In your briefing today:

📣 Scotland’s “core” civil servants are rarely in the office despite a 40% hybrid working target, figures suggest.

More than 9,000 core staff working for the Scottish Government were told to return to the office for at least two days a week last October. But new data show that less than half of that group has met the quota since the policy was introduced. No disciplinary action is being taken against those staff who fail to meet the target.

The figures also suggest a number of vast Scottish Government offices are not being used by core civil servants, although the Scottish Government says the numbers do not offer an accurate picture of its hybrid working policy, as it misses out some forms of work including hot desking and working within the Scottish Parliament. (The Herald (£) has the exclusive)

📣 Keir Starmer has abandoned plans to delay 30 local council elections across England, less than three months before they’re due to be held.

The government folded in the face of a likely legal in a challenge brought by Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK. But the proposals had also been criticised by the Electoral Commission, which said they were likely to damage public confidence. (Guardian)

📣 Hillary Clinton says President Donald Trump’s administration is engaged in a “cover-up” over the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, accusing it of “slow-walking” the release of files.

The Department of Justice says it has now released all the files it is required to, but lawmakers in the US have claimed the release is insufficient.

Clinton’s husband, former President Bill, appeared a number of times in the Epstein files - although doing so is not evidence of wrongdoing, and neither Clinton has been accused of wrongdoing by survivors. The couple has, however, been locked in a row with Republicans in Congress after threats to hold both in contempt.

In a BBC interview, the former US Secretary of State was asked whether Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor should appear before a congressional committee. Clinton said “everyone should testify who is asked to testify.” (BBC)

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📣 Brewdog’s early-stage “punk” investors could be left with a nasty aftertaste: 220,000 people who put money into the Scottish brewer could be left empty-handed should it be sold. The company, which has struggled in recent years, has appointed advisors to “evaluate the next phase of investment for the business”. (Guardian)

📣 A think-tank is warning Scotland’s free University tuition and more generous benefits could be under threat without higher tax revenues, and more efficient delivery of services. (BBC)

📣 Police in Scotland have “written off” more than 22,000 crimes - including cases of shoplifting, theft, and vandalism - according to figures released under Freedom of Information laws. (The Mail has the exclusive)

📣 UK bank bosses are considering launching an alternative to Visa and Mastercard, amid rising fears of Donald Trump’s ability to switch off US-owned payment systems. (Guardian)

📣 Ukraine is facing a “demographic catastrophe” and is urging troops to freeze their sperm so partners can have children even after their death. (BBC)

📣 The US and Iran are to hold a second round of nuclear talks in Geneva today. (AP)

📣 Italy’s famous “lover’s arch” in Puglia collapsed into the sea during a storm… on Valentine’s Day. (Guardian)

📣 Hollywood is mourning the death of Robert Duvall, the Oscar-winning actor “of matchless versatility and dedication” who will be remembered for his performances as consigliere in the first two “Godfather” movies. He died on Sunday, aged 95. (AP)

⛷️ Aberdeen-based Freestyle skier Kirsty Muir has, again, missed out on an Olympic medal by an agonising margin, securing her second fourth-place finish of the Games.

Competing in the big air, Muir scored a combined 174.75 points from her best two runs, 3.5 points shy of Italian bronze medallist Flora Tabanelli.

It comes exactly a week after she missed out on slopestyle bronze by just 0.41 points. (BBC)

📣 Scotland’s rugby players, basking in that win over England at the weekend, are rallying round under-fire head coach Gregor Townsend. (Scotsman)

🗣️ Is there a reliable way to lose some weight - or just stay thin? Readers who worry about their weight could have been forgiven mild despair yesterday: a big piece of academic research published yesterday said intermittent fasting “may make little to no difference to weight loss and quality of life”. That rather puts the kibosh on a popular and straightforward form of dieting.

My own reaction was one of surprise - around 10 years ago, I gave intermittent fasting a good go, prompted by an unwanted accumulation of pounds and the opportunity, afforded by travel for work, to separate out my dietary habits from those of my family at least two days a week.

I adopted the 5:2 method, popularised by Dr Michael Mosley, restricting my diet severely on Mondays and Wednesdays and eating normally the rest of the week. I combined that with exercise, too. And it went well - I lost weight, got in shape and learned what foods fill me up - and which really don’t. A legacy of that time - no sugar in my coffee, far less sugar all round, fewer processed foods - remains to this day.

The only problem? You do get very hungry. Monday and Wednesday afternoons would be a test at work - and occasionally for colleagues too, I suspect. When my working life stopped offering the opportunity to follow the diet easily, my adherence waned. Covid put a hard stop to it all.

The new research suggests my experience may not be much different from that of people on more conventional diets.

The BBC quotes Luis Garegnani, lead review author at the Universidad Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, as saying he was concerned about the online hype around fasting. “Intermittent fasting may be a reasonable option for some people, but the current evidence doesn't justify the enthusiasm we see on social media.”

The review also highlights the frequently shambolic (my word) state of research around nutrition and diet. I’ve long found it staggering that there’s so much bad advice and so much quackery surrounding something so fundamental as how we fuel ourselves.

“Most of the studies they looked at did not use the most robust methods and included small numbers of people, making it difficult to work out the true effects,” reports the BBC.

As this piece published in The Conversation points out, the vast and under-regulated nutrition and supplements industry is keen for us to leap on specific ingredients and supplements in the non-stop quest for long and good lives.

“Misinformation is rampant in the realm of health and nutrition,” notes Aimee Pugh Bernard, an assistant professor of immunology and microbiology. “Findings from nutrition research are rarely clear-cut because diet is just one of many behaviours and lifestyle factors affecting health, but the simplicity of using food and supplements as a cure-all is especially seductive.

“Many people are rightfully confused by an onslaught of conflicting health information. Even expert advice is often contradictory,” she notes. Her piece is a helpful guide on how to navigate some of that.

The late Dr Michael Mosley was the guide for millions of Britons before his untimely death. Today, his son - also a doctor - writes in defence of the 5:2 diet (Times - 🎁gift link), and of the benefits it brought his father.

“The 5:2 gives people a bit more agency and control than traditional dieting methods,” says Dr Jack Mosley. “People also tell me that it’s given them more understanding about what to eat — what foods are filling for them, and which are empty calories.”

That’s what it did for me. But I, of course, am no better than a diet influencer in these things - no medical qualifications, offering only a selective review of the research.

Figuring out what to eat, and how much of it - while we are all bombarded with messages to eat the bad stuff, and tons of it - remains a test for us all.

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