It is set to premiere on Prime Video later this month

Prime Video announced the premiere date and revealed the official trailer for a new full-length Rory McIlroy documentary.

Rory McIlroy: The Masters Wait, a film from Everyone Else, in association with Firethorn Productions, follows the golfer’s winding road to his 2025 Masters victory and completing the career Grand Slam.

The documentary will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

READ MORE: Rory McIlroy and father Gerry win prestigious Seminole Pro Member tournamentREAD MORE: Co Fermanagh golf resort named one of the best in the world

A description reads:”There are rare moments in sport when time seems to collapse—when years of heartbreak and longing compress into a single breath. For Rory McIlroy, that moment came on No. 18 green at Augusta National Golf Club in April of 2025.

“After a gripping playoff with Justin Rose, the final putt dropped, and Rory fell to his knees, gasping as though he had been holding his breath for fourteen years.

“Rory McIlroy: The Masters Wait captures that moment and unpacks the relentless pressure, devastating failures, and unwavering determination that made his triumph so profound—the story of a prodigy who became a champion, was knocked down year after year, and rebuilt himself into one of sport’s most resilient figures.”

The documentary is centred on Rory’s battle with one of the most storied and revered golf courses in the world: Augusta National, home of the prestigious Masters Tournament.

Watch the trailer below…

The synopsis continues: “To fans, Augusta National represents golf’s ultimate cathedral—pristine fairways, blooming azaleas, with a Tournament steeped in tradition and glory. But to Rory, Augusta National became a place of fears, failures, and expectations that tormented him for fourteen years.

“From his devastating 2011 collapse when he blew a four-shot Sunday lead at just 21 years old, to the near misses, disappointments, and outright heartbreaks that followed, Augusta National became his nemesis—the one place that refused to yield even as he conquered the other three major championships: the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship, and The Open.

“The Masters remained elusive, the missing piece that prevented him from completing golf’s most exclusive achievement, the career Grand Slam.”

Built around the dramatic final round of the 2025 Masters and unfolding hole by hole, the film is a “cinematic battle between man and course”, revealing why sport is never just sport, but myth played out in real time.

Directed by Drea Cooper, Rory McIlroy: The Masters Wait is an Everyone Else production, in association with Firethorn Productions. The film is produced by Dan Lindsay, TJ Martin, Zoë Morrison, and Ben Piner. Cooper also serves as executive producer.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration’s top drug regulator, Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg, is working to hire a researcher and friend who wants the agency to add new warnings to antidepressants about unproven pregnancy risks, The Associated Press has learned.

Dr. Adam Urato, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist and critic of antidepressant safety, is pressing the FDA to add a boxed warning to SSRIs, the drugs most commonly prescribed for depression. Urato’s petition says the medications can cause pregnancy complications, including miscarriages and fetal brain abnormalities that may lead to autism and other disorders in children.

That proposed labeling change has become a top priority for Hoeg, who regularly consults with Urato and is working to bring him on as a full-time FDA employee, according to people familiar with the situation. They spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential FDA matters.

Within the agency, Hoeg’s close relationship with Urato is viewed as a clear conflict of interest that, under normal FDA standards, would result in her recusing herself from any work on the petition. But Hoeg is actively working to speed up the agency’s review of her friend’s proposal, according to the people familiar with the situation.

Outside experts say the petition relies on flimsy data, including animal studies and small trials in people. They fear a new FDA warning could cause pregnant women to stop medication unnecessarily, leading to serious health risks from untreated depression.

“A black box warning is a big red flag with both practitioners and patients,” said Dr. Jennifer Payne, a University of Virginia reproductive psychiatrist. “What’s missing in this petition is an understanding of the risks of maternal mental illness during pregnancy, not just to the woman, but to the pregnancy and ultimately the infant.”

SSRIs include most of the bestselling depression medications, including Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft and their generic equivalents.

More than 15% of U.S. women, or about 26 million people, take medication for depression, according to the latest federal figures. Professional guidelines state that antidepressants are generally safe during pregnancy and should be discontinued only after careful consultation with a doctor.

