There is a clear trust deficit in many parts of the world, as political unrest, conflict and labour disputes spring up with more frequency.
According to findings published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), there is a big problem in countries across Europe, Latin America and the Asia Pacific. In the OECD survey, released on Wednesday, of 50,000 people across 22 nations, 41.4 per cent say they trust their national government and 41.1 per cent say they do not.
While the data does not cover the world’s biggest economies, the US and China, it is indicative of a global picture. In Sri Lanka, for example, months of protests culminating in the seizure of government buildings followed a breakdown in faith that existing leadership could resolve the country’s economic crisis and raise standards of living.
Last week, amid efforts to secure a workable majority in parliament, French President Emmanuel Macron described the political landscape in his country as "exceptional". In the UK, where a leadership contest to replace outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under way, only 35 per cent of people said they have faith in the government.
Brazil’s upcoming presidential race is already mired in a deluge of fake news online about the candidates, that is stoking distrust in the electoral system. Argentina’s farmers have gone on a 24-hour strike to protest against economic policies.
In 2022, people are increasingly looking to themselves for answers
And at the G20 foreign ministers meeting in Bali last weekend, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi urged the group to find ways to co-operate amid the war in Ukraine, and food, energy and climate crises. “Honestly, we cannot deny that it has become more difficult for the world to sit together,” she said. At the same meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks, which it is hoped will “enhance understanding, reduce misunderstandings and misjudgements”.
Trust in economic and financial institutions and systems seems to have gone, too. Workers demand better pay and conditions now, unable to rely on employers’ assurances about the future with the cost of living spiralling. Italian air traffic controllers will strike this weekend. Swedish pilots are already taking industrial action. UK railway workers plan to walk out for a day at the end of the month. There are many more examples.
“Trust is absolutely essential to everything in society working well,” Tonia Reis, director of Edelman’s Trust Barometer surveys, told AP this month. “It’s one of those things that, like air, people don’t think about it until they realise they don’t have it, or they’ve lost it or damaged it. And then it can be too late.”
So, how can we fix this situation?
On Wednesday, OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann said: “Ultimately, to boost trust, governments need to get better at taking people into their confidence, by better communicating the need for reforms and their impact.” But he is not quite grasping how bad things have become. Trust cannot be won back through speeches and news releases.
The loss of trust can be traced back to at least the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The support for the war in the US and Britain was built on a false argument that Iraq’s dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction he was able to deploy against countries around the world.
When people understood how they had been misled, it was the first major break in the foundation of trust in the world order that had been laid at the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. Added to this, the response to the financial crisis in 2009 – when central banks and governments pumped trillions of dollars into the financial system – further eroded faith in the entire system. Then there has been the realisation of how Big Tech companies have abused consumers in the past decade, coupled with the rise of fake news.
The erosion of belief has led to the rise of populism and other political consequences as the economic situation of individuals deteriorated. Now many of these populist leaders have also failed to deliver on expectations. It is arguable today that no individual, or party, or institution, is in a position to restore levels of trust on any kind of scale.
This is because, in 2022, people are increasingly looking to themselves for answers rather than reliance on authority to achieve their goals. Self-reliance is not the same thing as the individualism and free market economics championed by former US president Ronald Reagan and former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, in the 1980s.
The free market has failed us, too. And the shrinking of government has made it unequal to the challenges of the 21st century. Authorities are also unable to adequately regulate the private sector, which has grown both too powerful and inefficient.
The next era will be one where technology is harnessed to help people remove the institutions that they no longer trust from the bulk of their day-to-day lives. It is the empowering of individuals, so that they can enjoy radical levels of choice and control, that will begin to restore the confidence and faith in societies, governments and businesses.
What is a black hole?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
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Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
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Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
BRAZIL SQUAD
Alisson (Liverpool), Daniel Fuzato (Roma), Ederson (Man City); Alex Sandro (Juventus), Danilo (Juventus), Eder Militao (Real Madrid), Emerson (Real Betis), Felipe (Atletico Madrid), Marquinhos (PSG), Renan Lodi (Atletico Madrid), Thiago Silva (PSG); Arthur (Barcelona), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Douglas Luiz (Aston Villa), Fabinho (Liverpool), Lucas Paqueta (AC Milan), Philippe Coutinho (Bayern Munich); David Neres (Ajax), Gabriel Jesus (Man City), Richarlison (Everton), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Rodrygo (Real Madrid), Willian (Chelsea).
Ammar 808:
Maghreb United
Sofyann Ben Youssef
Glitterbeat
UAE squad
Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Emily Thomas, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Katie Thompson, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Michelle Botha, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Sashikala Silva, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish (wicketkeeper) Udeni Kuruppuarachchige, Vaishnave Mahesh.
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – First ODI
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Bareilly Ki Barfi
Directed by: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring: Kriti Sanon, Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao
Three and a half stars
Tori Amos
Native Invader
Decca
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company%C2%A0profile
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Three ways to boost your credit score
Marwan Lutfi says the core fundamentals that drive better payment behaviour and can improve your credit score are:
1. Make sure you make your payments on time;
2. Limit the number of products you borrow on: the more loans and credit cards you have, the more it will affect your credit score;
3. Don't max out all your debts: how much you maximise those credit facilities will have an impact. If you have five credit cards and utilise 90 per cent of that credit, it will negatively affect your score.
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
Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
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1) Kepa Arrizabalaga, Athletic Bilbao to Chelsea (£72m)
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
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THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Test squad: Azhar Ali (captain), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan(wicketkeeper), Musa Khan, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood, Yasir Shah
Twenty20 squad: Babar Azam (captain), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Musa Khan, Shadab Khan, Usman Qadir, Wahab Riaz
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Honeymoonish
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