Something truly remarkable is happening in Britain. And no, I am not talking about the fact that we have had three prime ministers this year (so far). Nor am I thinking about the first person of Asian background to be prime minister of the UK, Rishi Sunak, though his rise is indeed is remarkable. Nor, even, am I thinking about the seven weeks of total madness that was the government of Liz Truss. This short-lived period of self-harm caused so much economic and political dislocation that Mr Sunak and his Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt are being forced to take another few weeks to figure out how to repair the damage caused by their own Conservative party.
These changes are indeed remarkable, yet more astonishing than all of them – and underpinning every one of them – is the fact that the B-word is back in the British political vocabulary. The B-word is Brexit. It has largely been removed from British political discussions for some time. Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson claimed Brexit was "done," and so we shouldn’t talk about it any more. The Labour leader Keir Starmer decided that re-fighting Brexit was at best a waste of time and at worst would alienate Brexit supporting Labour voters. He therefore says very little about Brexit at all.
Television news reports often discussed all kinds of problems – long queues of trucks at British ports, trade dislocation, lines of British travellers at airports, lower growth than other European countries, the weakness of the pound and price rises for imported goods – with only occasional mentions of the B-word. But now, slowly, it has begun to sink in to the British political consciousness that not only is Brexit not "done", it is also a failure at every level – an economic, political and constitutional failure, with different parts of the UK (Scotland and Northern Ireland, most obviously) resenting Brexit for the damage that has been caused, and with more to come.
In the case of Northern Ireland, the result of Brexit has already been serious. It will get worse. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which used to be Northern Ireland’s biggest party, enthusiastically supported Brexit without ever explaining what the reality of their supposedly ideal Brexit would look like. They were against every Brexit idea put to parliament, yet still remain in favour of the idea of leaving the European Union.
In the case of Northern Ireland, the result of Brexit has already been serious. It will get worse.
The result of their confusion is the Northern Ireland Protocol – which they loathe, yet their political manoeuvring helped create. The Protocol in effect treats Northern Ireland as if it were still in the EU in terms of trade. But that means a border in the Irish sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. The DUP have now brought down the devolved Stormont government in Northern Ireland. The result is talk of new elections, but new elections will solve nothing, except perhaps alienate voters even more. The DUP has already lost its position as the biggest party in Northern Ireland to the Irish Republican party, Sinn Fein. Historians will note that Northern Ireland was created in 1922 specifically to avoid an Irish Republican party ever holding power in Belfast.
The sad fact is that Northern Ireland has not ever appeared high on the priority list of some of our many recent post-Brexit prime ministers. Mr Johnson agreed the Northern Ireland Protocol. Ms Truss had so little time in office she did nothing of substance about the problem. And now Mr Sunak has so many other things to think about, specifically the economy, that he appears to be too busy even to attend Cop27.
But if Northern Ireland is barely on his radar, Mr Sunak is also unlikely to admit that Brexit has been a disaster, even if others are beginning to do precisely that. The Brexit silence is over. The Financial Times has released an excellent half hour video on the impact of successive government failures. As they put it: "The UK's recent disastrous "mini" Budget can trace its origins back to Britain's decision to leave the European Union. The economic costs of Brexit were masked by the Covid-19 pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine. But six years after the UK voted to leave, the effect has become clear." The FT film had three million views in a week.
A short factual BBC film on the same subject had more than a million views after a day or two. The political omerta, the silence about the core issue which has undermined four prime ministers since 2016, divided the Conservative party and led to a lack of leadership in the Labour opposition, is slowly being broken. Of course, merely talking about a problem does not solve that problem. But at least honestly recognising that Brexit is indeed a problem, and one so significant that it has now undermined a series of British governments, opens the way to minimising future damage. There is an opportunity here for Mr Starmer. In order to seize it, he has to break his own relative silence and start saying the B-word.
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Fly Etihad or Emirates from the UAE to Moscow from 2,763 return per person return including taxes.
Where to stay
Trips on the Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian cost from US$16,995 (Dh62,414) per person, based on two sharing.
T20 World Cup Qualifier
Final: Netherlands beat PNG by seven wickets
Qualified teams
1. Netherlands
2. PNG
3. Ireland
4. Namibia
5. Scotland
6. Oman
T20 World Cup 2020, Australia
Group A: Sri Lanka, PNG, Ireland, Oman
Group B: Bangladesh, Netherlands, Namibia, Scotland
Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreated%20by%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJesse%20Armstrong%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Brian%20Cox%2C%20Jeremy%20Strong%2C%20Kieran%20Culkin%2C%20Sarah%20Snook%2C%20Nicholas%20Braun%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Record breaker
- The most total field goals made in NBA history, as well as the most consecutive games scoring 10 or more points
- The only player in NBA history to reach 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 assists
- Four-time regular season MVP and four-time NBA Finals MVP
- Six-time NBA All-Defensive selection. Rookie of the Year in 2004
- The most All-NBA selections with 21 in a row, including a record 13 first team selections
- The most consecutive All-Star selections with 21
- The only player to play alongside his son; Bronny James was chosen by the Lakers in the 2024 NBA draft
Favourite things
Luxury: Enjoys window shopping for high-end bags and jewellery
Discount: She works in luxury retail, but is careful about spending, waits for sales, festivals and only buys on discount
University: The only person in her family to go to college, Jiang secured a bachelor’s degree in business management in China
Masters: Studying part-time for a master’s degree in international business marketing in Dubai
Vacation: Heads back home to see family in China
Community work: Member of the Chinese Business Women’s Association of the UAE to encourage other women entrepreneurs
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
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Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
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'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
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
Director: Romany Saad
Starring: Mirfat Amin, Boumi Fouad and Tariq Al Ibyari
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Torbal Rayeh Wa Jayeh
Starring: Ali El Ghoureir, Khalil El Roumeithy, Mostafa Abo Seria
Stars: 3
The details
Heard It in a Past Life
Maggie Rogers
(Capital Records)
3/5
How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