Last fall, Hoeg gave a talk on the SSRI petition to top FDA drug officials, presenting the work as her own. Staffers who reviewed her slides found they were created by Urato, according to the people who spoke to the AP. The incident was first reported by Stat News.

Urato said in an email Wednesday that Hoeg is “an excellent scientist,” and that they have known each other for several years.

“I am friendly with her, as I am with many colleagues, but we do not have a longstanding personal friendship that would in any way prevent her from reviewing the citizen petition,” Urato said.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA, said that the agency would respond directly to Urato about his petition.

In January, Urato was named to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s panel on vaccine recommendations, which has been completely reshaped by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to include a number of anti-vaccine voices.

The latest COVID-19 contrarian elevated into FDA’s leadership

The antidepressant review is the latest in a series of controversial topics taken up by Hoeg, a sports medicine physician with no previous government or management experience.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hoeg attracted attention as a critic of masking, vaccine mandates and other public health measures. She co-wrote papers with medical contrarians who would go on to join the Trump administration, including FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and FDA’s vaccine chief, Dr. Vinay Prasad. All three have become top surrogates for Kennedy.

Before the pandemic, Hoeg had published only a handful of medical papers, including one on health issues affecting ultramarathon runners.

A Danish American citizen and marathon runner, Hoeg was instrumental in the Republican administration’s recent decision to drop a number of vaccine recommendations for children. That is a change she has long proposed, to bring the United States more in line with Denmark.

Like many critics of vaccines, including Kennedy, Hoeg has also been skeptical of antidepressants, questioning their safety and benefits. Last July, she hosted a panel of outside experts at the FDA on SSRIs that included Urato and nine other critics of the drugs.

“Never before in human history have we chemically altered developing babies like this, especially the developing fetal brain, and this is happening without any real public warning,” Urato said at the meeting.

On a podcast shortly afterward, Hoeg echoed many of Urato’s points.

“I think women should be informed about the potential risks so that they have time to come off SSRIs if they want to when they’re trying to get pregnant,” Hoeg told the hosts of the Mom Wars podcast.

FDA officials typically avoid making public comments about matters under review because it could suggest the agency is basing its decision on individual opinions, rather than science.

But Hoeg has taken a hands-on approach to the SSRI petition, telling FDA staffers that their proposed review timeline of nine months needed to be shortened, according to the people familiar with the situation.

Reviewing a citizen petition involves detailed analysis of scientific references, legal issues and a number of other steps to ensure that the agency’s final decision can be defended in court.

“Apart from it serving FDA’s public health mission, there’s always going to be some concern about legal risk if the agency doesn’t take sufficient time to consider all the relevant data and arguments,” said Patti Zettler, a former FDA attorney now at Ohio State University’s law school.

Hoeg was tapped to the lead FDA’s drug center in December, inheriting the job during a period of unprecedented upheaval, including layoffs, buyouts and leadership changes. She is the sixth person to lead the 5,000-person center in the past year.

Staffers did not hear from Hoeg directly until a town hall last month, where she voiced her concerns about the safety of SSRIs and injectable RSV shots for children, a class of drugs that FDA is reviewing at her request. RSV is a respiratory virus that sends thousands of children in the United States to the hospital each year.

Antidepressant questions clouded by other health factors

The safety of antidepressants has been scrutinized for decades, leading to several updates to their FDA label, including the addition of a black box warning about the risk of suicidal behavior in children.

For pregnant women, the current label lists a number of documented safety issues, including risks of excess bleeding after giving birth.

Doctors who treat women with depression say they discuss those risks with their patients, balancing the possible safety issues against the potential harms of relapsing into depression: self-harm, substance abuse and other behaviors that negatively impact women and fetuses.

Researchers who have reviewed Urato’s SSRI petition say many of the studies claiming to show connections to disorders such as autism don’t take into account other important health factors. For example, women with depression have higher rates of smoking, diabetes and family histories of mental illness that can all increase the likelihood of developmental disorders.

