Over the past 50 years, British and American politics have often seemed like trans-Atlantic echoes.
In the 1980s, it was Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Maggie and Ronnie – as they called each other – clearly agreed on the big things of political life. Soviet communism, in their view, posed an existential threat to world peace. Reagan and Thatcher then offered an economic vision very different from the consensus of previous decades. By the 1990s, it was Bill Clinton and the New Democrats who profoundly influenced Tony Blair and New Labour. The word "new" – in both cases – meant "anything you didn’t like about us in the past, we’re not that any more". Mr Clinton and Mr Blair shifted their parties to the centre ground, as Mr Clinton once told me, "because that’s where the votes are".
That brings us to Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, whose mould-breaking style turned trans-Atlantic politics upside down. And style is the key word. Neither Mr Trump or Mr Johnson possessed an ideology, just a series of self-serving yet successful slogans. Maga – Make America Great Again – looked good on a hat, but it does not exist as a coherent political programme. Get Brexit Done, Global Britain and Levelling Up were Mr Johnson’s similarly empty but catchy words.
Now in the autumn of 2022, both men have to contemplate their own failures to make a comeback.
Mr Johnson failed spectacularly. Last month, he returned to London after three months of vacation in various boltholes around the world, only to be rejected by his own MPs. Mr Trump’s threats and bullying within his own Republican party meant his favoured candidates were also rejected by enough voters to ensure that Joe Biden can claim a surprising victory in the midterm election.
We need not just competence but also basic decency and truth
This week, Trump-the-Grump might, even now, announce that he will run again for the presidency, but his reputation as a vote winner, like that of Mr Johnson, has been permanently damaged. The lessons of 2022 on both sides of the Atlantic, therefore, mark yet another remarkable twist in trans-Atlantic politics.
Mr Trump and Mr Johnson are now known worldwide to have a tenuous relationship with facts and truth. Republicans such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who accept the obvious truth that Mr Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, have prospered. Trump-friendly election result deniers took a serious hit. Meanwhile, the post-Johnson British government of Rishi Sunak is engaged in an exercise of economic damage limitation and stability after the traumas of the Johnson years. Competence rather than showmanship will be the theme of Conservative party politics until the 2024 general election.
But one further theme revealed by American voters might also prove significant. Polling companies made seriously wrong predictions, in part because younger voters – at least according to some strategists – ignore telephone calls from pollsters’ numbers that they do not recognise. Since younger voters tended to vote Democrat, their responses were perhaps not factored into the pollsters’ predictions.
And yet, as both Democrats and the Labour party contemplate how the political winds have turned in their favour, they also have their own difficult realities to face. What do Democrats do about Mr Biden? And what does the Labour party do about Brexit?
Mr Biden has been – as former US president George W Bush once said, awkwardly, about himself – "mis-underestimated". The midterm successes mean that Mr Biden might be encouraged to run again in 2024 despite the fact that by the end of his second term he would be 86 years old. As a successor, Vice President Kamala Harris is not thought to be a vote winner. The triumph of Mr DeSantis suggests he could be difficult to beat in 2024 as an anti-Trump Republican from a hugely important state with many electoral college votes.
Meanwhile the Labour party – way ahead in the opinion polls – has tried to avoid talking about Brexit. Party leader Keir Starmer is competent rather than charismatic, yet he too must not be "mis-underestimated". He has neutralised (at least for now) the hard-left wing of his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, who remains an MP but is denied Labour party membership. But Mr Starmer’s key problem could turn out to be even more fundamental. Brexit remains both damaging and divisive. Polls suggest the Scottish National Party could sweep up about 50 seats, making Labour’s task in government in addressing the failures of Brexit and the demands of Scottish independence very complex.
The eclipse of Mr Johnson and the potential eclipse of Mr Trump, therefore, do not guarantee their opponents in the Labour and Democratic parties an easy ride towards election victories in 2024.
But the events of 2022 could prove in some ways even more significant. If the shocks of 2022 means America’s Republicans and British Conservatives have come to recognise that their supposedly charismatic but rule-breaking former leaders, Mr Trump and Mr Johnson, have fundamentally damaged public life ethically as well as politically, maybe the complex politics of the English-speaking world might recover.
We need not just competence but also basic decency and truth.
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
Which honey takes your fancy?
Al Ghaf Honey
The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year
Sidr Honey
The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest
Samar Honey
The Samar tree trunk, leaves and blossom contains Barm which is the secret of healing. You can enjoy the best types of honey from this tree every year in May and June. It is an historical witness to the life of the Emirati nation which represents the harsh desert and mountain environments
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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AUSTRALIA SQUAD
Steve Smith (capt), David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Jackson Bird, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc.
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500 People from Gaza enter France
115 Special programme for artists
25 Evacuation of injured and sick
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
How to get exposure to gold
Although you can buy gold easily on the Dubai markets, the problem with buying physical bars, coins or jewellery is that you then have storage, security and insurance issues.
A far easier option is to invest in a low-cost exchange traded fund (ETF) that invests in the precious metal instead, for example, ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU) and iShares Physical Gold (SGLN) both track physical gold. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF invests directly in mining companies.
Alternatively, BlackRock Gold & General seeks to achieve long-term capital growth primarily through an actively managed portfolio of gold mining, commodity and precious-metal related shares. Its largest portfolio holdings include gold miners Newcrest Mining, Barrick Gold Corp, Agnico Eagle Mines and the NewMont Goldcorp.
Brave investors could take on the added risk of buying individual gold mining stocks, many of which have performed wonderfully well lately.
London-listed Centamin is up more than 70 per cent in just three months, although in a sign of its volatility, it is down 5 per cent on two years ago. Trans-Siberian Gold, listed on London's alternative investment market (AIM) for small stocks, has seen its share price almost quadruple from 34p to 124p over the same period, but do not assume this kind of runaway growth can continue for long
However, buying individual equities like these is highly risky, as their share prices can crash just as quickly, which isn't what what you want from a supposedly safe haven.
The chef's advice
Troy Payne, head chef at Abu Dhabi’s newest healthy eatery Sanderson’s in Al Seef Resort & Spa, says singles need to change their mindset about how they approach the supermarket.
“They feel like they can’t buy one cucumber,” he says. “But I can walk into a shop – I feed two people at home – and I’ll walk into a shop and I buy one cucumber, I’ll buy one onion.”
Mr Payne asks for the sticker to be placed directly on each item, rather than face the temptation of filling one of the two-kilogram capacity plastic bags on offer.
The chef also advises singletons not get too hung up on “organic”, particularly high-priced varieties that have been flown in from far-flung locales. Local produce is often grown sustainably, and far cheaper, he says.
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
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WORLD CUP SEMI-FINALS
England v New Zealand
(Saturday, 12pm UAE)
Wales v South Africa
(Sunday, 12pm, UAE)
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What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- 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 CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
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BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
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Red Joan
Director: Trevor Nunn
Starring: Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Tereza Srbova
Rating: 3/5 stars
if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
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F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
