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.
The five pillars of Islam
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Etihad (etihad.com) flies from Abu Dhabi to Mykonos, with a flight change to its partner airline Olympic Air in Athens. Return flights cost from Dh4,105 per person, including taxes.
Where to stay
The modern-art-filled Ambassador hotel (myconianambassador.gr) is 15 minutes outside Mykonos Town on a hillside 500 metres from the Platis Gialos Beach, with a bus into town every 30 minutes (a taxi costs €15 [Dh66]). The Nammos and Scorpios beach clubs are a 10- to 20-minute walk (or water-taxi ride) away. All 70 rooms have a large balcony, many with a Jacuzzi, and of the 15 suites, five have a plunge pool. There’s also a private eight-bedroom villa. Double rooms cost from €240 (Dh1,063) including breakfast, out of season, and from €595 (Dh2,636) in July/August.
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The five pillars of Islam
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
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More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The years Ramadan fell in May
Analysis
Maros Sefcovic is juggling multiple international trade agreement files, but his message was clear when he spoke to The National on Wednesday.
The EU-UAE bilateral trade deal will be finalised soon, he said. It is in everyone’s interests to do so. Both sides want to move quickly and are in alignment. He said the UAE is a very important partner for the EU. It’s full speed ahead - and with some lofty ambitions - on the road to a free trade agreement.
We also talked about US-EU tariffs. He answered that both sides need to talk more and more often, but he is prepared to defend Europe's position and said diplomacy should be a guiding principle through the current moment.
Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer
Christopher Celenza,
Reaktion Books
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
More on Quran memorisation:
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Naga
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The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
How it works
1) The liquid nanoclay is a mixture of water and clay that aims to convert desert land to fertile ground
2) Instead of water draining straight through the sand, it apparently helps the soil retain water
3) One application is said to last five years
4) The cost of treatment per hectare (2.4 acres) of desert varies from $7,000 to $10,000 per hectare
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
The five pillars of Islam
Coming soon
Torno Subito by Massimo Bottura
When the W Dubai – The Palm hotel opens at the end of this year, one of the highlights will be Massimo Bottura’s new restaurant, Torno Subito, which promises “to take guests on a journey back to 1960s Italy”. It is the three Michelinstarred chef’s first venture in Dubai and should be every bit as ambitious as you would expect from the man whose restaurant in Italy, Osteria Francescana, was crowned number one in this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Akira Back Dubai
Another exciting opening at the W Dubai – The Palm hotel is South Korean chef Akira Back’s new restaurant, which will continue to showcase some of the finest Asian food in the world. Back, whose Seoul restaurant, Dosa, won a Michelin star last year, describes his menu as, “an innovative Japanese cuisine prepared with a Korean accent”.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
The highly experimental chef, whose dishes are as much about spectacle as taste, opens his first restaurant in Dubai next year. Housed at The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will feature contemporary twists on recipes that date back to the 1300s, including goats’ milk cheesecake. Always remember with a Blumenthal dish: nothing is quite as it seems.
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More on animal trafficking
Company%20Profile
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Fixtures (all times UAE)
Saturday
Brescia v Atalanta (6pm)
Genoa v Torino (9pm)
Fiorentina v Lecce (11.45pm)
Sunday
Juventus v Sassuolo (3.30pm)
Inter Milan v SPAL (6pm)
Lazio v Udinese (6pm)
Parma v AC Milan (6pm)
Napoli v Bologna (9pm)
Verona v AS Roma (11.45pm)
Monday
Cagliari v Sampdoria (11.45pm)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