“So how do we say that these outcomes are a result of the SSRI when all of these other factors are at play?” said Dr. Amritha Bhat, a University of Washington perinatal psychiatrist.

Bhat and other researchers say they support more research into the effects of SSRIs, and they acknowledge possible downsides to their use.

“But in the meantime we need to provide options to people that are struggling with these symptoms during pregnancy,” she said. “We cannot just ask them to white knuckle their way through it.”

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Among the items stolen by the accused was £46.51p worth of meat, a £130 heater, cash, a purse and a pair of sunglasses

A MAN with a “lamentable” criminal record of more than 100 convictions has been jailed for six months over a shoplifting spree.

Maurice Chiz Kane, with an address given as HMP Maghaberry, had previously pleaded guilty at arraignment to three counts of theft and one of fraud by false representation

Prosecution barrister Emma McIlveen told Belfast Crown Court that at around 4pm on March 8, 2025, the 29-year-old entered the Spar shop on the Ravenhill Road in East Belfast.

“He selected a quantity of meat products valued at £46.51p. He made no attempt to pay for the items and then exited the store,” said Ms McIlveen.

Later that same day, Kane went into the Home Bargains store at Connswater Shopping Centre in east Belfast at approximately 6.27pm, lifted a £129.99p heater from a shelf and then left the shop without paying.

“On the same evening at around 9.57 pm, a woman was reviewing footage from her ring door camera and observed movement and the interior light on in her car.

“Subsequently on checking her vehicle she discovered that her purse had been stolen which included bank cards, driving licence, £20 in cash and a pair of sunglasses was also missing.”

The prosecutor said the woman reviewed her online banking and noticed two transactions at the Spar at Ladas Drive in east Belfast totalling £78 which she had not authorised.

“CCTV from the Spar was examined and Kane was confirmed as the person who made the transactions,” said Ms McIlveen.

Defence solicitor Damien Trainor said that following the commission of these offences, Kane had his licence revoked and was returned to prison to serve out the remainder of a two year sentence for burglary which was imposed at Belfast Crown Court in November 2024.

He added that the defendant was due for release from prison on St Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2026.

“He has no remand time gained on these matters and that is his fault of course but this case did take some 12 months to arrive at this stage and there is nothing complex about this case,” added Mr Trainor.

During his sentencing remarks, Judge Patrick Lynch KC said: “This defendant has a lamentable record of 106 charges. These include 46 for theft, 21 offences of burglary, one for fraud, one of handling stolen goods and others for criminal damage and drugs.”

A pre-sentence report compiled by the Probation Board said Kane had a “fraught childhood, his parents struggled with mental health issues and his mother and brother both died in accidental drug overdoses”. It said he left school at the age of 15 with no qualifications. He later started a bricklaying course but was unable to sustain it.

The author said Kane did not have a problem with alcohol but his addiction of choice was drugs, particularly diazepam, cocaine and Xanax.

Said Judge Lynch: “Unfortunately this is a scenario that this court is only too familiar with. The defendant has drifted into a dissipated lifestyle and I have no doubt that a number of these dishonesty offences were to sustain that lifestyle, including the extravagant use of drugs.

“At one stage he indicated that he needed 50 diazepam tablets a day.”

Imposing six months in custody, Judge Lynch said the sentence would run from Wednesday March 4 which would interfere with Kane’s release date of March 17.

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The RAF base in Cyprus was hit by a Shahed-like drone on Sunday with no casualties, as the MoD confirmed it was not launched from Iran.

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The MoD has provided a significant update in the wake of the drone strike on RAF Akrotiri.

The Cyprus-based RAF facility came under attack from a one-way assault drone on Sunday at 12.03am local time (10pm GMT). Defence Secretary John Healey confirmed no casualties occurred and damage to the installation was minimal.

He characterised the incident as illustrative of the “dangerous and indiscriminate attacks” perpetrated by Iran and its proxies.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has now clarified that the drone did not originate from Iran. In a statement posted on X at 5.03pm, it announced: “The Ministry of Defence can confirm that a Shahed-like drone which targeted RAF Akrotiri at midnight on 2nd March was not launched from Iran.”

