Gavin Esler: YES – it would be a hugely patriotic act
One definition of a patriot is someone who always wants to do the best for their country. By that definition, rejoining the EU would be one of the most patriotic acts any British citizen could contemplate.
Why? Because the supposed “benefits” of leaving the EU have been impossible to find, the results so divisive, and the backlash against leaving the bloc (especially by those too young to vote in 2016) is real and growing. One of the leading advocates for Leave, Jacob Rees-Mogg, was so desperate to find something good to say about the Brexit disaster that he asked readers of the down-market tabloid The Sun if they could identify the benefits for him. We are still waiting.
The false promise of Leave was to spend the fantasy £350 million a week we supposedly sent to the EU on improving “our NHS” instead. Those who work in the National Health Service say it is, in fact, now facing its worst crisis since its foundation in 1948. While Brexit benefits are non-existent, the dreadful effects of Brexit self-harm are everywhere.
By any obvious metric, including damage to the UK’s GDP, trade barriers, loss of jobs in the finance sector, loss of much needed EU workers, and even loss of Britain’s reputation for common sense and fair dealing, Brexit has been the most stunning example of political self-harm since the Suez Crisis in 1956. At least Suez was a temporary political disaster solved by quickly removing British troops from the canal zone and removing the prime minister responsible, Anthony Eden. Unfortunately Brexit is the mess that still envelopes us, although it has hastened the removal of not one but four failed Conservative prime ministers – David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss – none of whom could make it work or get it permanently “done” as promised.
If an election were held today, the Conservatives who made the mess would be all but wiped out. Right now, they run no local councils anywhere in Scotland or Wales and their reputation even among unionists in Northern Ireland is that of an English nationalist party that doesn’t understand much about Ulster.
Rejoining the EU would also be beneficial for our friends in the EU, but it is extremely unlikely at least for now. Labour party leader Keir Starmer views talk of rejoining as a distraction. The swing voters he needs to win a general election may have voted for Brexit and he does not want to alienate them. EU nations may also be wary of the ludicrous ways in which the UK has behaved since the 2016 Brexit vote.
But if the UK fails to rejoin, voters in Scotland and Northern Ireland may vote for Leave in a different way – by voting to Leave the UK itself. Four successive polls show Scottish voters now favour independence. The UK as currently constructed, therefore, may in the 2020s cease to exist. If rejoining the EU is not a live issue in Westminster, it should be – not merely to make the UK richer but also to make it more likely to stay United as a Kingdom.
Sholto Byrnes: NO – here's an even better proposition
Referendums, the British people were told, were meant to settle momentous questions for a generation. Way back in 2004, then British prime minister Tony Blair said it was time to “let the people have the final say” on the EU. “It is time to resolve once and for all whether this country wants to be at the centre and heart of European decision-making or not,” he said. Except when the referendum was held in 2016, there turned out to be nothing “final” or “once and for all” about it for the Remainers. Because the unexpected happened. They lost. And that is why we are all still talking about it.
Lies were told, it was said – and there were indeed untruths and scare tactics on both sides. But when has that ever invalidated a democratic election? Normally we trust the voters to see through the fog of campaign promises. One problem with the EU, however, is that it is institutionally deceitful. Take the EU constitution. It was signed by all member states in 2004, but failed after Dutch and French voters rejected it in referendums in 2005. How did the EU react to this democratic defeat? They simply rearranged the text, as its author former French president Giscard d’Estaing admitted, and snuck it through as the Lisbon Treaty.
The EU is always determined to increase its powers, whatever the voters say. A second referendum in the UK would thus continue another undemocratic EU tradition, which is that if a country gives the “wrong” answer to a question about the EU – as the Irish and the Danes found – they are asked to vote again so they can give the “right” answer. Referendums, it seems, are only the “final say” if they go the EU’s way.
The democratic deficit in the EU – which has three “presidents”, none of whom the ordinary voter has any say in – is a profound danger in an institution whose leading lights want to become a “United States of Europe”. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said so, as has former EU parliament President Martin Schulz. Former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt even wrote a book under that title.
