British business is in two minds about Labour’s election landslide.
There is the fear of higher taxes and the feeling, whatever Keir Starmer and the Chancellor Rachel Reeves might say, that Labour would rather target UK business for more revenue than people.
Against that is the prospect of certainty, that after recent upheaval Britain is on a solid footing once again, with a strong government, which helps a firm’s planning for the future and capital investment.
There is much for the Europeans to be anxious about, not just Britain’s future dealings with the EU
There’s also the likelihood of a ‘reset’ with the EU, ironing out the worst wrinkles of Brexit, enabling smoother and easier movement of goods and people. Some hope that rejoining the bloc completely may be within sight.
What they see as the beginning of a new era starts this week with the meeting of the European Political Community at the stately Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. The brainchild of Emmanuel Macron, the EPC is open to all European leaders, not just EU.
This session will be the fourth such gathering since the French President felt that Europe needed to be able to meet and formulate a collective response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The agenda is slight – it’s more an informal networking event and talking shop than sit-down debating forum. Starmer, the host, sees it as the perfect, early opportunity to reassert Britain’s position on the international stage and restore confidence after the self-inflicted isolationism of Brexit.
He will address the opening plenary session, held in one of the great halls of Blenheim, birthplace of Winston Churchill. His speech will play to Labour’s ‘twin-track’ approach to the EU, of closer security ties and boosting trade links.
It comes after Starmer’s new Minister for European Relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, travelled to Brussels for an introductory meeting with the former Brexit negotiator, Maros Sefcovic. After too, the Irish Taoiseach, Simon Harris, promised to support Starmer’s UK on the European stage and ordered his ministers to develop closer contacts with their Labour opposite numbers.
Starmer is holding two bilaterals this week. One, with Harris at Chequers on Wednesday evening; the other with Macron at Blenheim on Thursday. There is palpable excitement in senior Labour circles and within the business community that EU relations are rapidly turning a corner and tangible outcomes are near.
Bad blood
They may be getting ahead of themselves. While the mood music from Brussels is positive, it is also couched. The description being repeated by EU officials is that they’re "open-minded" to seeing what can be achieved. That is not a ringing endorsement of a new relationship, it’s putting the ball firmly into Britain’s court, to show that Starmer is serious, that this different approach is genuine, deep and lasting.
There’s been too much bad blood, mostly emanating from the UK side, as they see it, for a sudden rapprochement.
Starmer may desire this, a body of the electorate want it and the bulk of British business certainly wishes for change. But there is still the figure of Nigel Farage, someone ingrained on the minds of Brussels servants, who for years abused and insulted them and their institution, with which to contend. They do not forget easily.
The success of Farage’s Reform party in the election illustrated there is still a considerable rump of UK opinion that has not diminished.
What the EU would like is for the UK to offer proof of willingness. As a first step they’re looking for an agreement for greater mobility of younger people between the UK and EU, for each other's citizens to come and go, and be able to settle and work freely. They also wish for the rebirth of the Erasmus youth scholarship programme.
A test for Starmer
These are chosen deliberately; in the belief they will contribute to the UK’s youth achieving a better understanding and appreciation of the EU. They also, though, go to the heart of immigration policy and are likely to inflame Farage and his supporters.
It’s a test, to see how intentioned Starmer really is and whether he can command popular support. Get that right, they’re saying, and other reforms may materialise.
They also stress, however, that foremost in their minds is not the UK. It’s Ukraine and Russia and security. That, after all, is what the EPC was set up to explore. At the top of the priority list this week is defence and democracy, and two working groups have been set up to capture current thinking. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to attend.
China, and the new power axis it has with Russia and India, are other causes for concern. Then there is the possibility of a Trump second term. There is much for the Europeans to be anxious about, not just Britain’s future dealings with the EU.
Migration is another hot topic. Here, they are seeking a shift from the UK. Rishi Sunak’s plan to relocate illegal immigrants in Rwanda was met by scorn in Brussels. They are hoping for a signal from Starmer that Sunak’s scheme is dead and buried.
EU officials emphasise as well that the EU and its chiefs are exhausted. Britain may have been in the midst of a change of leadership but there is barely an EU country without some serious, pressing domestic issue. Macron himself arrives as a reduced President, combating turmoil that ironically, was down to his doing, at home.
This EPC summit comes, too, after numerous other similar gatherings and the criss-crossing of the world. It was meant to be sooner but was delayed by Sunak. Most of those present will be contemplating August and the respite of the beach. Where the UK belongs in their firmament will not dominate their thoughts.
Patience and one step at a time will be the message. As for the ultimate goal for some, of rejoining, at a recent lunch with a senior Brussels bureaucrat, I was left in no doubt that there was little to no chance of that happening, not any time soon, if at all.
Readmission would require the approval of all the member countries and he was confident obtaining unanimous agreement would prove impossible.
We, in London, underestimate, he said, the suspicion giving way to actual hostility that exists in some European capitals. We don’t have an automatic right of re-entry; we must learn to shed our historic sense of entitlement.
Blenheim might be where Winston Churchill, the great European liberator, was born but the palace was originally conceived by a grateful nation as a reward to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, for his military endeavours against the French and Germans. The fragile nature of UK-European relations will not be lost on anyone.
What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
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- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
The five pillars of Islam
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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
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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Iraq negotiating over Iran sanctions impact
- US sanctions on Iran’s energy industry and exports took effect on Monday, November 5.
- Washington issued formal waivers to eight buyers of Iranian oil, allowing them to continue limited imports. Iraq did not receive a waiver.
- Iraq’s government is cooperating with the US to contain Iranian influence in the country, and increased Iraqi oil production is helping to make up for Iranian crude that sanctions are blocking from markets, US officials say.
- Iraq, the second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumped last month at a record 4.78 million barrels a day, former Oil Minister Jabbar Al-Luaibi said on Oct. 20. Iraq exported 3.83 million barrels a day last month, according to tanker tracking and data from port agents.
- Iraq has been working to restore production at its northern Kirkuk oil field. Kirkuk could add 200,000 barrels a day of oil to Iraq’s total output, Hook said.
- The country stopped trucking Kirkuk oil to Iran about three weeks ago, in line with U.S. sanctions, according to four people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because they aren’t allowed to speak to media.
- Oil exports from Iran, OPEC’s third-largest supplier, have slumped since President Donald Trump announced in May that he’d reimpose sanctions. Iran shipped about 1.76 million barrels a day in October out of 3.42 million in total production, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
- Benchmark Brent crude fell 47 cents to $72.70 a barrel in London trading at 7:26 a.m. local time. U.S. West Texas Intermediate was 25 cents lower at $62.85 a barrel in New York. WTI held near the lowest level in seven months as concerns of a tightening market eased after the U.S. granted its waivers to buyers of Iranian crude.
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
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UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
It Was Just an Accident
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Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
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Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
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Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
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THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Race card
6.30pm: Emirates Holidays Maiden (TB), Dh82,500 (Dirt), 1,900m
7.05pm: Arabian Adventures Maiden (TB), Dh82,500 (D), 1,200m
7.40pm: Emirates Skywards Handicap (TB), Dh82,500 (D), 1,200m
8.15pm: Emirates Airline Conditions (TB), Dh120,000 (D), 1,400m
8.50pm: Emirates Sky Cargo (TB), Dh92,500 (D)1,400m
9.15pm: Emirates.com (TB), Dh95,000 (D), 2,000m
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