Ensure our latest headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as your Preferred Source in your Google search settings, reports the Mirror.

Senior Cypriot authorities stated on Monday that the assault was executed using an Iranian Shahed drone, most probably deployed by Iran-backed militant organisation Hezbollah from Lebanese territory.

Cypriot officials also indicated they believed the military base – rather than Cyprus as a whole – was the intended target. Iran and its allies have conducted missile and drone operations in response to US and Israeli strikes throughout the region.

US-Israeli military action has resulted in over 1,000 fatalities since Saturday, according to Iranian state media. The MoD also confirmed today that RAF Typhoon and F-35B jets have continued “defensive air operations”, supported by Voyager air-to-air refuelling aircraft, “in defence of British interests and allies”.

It added that over the past 24 hours the UK has resupplied air defence systems to British and allied bases in the Middle East, including UK-built air defence missiles.

The MoD also said Royal Navy Wildcat helicopters – armed with Martlet missiles capable of engaging aerial threats – are due to arrive in Cyprus in the coming days.

Two further unmanned drones heading towards the base were intercepted on Monday morning, Cypriot authorities said.

Following the drone incident, families of British service personnel were relocated from Akrotiri as a precautionary measure.

The UK Foreign Office updated its travel advice, urging British nationals to take “sensible precautions” due to “heightened risk of regional tensions”.

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Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments

‘Keeping a government of violent extremists in power in the name of ‘balance’ is unwise’

I am sure some Metro readers believe the weekend’s strikes on Iran were a bad idea and that the US should have let sleeping dogs lie.

In their opinion, the safest course was to leave an aggressive regime alone and hope for the best. Keeping a government of violent extremists in power in the name of ‘order’ or ‘balance’ is unwise.

Some fear the potential chaos following regime change. While these fears are understandable – given examples such as Libya and Iraq – if someone (Iran, in this instance) attempts to attack another (the US) and is injured while defending themselves from American reprisals, their subsequent medical issues are not America’s responsibility.

Proportional self-defence is recognised in England as legitimate. Responsibility begins with the act of aggression – and in this case lies with Iran.

Iran was moving towards nuclear capability aimed at Israel and, by extension, at the US and the wider Western alliance, including the UK.

When a hostile regime pursues such weapons while already suppressing and even murdering its own citizens and supporting terrorist violence abroad, waiting patiently can look less like caution and more like denial.

There was already violence before any strike. The regime had been killing unarmed protesters in large numbers.

Calling firm action ‘reckless’ while treating that reality merely as some kind of background noise suggests misplaced priorities. Ignoring a threat does not remove it. It simply leaves others to face the (lethal one way or another!) consequences. David Frencel, London

Reform are a ‘racist party’

As soon as the result of the Gorton and Denton by-election was announced, Reform UK started blaming their loss on ‘family voting’ (pressurising friends or family to vote for a certain candidate) in what Nigel Farage describes as ‘predominantly Muslim areas’. This is despite the fact that the local council saw no evidence of this.

It sort of suggests that Reform believe all Muslims vote the same way, think the same way, and force each other to conform to the same cultural values
and beliefs.

If Reform aren’t a racist party, then they’re certainly doing a very good impression of one. Mo, Bradford

Are reform pushing for an undemocratic voting system?

Unsurprisingly, after easily losing the vote in the Gorton and Denton by-election to the Green Party candidate, 34-year-old plumber Hannah Spencer, Reform and Farage are throwing all their toys out the pram because they don’t like the result of a democratic decision.

Reform have spent ages attacking ethnic groups, with the party’s candidate, Matt Goodwin, even blaming Muslims for his loss, and yet they are somehow surprised that minority voters would choose to vote against them.

And now, pulling from the same playbook as Donald Trump, Farage wants to change the voting system so UK residents from the Commonwealth can’t vote – hoping to ban people who have every right to vote, because they didn’t vote for him.

