Alan Parker, the founder of the communications group Brunswick, has a little motto about the role of financial public relations in the delicate pas de deux between the business world and the media: "You must always avoid getting in between the actors and the footlights."
Mr Parker, who built London Brunswick from scratch in the 1980s to become one of the biggest PR firms in the world, with offices in 15 countries, meant that he and his fellow communications executives should never become the news themselves.
Their job was to facilitate transmission of information between companies and executives, and the press, broadcast and web-based organisations that try to shed light on the business world.
On the whole, I agree with that dictum. The minutiae of comings and goings in the world of PR - who has won what client, which firm has tendered for which account, or which executive is being lured from one firm to another - is largely incidental to the real business of business and deserves to stay firmly in the specialist trade press.
But occasionally PR activity becomes an intrinsically interesting matter in itself. It illustrates how companies and executives are thinking if they decide to hire or fire one firm in preference to another, or do away with PR advice altogether. It can be a straw in the wind of corporate strategy.
Last week's brief but intriguing announcement from the Dubai Department of Finance (DoF) fell into this category. The DoF, in the name of director general Abdul Rahman al Saleh, announced it had appointed Brunswick as its PR adviser and thanked Finsbury, its London-based rival, for its help this year.
One in, one out it seemed, but talking it through with PR professionals in Dubai over the past few days, there is rather more to the matter than first seems apparent.
I believe there has been another significant shift in the way Dubai is approaching the effects from the global economic crisis, which tells us much about the emirate's priorities for the rest of the year.
When Finsbury was appointed in March, it was taken by the media as a welcome sign that Dubai Inc had fully signed up to the principle of transparency and openness that was often lacking in the past in its dealings with the international and local media.
Finsbury's job was to explain how Dubai was planning to meet the challenges of the post-crisis world, and in particular the US$80 billion (Dh293.84bn) of debt the emirate had built up in its headlong rush for regional leadership.
Simon Moyse, a straight talking, experienced PR executive with stints in Moscow and London's Treasury, was parachuted into Dubai to try to stem the negative press the emirate had been getting from the serious business media.
His main ally in this task, and the man who was instrumental in his firm's appointment, was Nasser al Shaikh, then the director general of the DoF, but Mr al Shaikh departed soon after in circumstances that have still not been fully explained.
It is customary for a change at the top to prompt a change in PR firms, so perhaps we should look no further than that for an explanation of Brunswick's recent appointment.
But I believe there is more to it than that. Brunswick's brief with DoF is narrower than Finsbury's. It has been hired explicitly to explain to a sceptical global media how Dubai will disburse the funds from the financial support fund launched by Dubai last February with a $10bn bond backed by the Central Bank.
This is key to Dubai's medium-term economic strategy. The funds are to be used to support cash-strapped corporates deemed essential to the emirate's future development, many of whom are struggling with debts to - often foreign - contractors or with financing obligations on the international markets.
A large part of the existing $10bn, perhaps most of it, has already been used to support the developer Nakheel, arguably the worst affected by the global crisis.
Dubai hired Rothschild, the investment bank, to help it establish a fund, which would then disburse the cash, but the bank has now completed that task and its contract finished at the end of last month.
Brunswick's challenges are these: to explain how and why some corporates will get funds while others will not; to explain progress on the second tranche of the fund, which is being marketed around the world but, according to bankers, has not met with a strikingly warm reception by international investors, and may also end up with the backing of the Central Bank; and finally to tell the world, via the international media, how Dubai will meet the significant funding obligations it has to satisfy over the next 12 months.
Most notable is the $3.5bn sukuk from Nakheel, which has to be honoured in December.
The firm's appointment is a sign that these pressing financial commitments are assuming a larger significance in the minds of the leaders of Dubai Inc, rather than any broader notions of the emirate's reputational risk.
In short, it is a signal that Dubai is getting down to the nitty-gritty, and even considering a selective default on one or more of its liabilities.
For Finsbury, there is still a job to be done in Dubai. The firm will report to the newly established Brand Dubai on the emirate's global media image, and is picking up some other business, notably the Dubai Pearl project. But Brunswick will shoulder the main and crucial burden of explaining Dubai's financial position to the world. With such a high-profile commission, it will be a challenge for the firm to stay out of the limelight.
fkane@thenational.ae
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
The language of diplomacy in 1853
Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)
We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.
Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale
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Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
UAE v Ireland
1st ODI, UAE win by 6 wickets
2nd ODI, January 12
3rd ODI, January 14
4th ODI, January 16
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Juvenile arthritis
Along with doctors, families and teachers can help pick up cases of arthritis in children.
Most types of childhood arthritis are known as juvenile idiopathic arthritis. JIA causes pain and inflammation in one or more joints for at least six weeks.
Dr Betina Rogalski said "The younger the child the more difficult it into pick up the symptoms. If the child is small, it may just be a bit grumpy or pull its leg a way or not feel like walking,” she said.
According to The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases in US, the most common symptoms of juvenile arthritis are joint swelling, pain, and stiffness that doesn’t go away. Usually it affects the knees, hands, and feet, and it’s worse in the morning or after a nap.
Limping in the morning because of a stiff knee, excessive clumsiness, having a high fever and skin rash are other symptoms. Children may also have swelling in lymph nodes in the neck and other parts of the body.
Arthritis in children can cause eye inflammation and growth problems and can cause bones and joints to grow unevenly.
In the UK, about 15,000 children and young people are affected by arthritis.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Marathon results
Men:
1. Titus Ekiru(KEN) 2:06:13
2. Alphonce Simbu(TAN) 2:07:50
3. Reuben Kipyego(KEN) 2:08:25
4. Abel Kirui(KEN) 2:08:46
5. Felix Kemutai(KEN) 2:10:48
Women:
1. Judith Korir(KEN) 2:22:30
2. Eunice Chumba(BHR) 2:26:01
3. Immaculate Chemutai(UGA) 2:28:30
4. Abebech Bekele(ETH) 2:29:43
5. Aleksandra Morozova(RUS) 2:33:01
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
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RESULT
Manchester United 2 Tottenham Hotspur 1
Man United: Sanchez (24' ), Herrera (62')
Spurs: Alli (11')
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi
Director: Kangana Ranaut, Krish Jagarlamudi
Producer: Zee Studios, Kamal Jain
Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Ankita Lokhande, Danny Denzongpa, Atul Kulkarni
Rating: 2.5/5
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
The Settlers
Director: Louis Theroux
Starring: Daniella Weiss, Ari Abramowitz
Rating: 5/5
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Boulder shooting victims
• Denny Strong, 20
• Neven Stanisic, 23
• Rikki Olds, 25
• Tralona Bartkowiak, 49
• Suzanne Fountain, 59
• Teri Leiker, 51
• Eric Talley, 51
• Kevin Mahoney, 61
• Lynn Murray, 62
• Jody Waters, 65
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