First, do no harm. This principal precept of medical ethics is taught to all medical students - but apparently the lesson flew right over the head of Dr Gregory House.
For House, practising medicine has always been more about the puzzle and less about the people, kind of like Sherlock Holmes with a scalpel.
"There's also the implication of, in the art of the puzzle, that the person who thrives at puzzle-solving must be less empathetic, less emotional," says the British actor Hugh Laurie, who portrays House as a misanthrope for the ages.
For fans in thrall of Laurie's mesmeric performance - who wonder if redemption and a true connection to another human being is even possible for House - all hopes for a happy ending desperately ride on the series' grand finale, Everybody Dies, the 177th episode of this Golden Globe and Peabody-winning Fox series that premiered in 2004.
Arrogant, self-destructive and self-absorbed, TV's brilliant pill-popping diagnostician - the pride of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey - has made life a living hell for his patients, his colleagues, his true love (he drove his car into her house) and, especially, for himself. Yet there's something about this sociopath that still compels us to watch, to root for his squelched humanity to prevail.
"The past eight years have been an incredible journey for me and for a lot of other people, too," says Laurie. "I love the world of House. It can go from the broadly comic to the angry satire to the gut-wrenching tragedy to a horror movie in the space of seconds."
In 2008, House was the most-watched television show on the globe, with 81.8 million viewers in 66 countries.
To his credit, House's modus operandi of sewing chaos, thrashing egos, lying his face off and out-pranking fellow doctors has achieved mind-blowing cures - when not landing him in prison or a psychiatric hospital.
The biggest dramatic question of this entire series - and a story lever that never failed to ratchet up the tension - has always been this: what does it take to heal someone as messed up as House?
"The thing I find interesting about House as a character is his distance and his apathy - his removal from any kind of connection," says Robert Sean Leonard, who plays House's best and last remaining friend Wilson, who's now dying from cancer and fears he'll do so alone if House ends up back behind bars.
So, naturally, with viewer hopes running so high for his salvation, we find House - after failing to find a way to weasel out of his forthcoming jail time - cowering in a burning building. The notorious addict hallucinates that he sees people from his past as he asks himself his own big question - is his life not worth living anymore?
Without letting slip any spoilers here, sweet closure is coming - one way or another - in an emotionally awesome climax.
As the flames lick higher - while Wilson and the dean of medicine Dr Eric Foreman (Omar Epps) frantically search the city for the missing House - the curmudgeon himself just sits on a filthy warehouse floor, quarrelling with the parade of visiting spectres from his mind, as stubborn old Ebenezer Scrooge did with his Christmas spirits.
Even Dr Lawrence Kutner (Kal Penn) - who committed suicide in the fifth season - shows up to plead with House to save his life while he still can: "Even with your subconscious, you're evasive."
House snaps back: "Is this hell? An eternity of people trying to convince me to live?"
As he reported for work at Fox Studios in Hollywood to shoot his last House scene earlier this year, Laurie told a documentary crew: "So this is it. Here's to the last day. Eight years. One hundred and seventy-seven shows. It's almost five million man hours. Or, if you prefer, 566.6 years. That's 4,074 miles of film ... and just one more mile to go."
The final episode of House is broadcast at 10pm on Tuesday on OSN First.
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
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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
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
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
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Saturday (UAE kick-off times)
Leganes v Getafe (12am)
Levante v Alaves (4pm)
Real Madrid v Sevilla (7pm)
Osasuna v Valladolid (9.30pm)
Sunday
Eibar v Atletico Madrid (12am)
Mallorca v Valencia (3pm)
Real Betis v Real Sociedad (5pm)
Villarreal v Espanyol (7pm)
Athletic Bilbao v Celta Vigo (9.30pm)
Monday
Barcelona v Granada (12am)
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
THE NEW BATCH'S FOCUS SECTORS
AiFlux – renewables, oil and gas
DevisionX – manufacturing
Event Gates – security and manufacturing
Farmdar – agriculture
Farmin – smart cities
Greener Crop – agriculture
Ipera.ai – space digitisation
Lune Technologies – fibre-optics
Monak – delivery
NutzenTech – environment
Nybl – machine learning
Occicor – shelf management
Olymon Solutions – smart automation
Pivony – user-generated data
PowerDev – energy big data
Sav – finance
Searover – renewables
Swftbox – delivery
Trade Capital Partners – FinTech
Valorafutbol – sports and entertainment
Workfam – employee engagement