Rather than accept defeat with dignity, Reform are just keen to change the rules until they get the result they think they are owed. Matthew, Birmingham

Westminster leaks on decline?

Perhaps there won’t be so many leaks at Westminster with the new Gorton and Denton MP in situ. J Ambrose, via email

And asylum seeker applications too

I see that asylum seeker applications have dropped sharply from 175,457 in June 2023 to 64,426 last December and the processing backlog is down nearly 50 per cent on the year.

This must be a huge relief for all those concerned with the rise of immigration levels in recent years. If this trajectory continues it could deliver a serious blow to Reform’s election prospects. E Gilligan, Salford

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“I am that close to asking if this is a joke…It is a ridiculous application and it is refused,” the judge confirmed.

An east Belfast man accused of racially-motivated assaults on staff at a McDonald’s restaurant failed today in a legal bid for permission to attend public demonstrations.

Neil Pinkerton’s application to vary his bail conditions while facing allegations that he verbally abused victims before recorded footage appeared on TikTok was dismissed as “ridiculous”.

Instead, a judge reinstated a ban on the 37-year-old using social media platforms amid police claims that he remains involved in vigilante patrols and setting up anti-immigration accounts.

Pinkerton, of Clandeboye Street, is charged with common assault, attempted criminal damage, harassment, incitement to hatred and disorderly behaviour over incidents at Connswater Retail Park in the east of the city on September 6 last year.

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard he allegedly threatened a delivery driver outside the restaurant, becoming racially abusive and demanding to know his reasons for being there.

The victim realised he was being filmed on a mobile phone and asked for the recording to stop, only for a second unknown man then joined in the tirade.

Fearing an imminent assault, the driver got into his car and locked the door for his own safety.

Pinkerton continued shouting and swearing while punching the vehicle’s bonnet, it was claimed.

Later that day, the complainant discovered videos of the incident had been posted on TikTok.

“It caused him further anxiety as he fears his identity, workplace and vehicle are now known,” a Crown lawyer said.

Pinkerton is also accused of confronting two door staff at McDonald’s after they stopped teenage girls from entering the premises due to an anti-social behaviour policy.

“He became aggressive, shouting at them, pointing in their faces and implying they are not allowed to speak to females from Northern Ireland,” the prosecutor added.

“The door staff viewed this as particularly aggressive and racially motivated.”

Police later seized two mobile phones in searches carried out at the defendant’s home.

With Pinkerton out on bail since last September, he applied to vary a condition which prohibited him being at any rallies.

Defence barrister Turlough Madden said: “He wishes to attend public demonstrations as his right in a democratic society.”

But District Judge Steven Keown described suggestions he should remove the condition as being ludicrous.

“I am that close to asking if this is a joke…It is a ridiculous application and it is refused,” he confirmed.

During the hearing police succeeded in having a previous ban on Pinkerton using social media put back in place.

An investigating officer claimed information obtained on January 30 this year suggests he has created and promoted new TikTok accounts and Facebook pages.

“These continue to promote anti-immigration sentiment, and Pinkerton and others continue to carry out vigilante patrols throughout east Belfast,” she alleged.

Mr Madden insisted the defendant had not breached any of his bail terms and urged the court not to grant the PSNI’s application.

However, Judge Keown ruled: “I disagree and I reinstate the (condition) not to access any social media platforms, based on the information police have.”

With the case adjourned until next month, Pinkerton was released on continuing bail.

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Work has been ongoing since 2023 after sewers beneath the road were damaged

A major road that has been closed on and off since 2023 may finally reopen this month. Residents have been left frustrated since Barton Road in Wisbech closed, after the road’s sewers were damaged due to a new care home being built.

Due to “complex repairs,” the road has been closed. However, Anglian Water has confirmed when it hopes to finally reopen the road. The water company says it hopes to have completed works by March 19, when the road will fully reopen.

An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “The work is to repair a sewer pipe under Barton Road. This has been a complex repair – something we foresaw from the beginning – because the pipe is more than five metres below ground in places, and the ground on Barton Road is soft, with naturally high groundwater levels which have been exacerbated by recent rainfall.

