Six months ago a stag was dispatched in the south of England. The locals were outraged, partly because they regarded the "Emperor of Exmoor" as something of a tourist attraction, and also because he had rather an impressive set of antlers, a 13-pointer.
This week a terrorist was killed in Pakistan. Osama bin Laden's death has provoked a similar outcry, probably not because he helped to bring in the tourists - although perhaps people will flock to Abbottabad now to see where he spent his last few days - but because the US President Barack Obama is refusing to release photos of the dead body.
But what, you might be asking, is the connection between a dead stag and the former leader of al Qa'eda? The answer, at least if you live in North America is this: statistically you stand the same chance of being killed by a deer as you do by a terrorist.
John Mueller, a professor of political science, and Mark Stewart, a professor of civil engineering, are due to publish a book called Terror, Security and Money: Balancing the Risks, Benefits and Costs of Homeland Security.
Beyond noting that the title is a mouthful, some of their conclusions, an extract of which was published in the journal Foreign Affairs, are startling.
"Americans are twice as likely to perish in a natural disaster and nearly a thousand times more likely to be killed in some type of accident," they write.
Now I'm fairly sure that whoever took out the Exmoor stag was not some do-gooder trying to ensure he did not cause an accident on the road, but a bounty hunter who wanted to hang the antlers on the walls of his billiard room. Nor can the cost of terminating said stag's time on Earth have been that expensive. All that was needed was a Mannlicher-Schoenauer and a couple of cartridges.
I had often mused on a dull Thursday afternoon that it would be a good money-spinner to nip over to the Tora Bora caves or wherever the al Qa'eda leader was holed up, point out his whereabouts to the US Navy Seals, and be back in time for work on Sunday millions of dollars richer. That sort of cash might even keep my wife in cosmetics.
If I'd known he was in Pakistan, the same distance from the capital Islamabad as Reading is from London, I'd definitely have gone.
It would have been a bargain for the Americans too. In hindsight the bounty of US$25 million (Dh91.8m) was too low. They should have offered $100 billion.
They could always have followed the example of Harry Flashman, admittedly a fictional character, who made his name as a duelling hero in the British Army, having first bribed one of the seconds to remove the shot from his opponent's weapon. When said second tried to collect the promised sum, Flashman told him to go hang himself and threatened to denounce him as a cad for even considering such a pernicious act.
But to take out bin Laden and ensure the security of America, Messrs Mueller and Stewart estimate the US has so far spent $1 trillion, and that excludes the cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The War on Terror has provided rather a nice boondoggle for a range of suppliers, from spies to security men to scanners at airports. To justify the amount that is being spent, they suggest there would need to be an attack on the scale of the September 11 2001 attacks every year.
Opponents of this argument would probably say that it is just because such a sum is being spent that we can all sleep safely in our beds.
Personally I'd be willing to take a bit more risk and rather less time waiting in line at airports, taking my shoes on and off, sometimes taking my laptop out of the briefcase but sometimes not bothering - why can't airports make up their minds on this crucial matter? Surely if it's going through an X-ray machine you can see through the leather case?
In any event, those who benefit from this budget bonanza were keen to dismiss Osama's death as the end of the struggle.
"The attacks are still going on against our troops. The networks are still operating. Al Qa'eda is still operating," said Dianne Feinstein, the Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman. "So it goes on."
A colleague reminded me this week of the famous scene in Apocalypse Now with Robert Duvall playing the crazed army commander Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore. We all remember that he sniffs the air at one point and exults: "I love the smell of napalm in the morning … The smell, you know that gasoline smell … Smells like … victory."
But what my colleague pointed out was that after that he says, almost to himself: "Some day this war is gonna end", and you can tell he doesn't like that thought.
This War on Terror doesn't look like it is going away anytime soon. I'm not sure the stags in the forest are sleeping any easier either.
rwright@thenational.ae
Company%20profile
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now
Top financial tips for graduates
Araminta Robertson, of the Financially Mint blog, shares her financial advice for university leavers:
1. Build digital or technical skills: After graduation, people can find it extremely hard to find jobs. From programming to digital marketing, your early twenties are for building skills. Future employers will want people with tech skills.
2. Side hustle: At 16, I lived in a village and started teaching online, as well as doing work as a virtual assistant and marketer. There are six skills you can use online: translation; teaching; programming; digital marketing; design and writing. If you master two, you’ll always be able to make money.
3. Networking: Knowing how to make connections is extremely useful. Use LinkedIn to find people who have the job you want, connect and ask to meet for coffee. Ask how they did it and if they know anyone who can help you. I secured quite a few clients this way.
4. Pay yourself first: The minute you receive any income, put about 15 per cent aside into a savings account you won’t touch, to go towards your emergency fund or to start investing. I do 20 per cent. It helped me start saving immediately.
Health Valley
Founded in 2002 and set up as a foundation in 2006, Health Valley has been an innovation in healthcare for more than 10 years in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
It serves as a place where companies, businesses, universities, healthcare providers and government agencies can collaborate, offering a platform where they can connect and work together on healthcare innovation.
Its partners work on technological innovation, new forms of diagnostics and other methods to make a difference in healthcare.
Its agency consists of eight people, four innovation managers and office managers, two communication advisers and one director. It gives innovation support to businesses and other parties in its network like a broker, connecting people with the right organisation to help them further
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
Francesco Totti's bio
Born September 27, 1976
Position Attacking midifelder
Clubs played for (1) - Roma
Total seasons 24
First season 1992/93
Last season 2016/17
Appearances 786
Goals 307
Titles (5) - Serie A 1; Italian Cup 2; Italian Supercup 2
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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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
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
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.”
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