Just a few hours ago, once the clock struck midnight, you might have been one of the diehard James Bond fans queuing up for the first public screenings of Skyfall here in the UAE. It's fair to say that levels of anticipation are high and, the fact that the film was directed by the man responsible for classic works such as American Beauty and Road to Perdition, means it's potentially a Bond film that can appeal to serious cinema buffs. And yes, there's an Aston Martin in it, just to keep a few of us car fanatics happy.
I can trace my fascination with cars back to July 1977, when my father took me to see The Spy Who Loved Me. As a 5-year-old, the film's plot would have escaped me but there was plenty to keep my mind entertained. I'd never before seen a digital watch and I'm pretty sure I'd never seen a metal-toothed assassin or a nuclear submarine swallowed whole by an oil tanker. But these things paled into insignificance when Roger Moore drove off the end of a jetty in a white Lotus Esprit. That split second of celluloid history sealed my fate.
The array of cars that James Bond has driven over the years has been as varied in quality as the scripts and the acting. For every corker there has been a real stinker - while the Aston Martins will always excite, the AMC Hornet, Ford Mondeo and at least two of the BMWs are probably best forgotten.
In the original novels, as most of us will know, author Ian Fleming put 007 behind the wheel of a 1930s Bentley and the only time we saw Bond using one of those was in From Russia With Love. As the films veered ever further away from the Fleming stories, so the cars and gadgets became more and more unrealistic. But we don't care about that - James Bond is about escapism, and a suspension of disbelief is an absolute requirement when enjoying this most guilty of cinematic pleasures.
Aston Martin has been trading off its Bond connection ever since the DB5 tore onto cinema screens in 1964's Goldfinger. It's become a natural association and for good reason, too, because James Bond is suave, sophisticated and brutal when necessary. Just like Aston Martin's cars both then and now.
But for me that Lotus will always be the ultimate Bond car. The Spy Who Loved Me ranks as the best Roger Moore outing and the man himself says it's his personal favourite. The film combines exotic locations, high-octane action and classic one-liners that will last forever. The shock of seeing a white Esprit morph into a rocket-firing submarine, though, is what causes me to put the DVD in and press play whenever I need cheering up. It's not simply a nostalgic trip down memory lane - it genuinely is epic cinema.
Obviously the real car could not dive into the sea, pressurise its cabin, sprout fins, tuck away its wheels, launch a missile strike on a helicopter and drop mines onto the seabed to deal with psychotic scuba divers before emerging onto a crowded beach and driving away, while Bond nonchalantly drops a dead fish onto the sand.
Instead, several miniature models were used for the underwater scenes, as well as a fully functioning submarine controlled by scuba "drivers" who were completely submerged. The car that entered the water was an empty shell that was fired from the jetty into the sea using a compressed air cannon.
While some people are disappointed to learn how certain stunts are pulled off for the silver screen, I am always fascinated by the methods used to make the impossible appear genuine. And the fact that, some 35 years after that Lotus blew my tiny mind, it still looks totally real, is truly astonishing.
James Bond's character has become more realistic in recent years - he's now a brute in a suit, a ruthless and efficient assassin. But I do yearn to see another automobile that captures my imagination the way an underpowered, underdeveloped, plastic British sports car did in the summer of '77. I'm totally prepared to suspend disbelief.
khackett@thenational.ae
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
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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.
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Soldier F
“I was in complete disgust at the fact that only one person was to be charged for Bloody Sunday.
“Somebody later said to me, 'you just watch - they'll drop the charge against him'. And sure enough, the charges against Soldier F would go on to be dropped.
“It's pretty hard to think that 50 years on, the State is still covering up for what happened on Bloody Sunday.”
Jimmy Duddy, nephew of John Johnson
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Book%20Details
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In numbers
1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:
- 800 tonnes converted into alternative fuel
- 150 tonnes to landfill
- 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal
800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal
Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year
25 staff on site
Can NRIs vote in the election?
Indians residing overseas cannot cast their ballot abroad
Non-resident Indians or NRIs can vote only by going to a polling booth in their home constituency
There are about 3.1 million NRIs living overseas
Indians have urged political parties to extend the right to vote to citizens residing overseas
A committee of the Election Commission of India approved of proxy voting for non-resident Indians
Proxy voting means that a person can authorise someone residing in the same polling booth area to cast a vote on his behalf.
This option is currently available for the armed forces, police and government officials posted outside India
A bill was passed in the lower house of India’s parliament or the Lok Sabha to extend proxy voting to non-resident Indians
However, this did not come before the upper house or Rajya Sabha and has lapsed
The issue of NRI voting draws a huge amount of interest in India and overseas
Over the past few months, Indians have received messages on mobile phones and on social media claiming that NRIs can cast their votes online
The Election Commission of India then clarified that NRIs could not vote online
The Election Commission lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police asking it to clamp down on the people spreading misinformation
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
'Lost in Space'
Creators: Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless, Irwin Allen
Stars: Molly Parker, Toby Stephens, Maxwell Jenkins
Rating: 4/5