Do Britons really want to be a part of a United States of Europe? I doubt it, but that is the EU’s true destiny. None of this has changed. What has changed is that for many, Brexit has not appeared to be much of a success. But that has been only one version of Brexit. There are many. The referendum question was: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?” There is nothing stopping the UK rejoining the single market or the customs union. There is nothing stopping reinstating freedom of movement, even, if the will is there.
If French President Emmanuel Macron’s European Political Community gets off the ground, the UK should join: it represents precisely the two-tier, looser continent-wide body that Eurosceptics hoped for years the EU could become. It didn’t. It never will. That’s why the UK left – and should never rejoin.
Outside, the UK can continue to share the continent’s culture, its history, gastronomy and other glories, and come as close to the EU in terms of trade as is liked, while thankfully being free of its inward-looking tendencies, its rampant Islamophobia, and its scornful attitude to the Global South. But for Britain once again to be “confined and limited” to this “area across the channel", as the great Labour cabinet minister Peter Shore put it in 1975, would "be a contraction and a reduction of all the things with which we have been concerned. It is the world we belong to, and it is mankind of which we are a part".
CRICKET%20WORLD%20CUP%20LEAGUE%202
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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
Company Profile
Name: JustClean
Based: Kuwait with offices in other GCC countries
Launch year: 2016
Number of employees: 130
Sector: online laundry service
Funding: $12.9m from Kuwait-based Faith Capital Holding
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
Leap of Faith
Michael J Mazarr
Public Affairs
Dh67
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20Z%20FOLD5
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Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
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
SPECS
%3Cp%3EEngine%3A%20Twin-turbocharged%204-litre%20V8%3Cbr%3EPower%3A%20625%20bhp%3Cbr%3ETorque%3A%20630Nm%3Cbr%3EOn%20sale%3A%20Now%3Cbr%3EPrice%3A%20From%20Dh974%2C011%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EHakbah%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENaif%20AbuSaida%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESaudi%20Arabia%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E22%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24200%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Epre-Series%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EGlobal%20Ventures%20and%20Aditum%20Investment%20Management%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Porsche Taycan Turbo specs
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Transmission: two-speed
Power: 671hp
Torque: 1050Nm
Range: 450km
Price: Dh601,800
On sale: now
Types of fraud
Phishing: Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
Smishing: The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
Vishing: The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
SIM swap: Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
Identity theft: Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
Prize scams: Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
* Nada El Sawy
Bangladesh tour of Pakistan
January 24 – First T20, Lahore
January 25 – Second T20, Lahore
January 27 – Third T20, Lahore
February 7-11 – First Test, Rawalpindi
April 3 – One-off ODI, Karachi
April 5-9 – Second Test, Karachi
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Blah
Started: 2018
Founder: Aliyah Al Abbar and Hend Al Marri
Based: Dubai
Industry: Technology and talent management
Initial investment: Dh20,000
Investors: Self-funded
Total customers: 40
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The Facility’s Versatility
Between the start of the 2020 IPL on September 20, and the end of the Pakistan Super League this coming Thursday, the Zayed Cricket Stadium has had an unprecedented amount of traffic.
Never before has a ground in this country – or perhaps anywhere in the world – had such a volume of major-match cricket.
And yet scoring has remained high, and Abu Dhabi has seen some classic encounters in every format of the game.
October 18, IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders tied with Sunrisers Hyderabad
The two playoff-chasing sides put on 163 apiece, before Kolkata went on to win the Super Over
January 8, ODI, UAE beat Ireland by six wickets
A century by CP Rizwan underpinned one of UAE’s greatest ever wins, as they chased 270 to win with an over to spare
February 6, T10, Northern Warriors beat Delhi Bulls by eight wickets
The final of the T10 was chiefly memorable for a ferocious over of fast bowling from Fidel Edwards to Nicholas Pooran
March 14, Test, Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe by six wickets
Eleven wickets for Rashid Khan, 1,305 runs scored in five days, and a last session finish
June 17, PSL, Islamabad United beat Peshawar Zalmi by 15 runs
Usman Khawaja scored a hundred as Islamabad posted the highest score ever by a Pakistan team in T20 cricket
