6 March

Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia and Ras Laffan in Qatar are the global home of oil and gas production, respectively. Nowhere else churns out production like these, they’re the original and biggest sources of oil and gas. They’re now both closed, with the conflict in Iran. As is the Strait of Hormuz, the tiny pinch point I’ve circled in yellow, where ships carry this oil and gas to the rest of the world. This tiny region is the source of much of the world’s energy in the past century. Hands up if you think it’s much smarter for the whole world to get its energy where they live, from the free sunshine and wind that is available everywhere? You can even grow it at home. We have our own power plant, which powers the house and car. It will set you free, and make you much richer. (For the people at the back of the science class, oil and gas are also solar energy. Just 3 millions years of it, concentrated into a filthy polluting goo, which we burned in 300 years and then wondered why the planet became a sauna.)