It is said that the history of the world would be different if Queen Cleopatra of Egypt had been blessed with a nose half an inch longer. Julius Caesar and Mark Antony would probably have turned their own well-formed noses up at her and the Roman state would never have split into civil war. Augustus, rather than being an emperor, would probably have carved out a nice career as a civil servant, or possibly a gardener.
I am beginning to think that in our times a similar event may be having even graver consequences, although I suspect it was not necessarily the nose of the young lady that was the cause of the problem. The events in that notorious Sofitel Hotel room in New York a few months ago that led to the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his eventual resignation as head of the IMF a few days later could ensure that Europe, along with much of the rest of the world, remains in recession for the next 10 years.
Fanciful? I was flicking through American Vogueyesterday morning, essential reading for all economists. Are hemlines going up or down? Is lipstick still the only accessory that sells in a recession, or has lip-gloss outshone it?
And there, among the frocks - Mad Men style is very much in fashion this season, I'm pleased to report - was a piece on Christine Lagarde, the former French finance minister who became the new boss of the IMF. She convinced everybody that she would bring honour and dignity back to the position. That's all very well, but what I'd also like to see is a little imagination and not necessarily an old-fashioned approach to a serious problem.
She looks well enough, her legs stretched out in stockings, her hair nicely coiffed. She may even be a great team player, she was a synchronised swimmer in her youth, but can she think for herself?
So far she has said nothing to reassure me, talking instead like a German with a French accent, treating economics as a morality tale, and putting me for once in the same camp as the rather batty Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist and columnist for The New York Times.
"By all accounts she's serious, responsible and judicious," he told Vogue. "But that, of course, is what worries me. For we're living in an era in which, for the time being, conventional prudence is folly, conventional virtue is vice."
Plus, he added, is grey really the colour of the season every season? Why doesn't she dye her hair red like all other French women of her age? OK, I made that last bit up, but Mr Krugman's point is that while it may seem obvious to stop spending money when you don't have any, if you do that as an economy, the consequences are grave. The situation just gets worse.
You only have to see and hear what is going on in Greece to realise why these draconian policies - ironic that Dracon was an Athenian - will not work. Crime is soaring. My friend has returned from there and tells me that her parent's car has been repeatedly broken into. Her mother no longer wears any jewellery. They live in a good part of town but many of the nearby restaurants and cafes are now boarded up. There are strikes every day listed in the newspaper.
"I'm so pleased that I learned to speak Greek," my friend says, "even though I thought there might be more useful languages I should be studying. But now I can read the paper every morning and know when to avoid certain places."
Despite all the disruption, Greece enjoyed a bumper haul of tourists this summer, with many visitors from the Gulf preferring to risk travel chaos rather than say, the threat of fighting in Lebanon.
But that is unlikely to continue. As the mood turns uglier in Athens, the tourists will stay away. Not only that, but the young Athenians, a whole generation, will decide to go and live somewhere else. They are said to be moving to Germany, but also to Australia and Canada, two countries with large Greek communities.
And it is not just the Greeks on the move. Many of the peripheral parts of Europe are abandoning their homelands, with more Irish said to be leaving than at any time since the 19th century. And the Portuguese are heading to Brazil and Angola.
Can you blame them? Who would want to be a 20-year-old graduate faced with having to clean up this mess and pay absurdly high taxes in the slim prospect that you got a job? Emirati graduates can expect a starting salary of Dh32,000 a month, more than US$104,000 a year, and that's just the basic. You don't see many of them emigrating, apart from to Europe and the US during the hot summer months.
Whatever you think of Strauss-Kahn's behaviour, and I suspect that few think very much of it at all, it is beginning to look like he was the right man in the right place at the right time. He appears to have had the combination of charm, bluff and foresight to steer Europe through this crisis. The trouble is he ran into the wrong woman at the wrong time in the wrong place. Just like Mark Antony.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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.”
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Trippier bio
Date of birth September 19, 1990
Place of birth Bury, United Kingdom
Age 26
Height 1.74 metres
Nationality England
Position Right-back
Foot Right
The%20Secret%20Kingdom%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Matt%20Drummond%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlyla%20Browne%2C%20Alice%20Parkinson%2C%20Sam%20Everingham%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Tank warfare
Lt Gen Erik Petersen, deputy chief of programs, US Army, has argued it took a “three decade holiday” on modernising tanks.
“There clearly remains a significant armoured heavy ground manoeuvre threat in this world and maintaining a world class armoured force is absolutely vital,” the general said in London last week.
“We are developing next generation capabilities to compete with and deter adversaries to prevent opportunism or miscalculation, and, if necessary, defeat any foe decisively.”
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Match info
Premier League
Manchester United 2 (Martial 30', Lingard 69')
Arsenal 2 (Mustafi 26', Rojo 68' OG)
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The specs: 2018 Renault Megane
Price, base / as tested Dh52,900 / Dh59,200
Engine 1.6L in-line four-cylinder
Transmission Continuously variable transmission
Power 115hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 156Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.6L / 100km
11 cabbie-recommended restaurants and dishes to try in Abu Dhabi
Iqbal Restaurant behind Wendy’s on Hamdan Street for the chicken karahi (Dh14)
Pathemari in Navy Gate for prawn biryani (from Dh12 to Dh35)
Abu Al Nasar near Abu Dhabi Mall, for biryani (from Dh12 to Dh20)
Bonna Annee at Navy Gate for Ethiopian food (the Bonna Annee special costs Dh42 and comes with a mix of six house stews – key wet, minchet abesh, kekel, meser be sega, tibs fir fir and shiro).
Al Habasha in Tanker Mai for Ethiopian food (tibs, a hearty stew with meat, is a popular dish; here it costs Dh36.75 for lamb and beef versions)
Himalayan Restaurant in Mussaffa for Nepalese (the momos and chowmein noodles are best-selling items, and go for between Dh14 and Dh20)
Makalu in Mussaffa for Nepalese (get the chicken curry or chicken fry for Dh11)
Al Shaheen Cafeteria near Guardian Towers for a quick morning bite, especially the egg sandwich in paratha (Dh3.50)
Pinky Food Restaurant in Tanker Mai for tilapia
Tasty Zone for Nepalese-style noodles (Dh15)
Ibrahimi for Pakistani food (a quarter chicken tikka with roti costs Dh16)
