The opening of the 2022 Six Nations rugby championship this weekend is a reminder of what will be one of the memorable images of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s time in power.
Two years ago, Mr Johnson was in the flush of victory after landing a surprise 80-seat majority in the late 2019 election. In March 2020, he went to the Twickenham stadium in south-west London for an England game.
Covid-19 was circulating but the UK government was not paying much attention. Mr Johnson himself missed a handful of Cabinet-level crisis meetings on the emergence of the new disease. He stood in the stands wearing a padded black Barbour jacket that in many ways represented campaign armour. There were no masks in sight. By his side was Carrie, the woman who would soon be his third wife, and the couple glowed from the photos as the stadium hummed with excitement for the game.
Mr Johnson once compared his quest for power to the dynamics of rugby. Speaking to the broadcaster Michael Cockerell about his prospects, Mr Johnson said he would only succeed if the ball came loose from the scrum (for the uninitiated, the rugby scrum is the heart of the game that moves possession and territory under the weight of half the players on the field). The metaphor eventually came good because it took the Brexit referendum to loosen the leadership grip of the party establishment on the Conservatives. The maverick Mr Johnson grabbed the ball and ran away with it.
After weeks of pressure in the Partygate affair, Mr Johnson is probably thinking of his premiership in rugby terms.
One aspect of the game is phases of attack – where one team can push to score in waves, known as phases. A team can be buffeted by 40 or more phases and still see off an attacking attempt. What’s required is a dogged determination to cover all defensive lines, go to ground and then push back. Mr Johnson will undoubtedly be thinking that his side is still in the game as long as it is still defending against all oncoming onslaughts.
The cost has been horrendous. Mr Johnson lost four key figures in his government on Thursday alone, including his chief of staff and head of the policy unit. In rugby, too, the loss of players and the rotation of substitutes is part of the roiling tempo of the game. To the fore has come another team of loyalists to spearhead the fightback. Andrew Griffith, one of those, has been made the new head of the policy unit.
Those who have worked closest with Mr Johnson know that his character can never change. As Malcolm Rifkind, a former UK foreign secretary, said last week, Mr Johnson is a complex figure who came to the job fully formed. Mr Rifkind noted his intelligence and that he not only reads books deeply but writes them.
With great talent can also come a belief that everything will fall into place by its own volition. When Mr Johnson was getting married for a second time in the 1990s in Brussels, he remembered on the morning of the wedding he had not got the legal paperwork from his first divorce.
Boris Johnson will be thinking that his side is still in the game as long as it is still defending against all onslaughts
A call to an associate working early morning in London’s Canary Wharf area was made. This triggered a trip across town to Westminster Town Hall to retrieve the document, which was then faxed to Mr Johnson at Brussels city hall to allow the marriage to proceed that morning. When bureaucrats complain that there is no process in Mr Johnson’s administration, they would do well to remember this basic letdown.
In approaching each day, what is important to Mr Johnson is a set of tactical operational drivers. His jibe against UK Leader of the Opposition Keir Starmer last week about failing to prosecute the child abuser Jimmy Savile during the latter’s time as director of public prosecutions seems to have been a "dead cat". By throwing the false claim out there and leaving it by not apologising, Mr Johnson ensured there was a talking point outside serious allegations of the police looking at lockdown parties in Downing Street during the pandemic.
The move backfired when a member of staff who has worked with him for 13 years, Munira Mirza, quit. Mr Johnson’s reaction was to flood the news cycle with more bad news for himself. Clearing the decks is another Johnson tactic from the playbook. When someone walks out on him, there will be a shrug and a cry of "Next!".
Like the certainty that there will be an allusion to ancient Greece or a cartoon character in his speeches, it is a given that Mr Johnson is ruthless and is never going to give up. In calling on heroic qualities hour by hour, he has no other tools left to use. Tempers around him are frayed. Many of those who will decide on his future, both the exiting staff in Downing Street with more stories to tell and the MPs who get to vote on his leadership, do not share his tribal impulses. Bureaucratic process and scientific management tools are the antithesis of how Mr Johnson operates.
Halting the onslaught and regaining ground are looking ever more beyond his energies.
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Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
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Match info
Manchester United 1 (Van de Beek 80') Crystal Palace 3 (Townsend 7', Zaha pen 74' & 85')
Man of the match Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace)
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
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- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
'The worst thing you can eat'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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How has net migration to UK changed?
The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.
It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.
The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.
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FIGHT CARD
Welterweight Mostafa Radi (PAL) v Tohir Zhuraev (TJK)
Catchweight 75kg Leandro Martins (BRA) v Anas Siraj Mounir (MAR)
Flyweight Corinne Laframboise (CAN) v Manon Fiorot (FRA)
Featherweight Ahmed Al Darmaki (UAE) v Bogdan Kirilenko (UZB)
Lightweight Izzedine Al Derabani (JOR) v Atabek Abdimitalipov (KYG)
Featherweight Yousef Al Housani (UAE) v Mohamed Arsharq Ali (SLA)
Catchweight 69kg Jung Han-gook (KOR) v Elias Boudegzdame (ALG)
Catchweight 71kg Usman Nurmagomedov (RUS) v Jerry Kvarnstrom (FIN)
Featherweight title Lee Do-gyeom (KOR) v Alexandru Chitoran (ROU)
Lightweight title Bruno Machado (BRA) v Mike Santiago (USA)
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
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