“We’ve been working hard with extra engineers and specialist teams, and we’re still planning to reopen the road on March 19. If anything changes, we’ll let local residents, the council and stakeholders know.”

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The 52-year-old was reportedly struck multiple times with a metal bar to the head while he was in the work shop at HMP Frankland in County Durham on Thursday.

An update on the condition of Ian Huntley has been released by police after the infamous child murderer was attacked in prison.

The 52-year-old was reportedly struck multiple times with a metal bar to the head while he was in the workshop at HMP Frankland in County Durham on Thursday, February 26. Following the attack he was rushed to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle, where he remains in a serious condition.

A spokesperson for Durham Constabulary said on Wednesday: “There has been no change in the 52-year-old man’s condition overnight – he remains in hospital in a serious condition.”

His injuries were so severe that he will not return to Frankland jail in Durham. He instead will be moved to Ashworth Secure Hospital. A source told the Mirror: “The most likely destination for him if he gets out of hospital is Ashworth. His injuries are such that he is unlikely to Frankland, at least initially.”

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Triple murderer Anthony Russell has been named as the main suspect, however police and prison officials are yet to formally confirm this. He was so close to death after the assault that he had to travel by road rather than by air to hospital.

A paramedic and a doctor flew to Frankland in Durham and stabilised him at the scene. They placed him in an induced coma because of the severity of his injuries.

Huntley is serving a life sentence after being convicted of murdering 10-year-old schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambridgeshire in August 2002. He was jailed in 2005 and is unable to seek parole until 2042.

“He was placed in an induced coma because he was so close to death,” a source said. “The team from the helicopter travelled with him but he could not be evacuated by air in case of any complications. He was transported by road because he was in a coma; this helps to keep him stable. The helicopter then travels to the hospital to collect the medics. Two armed officers are guarding Huntley around the clock at the hospital.”

One source told the Mirror: “Medical staff must be professional no matter who they are dealing with. With a high-profile prisoner like Huntley, the patient’s name is not released before arrival at the jail. Once the medical staff get there, they may recognise the patient but must put that to the back of their minds.”

The assault was his third during 24 years in prison. Huntley was scalded with boiling water at HMP Wakefield in 2005. He was moved to Frankland, where robber Damien Fowkes slashed him in 2010. The neck wound was seven inches (18 cm) long and required 21 stitches.

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Imagine the escalating conflict between the US, Israel and Iran unfolding in a world powered mostly by wind, solar and batteries rather than oil and gas.

In today’s fossil-fuelled economy, markets react to Iran’s attacks on oil and gas facilities in the Gulf and the threat to close the strait of Hormuz. Oil prices jump. Governments brace for inflation. Around a fifth of the world’s traded oil passes through the narrow corridor, linking the Gulf states to the wider world. When tensions rise there, energy markets react instantly.

But in a world where most energy is generated domestically from renewables, would the same threat trigger the same global shock? Would instability in the Gulf still lead to more expensive food and fuel across the world? Or would the economic aftershocks look very different?

To understand what’s at stake, we need to first look at how today’s energy system is structured.

A system built on chokepoints

For about a century, the global economy has depended on fossil fuels produced by a few producers in the Middle East. Chokepoints like the strait of Hormuz carry enormous strategic weight.

That is why the current conflict between the US, Israel and Iran reverberates so quickly through global markets. Even before any sustained disruption to supply, oil and gas prices have surged on the possibility that a major proportion of global flows could be blocked. Because oil underpins transport, agriculture and manufacturing, price spikes ripple rapidly through commodity exchanges, supply chains and into household budgets. Regional conflict can magnify into global economic turmoil within days.

Now run the same crisis in a renewable world

Return to our thought experiment. Now, imagine the same crisis unfolding in a world where energy systems were powered by renewables and electricity rather than oil and gas.

It is the same week. Same military escalation. The same rhetoric about closing the strait of Hormuz. But this time the global energy system has already largely been decarbonised.

