You can tell a lot about a country's business culture from its airports, and especially from the terminals that handle long haul, intercontinental traffic.
Dubai's Terminal Three screams of ambition, glamour and slickness; Paris Charles de Gaulle is sleekly efficient, speaking eloquently of years of compound infrastructure investment; New York's JFK is brash but egalitarian; Dublin is homely and slightly chaotic.
These stereotypes have been strained by the financial troubles of the past 18 months. On a recent trip to Dublin, even the normally garrulous airport taxi drivers seemed overwhelmed with property market blues. And I'm sure I've noticed just a little less swagger in Dubai of late. The immigration officials, dismissive to the point of arrogance in the boom years, have even begun to smile a little as they swipe your passport.
The examples I've used here have one thing in common: they are run and owned by governments or municipalities, and overseen by state-appointed regulators whose job it is to ensure the terminal and its environs conform to essential standards of efficiency and safety. There is a basic coincidence of interests between the owner, operator and regulator which works in the interests of passengers and operators.
They may sometimes make money for their owners, but that is not their main purpose. Their principal function is to provide the infrastructure foundation for efficient air travel.
Now let's take a look at Terminal Three at London's Heathrow. As a frequent flyer between Dubai and London, and usually a customer of Emirates Airline, I have had the misfortune to use Heathrow T3 on many, too many, occasions in the past few years. As the main terminal for Asian and Middle Eastern airlines, the state of T3 can only be intended as a deliberate slight on those parts of the world, and on anyone looking to do business with them.
It's hard to single out a particular aspect of the "LHR T3 experience", it is such a uniformly depressing and painful ordeal. On a recent trip, it began on the very moment of touchdown. The Emirates flight was a commendable five minutes early after a seven hour flight, and passengers were looking forward to a quick disembarkation and getting on with the final stage of the journey.
However, I was just about to learn the difference between the aviation terms "landing" and "arrival." In this case, it was not just the difference between the time the plane's wheels hit the tarmac and the time you get off the plane; it was also 54 infuriating, frustrating, tut-tutting minutes.
The pilot, obviously embarrassed that his professional efficiency had not been matched by that of the airport ground crew, explained that the plane on the stand our Boeing was supposed to occupy was delayed because the catering company had not delivered the inflight food. By about the 50th minute I was mentally inflicting high altitude starvation on the outbound passengers, if only I could get off the plane.
At most airports, stepping off the plane into the tube linking you to the terminal is a moment of liberation, when you start thinking about the details of your visit. At LHR T3, it is just the beginning of your ordeal. The long, long walk to passport control is dismal and depressing. The "sights" of London portrayed on the walls of the tubular walkway look dreary and washed out, fitting perfectly into the overall colour scheme of hospital grey.
The hell of the immigration hall awaits you inexorably. If Hieronymus Bosch were alive today, he would need no further material for inspiration than this horrible room. The lighting is just bright enough to let you pick out the dinginess of the decor, unpainted for decades surely, but not to actually light the place.
Exhausted, blinking passengers shuffle forward at a snail's pace, made all the slower by the fact their feet adhere to the filthy carpeting. After this ordeal, even the surly face of the immigration officer is a relief, a return to humanity however ugly.
But you are wrong to think it's all over. The real disgrace of LHR T3 is the baggage collection hall, a freezing, filthy warehouse of a place. The hours I've spent there go down as some of the most frustrating in my life. But at least that's almost the end. After a walk through customs (always a tense experience) and a trot through what must be the tattiest, least-inviting duty free area in the world, you are there: the arrivals hall of LHR T3.
Welcome to London, one of the great business centres of the world and capital of the European financial time zone. Open to the world for commerce, including Grupo Ferrovial of Spain, which, in 2006, paid £10 billion (Dh58.63bn) for BAA, the British group that owns Heathrow, and has evidently starved T3 of investment ever since. The interests of owners, regulators and passengers have never been more out of kilter.
@Email:fkane@thenational.ae
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
City's slump
L - Juventus, 2-0
D - C Palace, 2-2
W - N Forest, 3-0
L - Liverpool, 2-0
D - Feyenoord, 3-3
L - Tottenham, 4-0
L - Brighton, 2-1
L - Sporting, 4-1
L - Bournemouth, 2-1
L - Tottenham, 2-1
More coverage from the Future Forum
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
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Tell-tale signs of burnout
- loss of confidence and appetite
- irritability and emotional outbursts
- sadness
- persistent physical ailments such as headaches, frequent infections and fatigue
- substance abuse, such as smoking or drinking more
- impaired judgement
- excessive and continuous worrying
- irregular sleep patterns
Tips to help overcome burnout
Acknowledge how you are feeling by listening to your warning signs. Set boundaries and learn to say ‘no’
Do activities that you want to do as well as things you have to do
Undertake at least 30 minutes of exercise per day. It releases an abundance of feel-good hormones
Find your form of relaxation and make time for it each day e.g. soothing music, reading or mindful meditation
Sleep and wake at the same time every day, even if your sleep pattern was disrupted. Without enough sleep condition such as stress, anxiety and depression can thrive.
Brief scores:
Liverpool 3
Mane 24', Shaqiri 73', 80'
Manchester United 1
Lingard 33'
Man of the Match: Fabinho (Liverpool)
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The Disaster Artist
Director: James Franco
Starring: James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogan
Four stars
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.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Dubai World Cup nominations
UAE: Thunder Snow/Saeed bin Suroor (trainer), North America/Satish Seemar, Drafted/Doug Watson, New Trails/Ahmad bin Harmash, Capezzano, Gronkowski, Axelrod, all trained by Salem bin Ghadayer
USA: Seeking The Soul/Dallas Stewart, Imperial Hunt/Luis Carvajal Jr, Audible/Todd Pletcher, Roy H/Peter Miller, Yoshida/William Mott, Promises Fulfilled/Dale Romans, Gunnevera/Antonio Sano, XY Jet/Jorge Navarro, Pavel/Doug O’Neill, Switzerland/Steve Asmussen.
Japan: Matera Sky/Hideyuki Mori, KT Brace/Haruki Sugiyama. Bahrain: Nine Below Zero/Fawzi Nass. Ireland: Tato Key/David Marnane. Hong Kong: Fight Hero/Me Tsui. South Korea: Dolkong/Simon Foster.
Company%C2%A0profile
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Anxiety and work stress major factors
Anxiety, work stress and social isolation are all factors in the recogised rise in mental health problems.
A study UAE Ministry of Health researchers published in the summer also cited struggles with weight and illnesses as major contributors.
Its authors analysed a dozen separate UAE studies between 2007 and 2017. Prevalence was often higher in university students, women and in people on low incomes.
One showed 28 per cent of female students at a Dubai university reported symptoms linked to depression. Another in Al Ain found 22.2 per cent of students had depressive symptoms - five times the global average.
It said the country has made strides to address mental health problems but said: “Our review highlights the overall prevalence of depressive symptoms and depression, which may long have been overlooked."
Prof Samir Al Adawi, of the department of behavioural medicine at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, who was not involved in the study but is a recognised expert in the Gulf, said how mental health is discussed varies significantly between cultures and nationalities.
“The problem we have in the Gulf is the cross-cultural differences and how people articulate emotional distress," said Prof Al Adawi.
“Someone will say that I have physical complaints rather than emotional complaints. This is the major problem with any discussion around depression."
Daniel Bardsley
Company profile
Name: Tratok Portal
Founded: 2017
Based: UAE
Sector: Travel & tourism
Size: 36 employees
Funding: Privately funded
