The year 1929 saw the publication of three uniquely brilliant novels by three very different German-speaking writers. All have endured. Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front illuminates the carnage and futility of the First World War from the German perspective.
In contrast, Grand Hotel by Austrian-born Vicki Baum is a sparkling yet searching study of Berlin polite society in the golden twenties.
The other great novel that year was set in Weimar Berlin during the less stable end of the decade, and with unsparing detail insight examined the flipside to Baum's world. Alfred Döblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz charts the wrong moves, second chances and squandered opportunities of a recidivist criminal as he forges his way through the capital's underbelly in search of light.
Döblin (1878-1957) moved to Berlin at the age of 10 and remained there until the Nazis came to power. His knowledge of the city – his awareness of its sights and sounds, people and places, highs and lows – is evident on every page of the book he is best known for.
This new English translation by Michael Hofmann – the first in more than 75 years – replaces stodgier versions by expertly capturing the fecundity, originality and musicality of Döblin's masterpiece.
Locked away for four years for doing “some stupid stuff” – or beating up his girlfriend Ida so badly that she died – Franz Biberkopf now vows to keep on the straight and narrow. He is released from prison and finds himself back on the streets of Berlin, dislocated and alone. “His real punishment,” we are told, “was just beginning.”
Gradually, Biberkopf makes progress, and for a while it seems he is able to settle down and make an honest man of himself. He gets jobs hawking tie-pins, newspapers and shoelaces, and strolls around town with new girlfriend Lina on his arm.
But these weeks spent being “decent” turn out to be a mere period of respite. He falls in with a bad crowd and, at first unwittingly and later willingly, becomes involved in shady deals and audacious burglaries. He is double-crossed, run over and hung out to dry; he loses an arm and, for a time, his mind. When he picks himself up and dusts himself down he is stronger and ready to take on villainous rival Reinhold.
However, fate has other ideas. Biberkopf's beloved Mitzi is murdered, sending him over the edge and down to rock bottom. Soon, he is on the run for a crime he didn't commit and prepared to end it all – that is until a conversion in custody and re-immersion in the city offers the faint yet possible prospect of redemption.
Berlin Alexanderplatz is a bold and dazzling collage of a novel. Blended into or built around Biberkopf's misadventures are newspaper articles, weather reports, Biblical stories, Jewish yarns, ancient myths, street noise and thick streams of consciousness. Its urban exploration, together with its bravura range of styles and voices and narrative tricks, have led to a comparison with that other modernist-metropolitan epic, James Joyce's Ulysses, a book Döblin admired. While this is valid to a point, Döblin's book is a quite different beast: more visceral than cerebral, more plot-driven, and with more at stake for its desperate characters.
Those characters consist of thieves and fences, killers and victims, misfits and thugs. All elements of the underworld are present and correct. Flitting around them at key junctures are token policemen, political adversaries and bitter and broken war veterans ("We give our blood for the Fatherland against the Poles and Frogs and this is how the nation thanks us"). As we head into the realm of madness and hallucination, we encounter angels and dead souls.
Döblin’s main character steers the novel but also plays with our emotions. We champion Biberkopf, hoping he will stay clean and sane through hard times. But then Döblin will remind us of what he looks like (“a coarse, rough man of repulsive appearance”) or his refusal to accept responsibility for his crime (“It could happen to anyone, they lose their temper, their hand slips”) and he stops being a lovable rogue.
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When Biberkopf decides that crime pays (“Working gives you calluses, but not money”) and starts to live off “immoral earnings” he loses our sympathy. However, he remains an electrifying presence on the page, a reckless, self-destructive force of nature impossible to ignore. Döblin transfixes us with two other features. The first is his roving, scoping, catch-all narration, similar to John Dos Passos’ “Camera Eye”. He takes us down streets, around landmarks, and into apartments, bars, shops, ballrooms, a mental asylum, police headquarters, and, in a scene that could turn the staunchest meat-eater into a vegetarian, a slaughter house.
The second compelling aspect is the novel’s rich speech patterns. Hofmann transforms the vernacular of Berlin lowlife into a kind of battered Cockney slang. People are on the lam or in chokey, they say innit, dunno and nuffink, and it works wonders. When the characters don’t speak, their creator does, either admonishing Biberkopf or addressing the reader in a chatty, gossipy way.
The novel doesn’t always make for comfortable reading, but it is hard not to be charged by its raw energy, carried along by its manic rhythms, or gripped by its supremely inventive depiction of a man “going to hell with a great fanfare.”
How to tell if your child is being bullied at school
Sudden change in behaviour or displays higher levels of stress or anxiety
Shows signs of depression or isolation
Ability to sleep well diminishes
Academic performance begins to deteriorate
Changes in eating habits
Struggles to concentrate
Refuses to go to school
Behaviour changes and is aggressive towards siblings
Begins to use language they do not normally use
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
THE BIO
Favourite book: ‘Purpose Driven Life’ by Rick Warren
Favourite travel destination: Switzerland
Hobbies: Travelling and following motivational speeches and speakers
Favourite place in UAE: Dubai Museum
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Teachers' pay - what you need to know
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
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