When politicians are in trouble, failing to solve real problems for real people, they often invent spurious “problems” and supposed “enemies” to stir up voters. It’s the politics of distraction.
In Britain, after 13 years of Conservative governments, voters say they mostly worry about the cost of living, health care, schools, low pay and lack of affordable housing. But a few days ago, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – in deep political trouble with these real issues – was reported to be planning to “divide and rule” by offering deliberately divisive policies on crime, migration and transgender rights. The idea is to wind up voters on “hot button” issues in the hope they forget their real problems.
But behind all this, I wonder if Mr Sunak’s Conservative party is creating yet another problem for itself. It seems to treat young people with contempt. Younger voters appear to loathe them in return. By the end of last year, only 2 per cent of British voters aged 18-24, and just 15 per cent of 25-49-year-olds, said they intended to vote Conservative. Older voters are much more Tory-friendly. Yet the divisive alienation of young people is bizarre.
Last week, a 25-year-old won a by-election for the opposition Labour party. Instead of congratulating this young man for an astonishing achievement, a (middle-aged) Conservative MP condescendingly joked that the new MP was like one of the “Inbetweeners”. Historically we should note that one of the UK’s greatest leaders was William Pitt the Younger. He became prime minister aged just 24 and led the country in the Napoleonic wars.
Despite these middle-aged MPs trying to make young people feel bad about their achievements, the expansion of university education in Britain is a huge success
But Conservative contempt for the young goes further. There are plans to cap the number of students studying for what the government claims are “low-value” university degrees. This is vaguely defined as courses that do not have a high proportion of graduates getting a professional job (however that is defined), going into post-graduate study, or starting a business.
Conservative MP Miriam Cates claimed this “marks the beginning of the end for the overblown and under-scrutinised expansion of the higher education sector over the past 25 years” and what she (again vaguely) claimed was “elite overproduction”, whatever that means.
An “elite” created through “low-value” degrees sounds contradictory. Almost 40 per cent of young people in Britain go into higher education. Logically you cannot have an “elite” who are such a large proportion of the population and who are simultaneously “low-value”. Despite these middle-aged muddle-minded MPs trying to make young people feel bad about their achievements, the expansion of university education in Britain is a huge success.
In 1950, barely more than 3 per cent of British people (mostly men) went to university. That was truly an elite. By the 1960s, it reached 4 per cent. But university expansion meant that by the 1970s, 14 per cent of British people went to university and the numbers have continued to expand until recently. The majority of undergraduate students now are women.
Yet with real-term cuts in funding of universities and the loss of tens of thousands of foreign students post-Brexit along with crippling levels of student debt, many universities face financial difficulties. So, obviously, do many students. Student numbers have fallen back to just below 40 per cent.
I was the first in my family to go to university. I am now in my 10th and final year as Chancellor of the University of Kent, one of those wonderful institutions created in the 1960s to expand opportunities for people like me.
Our degree ceremonies are in two of the greatest buildings in Western Europe: Rochester and Canterbury cathedrals. At the ceremonies, I shake hands with hundreds of happy students, mostly in their twenties, mostly from the UK but also from all over the world. In Canterbury Cathedral last week, I was in the company of several thousand very happy people over five days, including parents and grandparents proud of the achievements of the next generation.
I have no idea what a “low-value” degree is, nor what “elite overproduction” is supposed to be. These seem to be artfully constructed terms to diminish the achievements and undermine the dreams of young people who are pursuing a better life for themselves, their families and their country. The current generation of students face difficulties. But their abilities are extraordinary. And so is their resilience.
Politicians in search of a cheap headline should think twice before pandering to the presumed prejudices of older voters. Older voters are parents and grandparents too.
Politicians who attack young people and their aspirations are unwisely attacking our future, and perhaps diminishing their own. Recently, some have even argued that educating students pushes them to the left in politics. Perhaps those politicians prefer ignorance and intellectual docility.
Universities do not teach what to think. They try to teach how to think. I remain optimistic about the high values of the students I have seen graduate. I am less optimistic about the values of middle-aged moaner politicians.
If they want to capture the image of a truly low-value real-life elite, I suggest they begin by looking in the mirror.
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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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.
'Champions'
Director: Manuel Calvo
Stars: Yassir Al Saggaf and Fatima Al Banawi
Rating: 2/5
Results
ATP Dubai Championships on Monday (x indicates seed):
First round
Roger Federer (SUI x2) bt Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
Fernando Verdasco (ESP) bt Thomas Fabbiano (ITA) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
Marton Fucsovics (HUN) bt Damir Dzumhur (BIH) 6-1, 7-6 (7/5)
Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) bt Karen Khachanov (RUS x4) 6-4, 6-1
Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) bt Milos Raonic (CAN x7) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
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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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
RESULTS
Lightweight (female)
Sara El Bakkali bt Anisha Kadka
Bantamweight
Mohammed Adil Al Debi bt Moaz Abdelgawad
Welterweight
Amir Boureslan bt Mahmoud Zanouny
Featherweight
Mohammed Al Katheeri bt Abrorbek Madaminbekov
Super featherweight
Ibrahem Bilal bt Emad Arafa
Middleweight
Ahmed Abdolaziz bt Imad Essassi
Bantamweight (female)
Ilham Bourakkadi bt Milena Martinou
Welterweight
Mohamed Mardi bt Noureddine El Agouti
Middleweight
Nabil Ouach bt Ymad Atrous
Welterweight
Nouredine Samir bt Marlon Ribeiro
Super welterweight
Brad Stanton bt Mohamed El Boukhari
Dubai World Cup Carnival card
6.30pm: UAE 1000 Guineas Trial Conditions (TB) US$100,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
7.05pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (Turf) 1,000m
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (D) 1,900m
8.15pm: Meydan Challenge Listed Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 1,400m
8.50pm: Dubai Stakes Group 3 (TB) $200,000 (D) 1,200m
9.25pm: Dubai Racing Club Classic Listed Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 2,410m
The National selections
6.30pm: Final Song
7.05pm: Pocket Dynamo
7.40pm: Dubai Icon
8.15pm: Dubai Legacy
8.50pm: Drafted
9.25pm: Lucius Tiberius
Global Fungi Facts
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
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
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Company%20profile
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Company profile
Company: Eighty6
Date started: October 2021
Founders: Abdul Kader Saadi and Anwar Nusseibeh
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Hospitality
Size: 25 employees
Funding stage: Pre-series A
Investment: $1 million
Investors: Seed funding, angel investors
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Company%C2%A0profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ELeap%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMarch%202021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ziad%20Toqan%20and%20Jamil%20Khammu%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPre-seed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Undisclosed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeven%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Company profile
Date started: January, 2014
Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe
Based: Dubai
Sector: Education technology
Size: Five employees
Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.
Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)
match info
Maratha Arabians 138-2
C Lynn 91*, A Lyth 20, B Laughlin 1-15
Team Abu Dhabi 114-3
L Wright 40*, L Malinga 0-13, M McClenaghan 1-17
Maratha Arabians won by 24 runs
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 specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Dark Souls: Remastered
Developer: From Software (remaster by QLOC)
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Price: Dh199
Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
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