Boris Johnson has found himself in his favourite position. He is able to make unwanted trouble for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and enjoy the fallout.
Never mind that once again, Mr Johnson is waging a war based on half-truths – of which more later – or that this is chaos borne of Mr Johnson’s own making from his own disaster-flecked time in power.
Last week, the former prime minister vowed to hand over his WhatsApp messages for the official British inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic and its handling by Whitehall. Except, that is half the story. His phone before 2022 is inaccessible and he can only turn over subsequent messages that are largely not a contemporaneous record.
The announcement made a fool of Mr Sunak and the UK’s Cabinet Office, which has gone to court to hand over redacted versions of the files to the judge-led inquiry.
As it is, the inquiry is expected to be a many-year affair. These investigations have a near-century-long track record in the UK, and they are generally surrounded by media controversy throughout their lifecycle.
Mr Johnson’s double-dealing with the inquiry conveniently camouflages the fact that he should have avoided this showdown by setting up the inquiry, when he was prime minister, with a more ambitious remit to report along a faster timeline.
There is an ideological shadow over the inquiry, best expressed by The Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee last week. The title of her article on what she hoped for from the inquiry sought to show that the UK had been laid defenceless since 2010 by the austerity politics of the Conservative-led government.
In particular, she wants the body to show that George Osborne’s structural reforms as chancellor of the exchequer made the country peculiarly sick and prone to disruption on a global basis. “George Osborne destroyed Britain’s safety net. The Covid inquiry should shame him into silence,” it said.
Johnson lost office because of his mishandling of Covid rules. Yet he also defines himself as a saviour in the saga
The judge who opened the inquiry proceedings last July has given some credence to fears of this kind of witch-hunt by telling the government that it has “misunderstood the breadth of the investigation that I am undertaking”, in a statement last week.
Heather Hallett, a retired judge and member of the UK House of Lords, is using statutory powers to pursue the unredacted communications of the officials involved. One problem is that the released chronological records, not material sifted for relevance, has national security implications.
The last time the law was revised around this type of disclosure was 2005, when social media-based messaging apps such as WhatsApp were not around.
Communications at the heart of government were stiff paper-based memos that could be catalogued for judges – not cut-and-trust messaging and toggling between groups.
The judge has shown no inclination to take these factors into account. If there is an equality or social justice-based element of her approach to the Covid inquiry, the format of the materials that she and her panel can review could greatly aid her agenda. Some estimates say the inquiry could, thus, last seven years.
Mr Sunak is undoubtedly keen to have the Covid inquiry sped up. Last month, he ruled that the judge must conduct hearings without a phalanx of other panellists. In a written statement to Parliament, he vowed to ensure the “most efficient and swift” hearings, saying evidence should be heard as quickly as possible so Baroness Hallett would make timely recommendations.
This is very much in accord with Mr Johnson’s claims during the pandemic. Listen closely, or even casually, to the then British leader and he strung together his own lexicon. This involved plenty of words such as zoonotic, pathogens, species and preparedness.
At what he dubbed the first ever “Zoom United Nations General Assembly” in September 2020, he demanded a worldwide network of “zoonotic hubs” to provide a research frontline to identify pandemics before they take off. He devoted the UK presidency of the G7 group of rich nations to a five-point plan to boost pandemic preparedness so that world leaders could say “to the people of the world to say, ‘never again’”.
The government stressed again and again that worldwide funding should ready national health systems and boost disease surveillance at national, regional and global levels.
Even though Mr Sunak was at the heart of the UK’s response to the pandemic with a series of well-designed business support schemes, the melodrama around the Hallett inquiry suits Mr Johnson best.
The former journalist lost office because of his mishandling of Covid rules. Yet he also defines himself as an ultimate saviour in the whole saga. He can point to all those messianic speeches as providing a drive for a route map that others are fluffing.
The upcoming court battle will serve his purpose, but also the alternative narrative that at every turn he could not deliver on his words.
Even supporters of Baroness Hallett concede that time is an essential element. One of these is the accomplished barrister Michael Mansfield, who called for an express-lane inquiry. He chaired a People’s Covid Inquiry a whole two years ago. While it had no powers to rival the official panel, he says one outcome was clear. “They wanted questions answered then in order to prevent its continuance,” he recalled.
It is classic Johnson to share the goals of others but to twist the situation to serve his own goal of rehabilitation. Mr Sunak must now hope that Mr Johnson’s unholy alliance does not stand the test of either the courts or public opinion.
2024%20Dubai%20Marathon%20Results
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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
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Zayed Sustainability Prize
NINE WINLESS GAMES
Arsenal 2-2 Crystal Palace (Oct 27, PL)
Liverpool 5-5 Arsenal (Oct 30, EFL)
Arsenal 1-1 Wolves (Nov 02, PL)
Vitoria Guimaraes 1-1 Arsenal (Nov 6, Europa)
Leicester 2-0 Arsenal (Nov 9, PL)
Arsenal 2-2 Southampton (Nov 23, PL)
Arsenal 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt (Nov 28, Europa)
Norwich 2-2 Arsenal (Dec 01, PL)
Arsenal 1-2 Brighton (Dec 05, PL)
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The years Ramadan fell in May
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The biog
Age: 30
Position: Senior lab superintendent at Emirates Global Aluminium
Education: Bachelor of science in chemical engineering, post graduate degree in light metal reduction technology
Favourite part of job: The challenge, because it is challenging
Favourite quote: “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” Gandi
The five pillars of Islam
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
The Cairo Statement
1: Commit to countering all types of terrorism and extremism in all their manifestations
2: Denounce violence and the rhetoric of hatred
3: Adhere to the full compliance with the Riyadh accord of 2014 and the subsequent meeting and executive procedures approved in 2014 by the GCC
4: Comply with all recommendations of the Summit between the US and Muslim countries held in May 2017 in Saudi Arabia.
5: Refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of countries and of supporting rogue entities.
6: Carry out the responsibility of all the countries with the international community to counter all manifestations of extremism and terrorism that threaten international peace and security
New schools in Dubai
Read more from Aya Iskandarani
The studios taking part (so far)
- Punch
- Vogue Fitness
- Sweat
- Bodytree Studio
- The Hot House
- The Room
- Inspire Sports (Ladies Only)
- Cryo
Cases of coronavirus in the GCC as of March 15
Saudi Arabia – 103 infected, 0 dead, 1 recovered
UAE – 86 infected, 0 dead, 23 recovered
Bahrain – 210 infected, 0 dead, 44 recovered
Kuwait – 104 infected, 0 dead, 5 recovered
Qatar – 337 infected, 0 dead, 4 recovered
Oman – 19 infected, 0 dead, 9 recovered
