oasama bin Laden started his fight against the Saudi Royal family and every Egyptian doctor I have met simply hates the President as a dictator. To save themselves the Arab government divert public anger towards Israel and allow Iran to use their people and land for its own agenda. With US forces withdrawing from Iraq, Iran will be able to dominate the entire gulf oil supply by moving along Saudi and Kuwait borders. It can then try and capture the Holy Mosques in Saudi Arabia. It tried to capture Makkah once but failed. Next time maybe not. If Iran acquires nuclear weapons it will have a Persian empire not seen since the days of Darius. Tiny Israel, even with nuclear weapons, is no threat but Iran ia altogether much bigger and formidable.

Read this story a long time ago. Seems that Roosevelt walked into Churchill's room at 10 Downing Street one morning when Churchill was just emerging stark naked from the bathroom. Embarassed FDR turned to go when Churchill said,' Please don't leave Mr. President. After all the Prime Minister of Britain has nothing to hide from the President of the United States.' This naked surrender has seen successive Prime Ministers of Britain as 'running dog lick spittle of the US' doing whatever their masters across the Atlantic ordered. Blair was portrayed as the poodle of Bush but that would be to insult dogs in general. After dogs have a natural dignity and respond to the love shown by the owner. Blair's abject obedience was akin to that of slaves. Americans have a history of owning slaves and are quite comfortable doing so. Thus Bush addressed Blair as ' Yo, Blair ' much as he would have addressed his favourite slave in the olden days. Some have seen Britain as the 51st state of the US but states in the US have a lot of autonomy which Britain does not enjoy. That explains Britain's humility and support of any American misadventure as in Iraq. Thus it was hilarious to see the anxiety expressed by the BBC reporter this morning because Hilary Clinton did not mention Britain and the ' Special Relationship ' in her speech to the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. She mentioned India, China and every European country but not the UK. The fellow's lip was quivering. If the master is getting indifferent what happens to the slave nation?

s soon as a state government is elected all the old senior police and civil service fellows are transferred out and a new set of fellows brought in. These people are not selected according to merit but by the total loyalty they show for the new bunch of crooks. The stage is then set for the politicians to loot, murder and rape with impunity. Canny business men bribe both sides so that they are protected whichever side wins. When a crime is exposed the criminal tries to take Anticipatory Bail to stop police arresting him. This can be taken in any state, way outside the jurisdiction of the crime. If that is not possible because of public outcry, as in the Jessica Lal case, then the criminal is arrested, produced in front of a magistrate with great show and remanded to custody. The fellow then develops mysterious chest pains for which he is transferred to a luxurious nursing home where he lives in 5 star comfort as Mr. Raju of Nagarjuna is doing even now. A divine judge usually finds enough cause to set a paltry bail and free the criminal. The case is frequently delayed often taking years during which time the witnesses are threatened or bribed as in the BMW Nandas case. Eventually the fellow escapes. Even better, for politicians we have first class jails where they are given wall to wall comfort at our expense. And they wonder why politicians, police and judges are despised and mistrusted.

The government has broken the strike by oil executives demanding a pay rise by using the draconian Essential Services Maintenance Act or ESMA. It is also using the same law on the truck companies who are demanding a lowering of diesel prices apparently because they are incurring losses due to the present high prices. By using this law the authorities can arrest, suspend or sack anyone who is on strike even for legitimate demands. Pity the filthy politicians do not use the Act on themselves. Parliament sat for less than 100 days last year and yet they draw their full salaries and allowances costing the country billions. No sharam, no izzat. Meanwhile the government plans to pass a law forbidding live coverage of natural and terrorist events as happened in Mumbai. Apparently the handlers based in Pakistan were watching Indian channels and were directing the terrorists on where to attack. Where were the police officials and the senior secretaries? Why did they not cordon off the area of operations? Why was there no sanitised zone around the commandoes? There is no attempt to punish these useless parasites but the tragedy is being used to decrease press freedom. Rajiv Gandhi tried it once but retreated due to huge protests. Now the Congress thinks it can prevail. Indira Gandhi made herself dictator by proclaiming emergency. Her daughter in law is more cunning.

On 29th December I wrote that the Satyam saga reminds me of Conrad Black and Hollinger but it seems that I was wrong and it is being likened to Enron. If I remember rightly an awful lot of managers of Enron are still in prison and the CEO escaped by dying. In the case of Satyam I doubt that Mr. Raju will be seen in a striped uniform. At first their will be an enquiry which will go on for months after which a case may be filed. Our divine judges are usually in no hurry and so the date may be set after a few years. By this time everyone will have forgotten what it was all about and Mr. Raju will have started some other business. After a decade or so a fine of Rs. 10000 or $200 will be levied on him and things will carry on as before. Fortunately in this case Satyam is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the SEC in the US might have something to say. Satyam stocks have lost 80% of their value hurting US shareholders and trading was suspended yesterday. If the SEC finds Mr. Raju guilty he will have to pay millions of dollars in fines and go to prison in the US for a long time. Hope that happens. It will teach our business tycoons and regulators that globalisation means increased profits as well as genuine punishment.

The Orange revolution in Ukraine was financed by the US. Like Shakashvili in Georgia Yushenko is a US stooge whose only goal is to join NATO and goad Russia. His government has been shambolic and the economy is in tatters. Although anti Russian he wants Russia to supply gas to Ukraine at the same subsidised rate as Bylorussia which is a friend. Gazprom was ready to supply gas at a slightly higher rate but he did not renew the contract which expired on 31st December preferring to steal gas from pipelines supplying western European countries. When the USSR collapsed Russia embraced democracy for the first time. Yeltsin was a drunken buffoon but instead of helping Russia to develop a strong economy and strong institutions the US and the Europeans chose to taunt and humiliate it. So the Russians chose Putin who has confronted the west. Now they do not like it and are whining. The US and the Europeans should embrace Russia because they will need its help. The real enemies are China and Pakistan. Sadly the liars and knaves in charge will not realise it till it is too late.

The world seems to be running on lies. Lie no. 1 - A Palestinian state. There has never been a state or a country called Palestine. It was always a part of Jordan and has been ruled by outsiders such as the Syrians, Ottomans or the British. Lie no. 2 - Somali pirates are have a very good supply of sophisticated weapons. Somalia is a failed state incapable of manufacturing a drawing pin let alone AK47s or RPGs. These weapons are manufactured by billion dollar arms manufacturing companies in the US, UK, China, Russia and other European countries and finding their way into the hands of terrorists everywhere. Thus to control terrorism, piracy and drug wars all we need to do is to look at what the arms companies are doing and control where they supply weapons. Unfortunately governments will do nothing to control their arms companies and will keep lying and people will keep dying. Lie no 3 - Tutsis are victims of the Hutus. The truth is that Hutus are the majority and have been a peaceful agricultural people. Belgium, the colonial power, armed the minority Tutsis and created an army to control the majority Hutus. Thus the Tutsis have been oppressing the Hutus for decades. Even now the Tutsis are fighting and killing thousands in the Congo. Until the politicians and journalists start telling the truththere will never be any end to conflicts.