In this alternative world, most electricity globally would be produced within national borders from wind, solar and other low-carbon sources. Road transport would be predominantly electric. Heating would rely on locally available renewable sources, such as heat pumps, domestic biomass, geothermal systems or green hydrogen. These are all tried and tested solutions. They are not a thing of the future, and yet today our global economy still gets roughly 80% of its primary energy from fossil fuels.

In the alternative scenario, what changes?

The immediate macroeconomic shock would be weaker. A disruption at the strait would still matter. Oil would still be traded in some sectors, but it wouldn’t be as central to everyday energy use. Prices would be lower because demand was falling. The automatic link between Gulf instability and global inflation would loosen.

Electricity generation would continue, largely insulated from disruption of gas supply. People with electric cars would be less directly affected by a petrol price spike. Household bills would remain unchanged as energy price rates stay stable. Governments would be less exposed to sudden demands to subsidise fuels and an inflationary shock.

Energy security would become less about controlling distant shipping lanes, and more about building a distributed and resilient domestic electricity grid, more storage capacity and diversified supply chains.

Maritime chokepoints to mineral supply chains

This does not mean energy geopolitics would disappear. It would mutate.

Renewable systems depend on critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt and so-called rare earth elements, and involve advanced manufacturing supply chains to make solar panels, wind turbines and batteries. New chokepoints could emerge in mineral processing hubs or semiconductor plants. Already there is geopolitical competition over access to rare earths.

But there are important differences. Fossil fuel reserves are geographically concentrated, which is why global trade converges on a handful of maritime routes: Hormuz, Suez, Malacca (between the Indian and Pacific Oceans) and more. Markets for oil and gas are volatile.

Renewable resources such as sunlight and wind are more widely distributed. While mineral supply chains remain uneven, and still rely heavily on a handful of producers such as China for rare earths, the Democratic Republic of the Congo for cobalt and Indonesia for nickel, they do not converge on a single chokepoint. Price changes propagate through markets for technologies much more slowly. It is easier to built strategic reserves.

In our imagined Iran crisis, power would be more diffuse, with no single state able to threaten such disruption.

Minerals being more dispersed than oil and gas, and less concentrated in a few places, reduces the kind of centralisation and “resource capture” that has historically characterised the oil industry. Global standards on community consent, transparency and environmental protections are now much stronger in mineral supply chains than they ever were for fossil fuels.

This gives local actors more leverage in a renewable-powered world. Mineral-rich regions in Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia would gain new some power – not simply as resource suppliers, but through mechanisms of community consent social licence to operate and they are better able to influence whether projects proceed.

This marks a shift from the petroleum age, where power has largely been concentrated between states and multinational oil companies operating at a distance from affected communities.

The geopolitical dividend of decarbonisation

Decarbonisation is often framed as a climate necessity. It will also lead to a redistribution of geopolitical power, probably towards greater stability.

In today’s fossil fuelled system, the strait of Hormuz sits at the heart of a global economic system that ties global economic stability to the uninterrupted flow of oil – and to the military power that guards it. The current crisis exposes the fragility of that arrangement.

Running this thought experiment does not suggest that renewable energy dissolves geopolitics. In a post-oil world, the strait would still matter and resource conflicts would not vanish. But it does suggest that our fossil energy system is fragile and conflict can reverberate quickly around the world.

British Transport Police (BTP) said they were called to “reports of a casualty on the tracks” on the line near Bolton Railway Station at around 3.45pm.

Despite the efforts of paramedics, who also attended the incident, the person was declared dead at the scene.

BTP said that the incident is “not being treated as suspicious” and they will prepare a file for the coroner.

Train services between Bolton and Preston were disrupted and replacement buses were put in place while emergency services worked on the scene.

A spokesperson for BTP said: “Officers were called to the line near Bolton Railway Station at 3:44pm today (4 March) to reports of a casualty on the tracks.

“Paramedics also attended, and sadly a person was pronounced dead at the scene.

“The incident is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.”