Right now, there are so many puzzles about war and peace in Europe it’s difficult to know where to start. Government ministers, military chiefs and the rest of us as citizens are all asking the same questions.
Can a Ukraine ceasefire hold? Can Europe look after its own security? Will Nato have “less America”, or even “No America”? In Britain that raises another national security question that has bubbled under British diplomacy for centuries. It can be summed up in a phrase: which way are we facing?
The era of the British Empire meant boom times for Victorian west-facing Atlantic seaports and cities – Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow. Nowadays, Britain’s busiest container port is east-facing, Felixstowe, on the North Sea towards Europe. Ever since the end of the empire, successive UK governments have therefore continued to assert that Britain faces both ways, strongly linked geographically and economically with Europe (despite leaving the EU) and also linked in Nato with the US and Canada, and even more widely linked with the diverse countries of the British Commonwealth.
Diplomats used phrases to describe Britain as a “bridge” or even a “telephone exchange” between the US and Europe. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is trying to keep those links alive. He appears to have both good relations with US President Donald Trump and considerable influence within the EU, despite Brexit.
Three big changes are making Britain’s attempt to straddle two continents on different sides of the Atlantic increasingly difficult
But three big changes make Britain’s attempt to straddle two continents on different sides of the Atlantic increasingly difficult. First, bluntly, the Trump administration may not be a reliable partner. Mr Trump appears to see the EU in trade terms as both a rival and an annoyance, while the EU remains Britain’s most important trading partner.
Second, the Ukraine war – or the Ukraine peace, if peace becomes possible – potentially could drive a wedge between the interests of Washington in ending the conflict and the interests of European nations in future defence against Russia. Most Europeans see Ukraine not as a foreign war but as Europe’s frontline of defence against Russian expansionism. The idea of the US disengaging from Nato and European defence is shocking to many Europeans.
And third, there is the threat – or reality – of a transatlantic trade war. That would sour economic relationships to such an extent that it could undermine the goodwill and sense of a common threat that underpins Europe’s defence and US relations.
The last thing Mr Starmer wants is to be forced to choose between the US and the EU. The British want to face both ways. That means the Ukraine war and the prospects of a transatlantic tariff war are, as diplomats say, “not helpful”.
Rather than predict the future, however, we may draw conclusions from the past. The US historically has tried to use tariffs for economic advantage before. Both attempts have been disastrous for Americans. In 1890, a Republican Congressman William McKinley introduced tariffs of almost 50 per cent to “protect” the US economy. The economic damage was so great, and tariffs so unpopular that Republicans lost their majority in the House of Representatives with the number of seats they won reduced by nearly half, from 171 to 88.
A few years later, McKinley resurrected his career and became president, but he did not make the tariff mistake again. In the 1930s, during the presidency of another Republican, Herbert Hoover, US tariffs were imposed again. That contributed to the Great Depression. In 1932, the tariff failure led to the election by a landslide of Hoover’s Democratic opponent Franklin D Roosevelt promising “a new deal” to boost the economy.
And now? Is another Republican, Mr Trump, making the same mistake for a third time? We shall see. Next November, a third of the US Senate and all of the House of Representatives face the mid-term elections. If history is our guide, Republican members of Congress should perhaps consider how safe their slender majorities of seats in both Houses of Congress really are. My guess is, not very safe at all.
Yet the British dilemma remains. Every British diplomat wants to have good relations with the US. Every British diplomat wants the UK to have good relations with the EU and to trade freely around the world.
But it doesn’t take any great predictive ability to foresee that in the 21st century, the world is developing into three great trading blocs based on the US, the EU and China. India is also rising fast while Russia – whatever the outcome of the Ukraine war – is continuing its economic decline.
The Russian economy is boosted by Mr Trump's peace efforts but remains smaller than Italy’s. British diplomats are therefore preoccupied with being close to Mr Trump while also strong in Europe. Perhaps we need a new metaphor. Britain is not a “telephone exchange” or a “bridge”. Britain is a middle-ranking power balancing on a tightrope, and balance is everything.
City's slump
L - Juventus, 2-0
D - C Palace, 2-2
W - N Forest, 3-0
L - Liverpool, 2-0
D - Feyenoord, 3-3
L - Tottenham, 4-0
L - Brighton, 2-1
L - Sporting, 4-1
L - Bournemouth, 2-1
L - Tottenham, 2-1
Mrs%20Chatterjee%20Vs%20Norway
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Mobile phone packages comparison
ICC Women's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier 2025, Thailand
UAE fixtures
May 9, v Malaysia
May 10, v Qatar
May 13, v Malaysia
May 15, v Qatar
May 18 and 19, semi-finals
May 20, final
THE%C2%A0SPECS
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Gulf Under 19s final
Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B
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'Moonshot'
Director: Chris Winterbauer
Stars: Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse
Rating: 3/5
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
SECRET%20INVASION
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
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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
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The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Source: American Paediatric Association
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Ticket prices
- Golden circle - Dh995
- Floor Standing - Dh495
- Lower Bowl Platinum - Dh95
- Lower Bowl premium - Dh795
- Lower Bowl Plus - Dh695
- Lower Bowl Standard- Dh595
- Upper Bowl Premium - Dh395
- Upper Bowl standard - Dh295
The biog
Name: Salvador Toriano Jr
Age: 59
From: Laguna, The Philippines
Favourite dish: Seabass or Fish and Chips
Hobbies: When he’s not in the restaurant, he still likes to cook, along with walking and meeting up with friends.
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
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RESULTS
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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.
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
Sri Lanka-India Test series schedule
- 1st Test India won by 304 runs at Galle
- 2nd Test Thursday-Monday at Colombo
- 3rd Test August 12-16 at Pallekele
RESULTS
6.30pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-2 – Group 1 (PA) $49,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner RB Frynchh Dude, Pat Cosgrave (jockey), Helal Al Alawi (trainer)
7.05pm Al Bastakiya Trial – Conditions (TB) $50,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner El Patriota, Vagner Leal, Antonio Cintra
7.40pm Zabeel Turf – Listed (TB) $88,000 (Turf) 2,000m
Winner Ya Hayati, Mickael Barzalona, Charlie Appleby
8.15pm Cape Verdi – Group 2 (TB) $163,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner Althiqa, James Doyle, Charlie Appleby
8.50pm UAE 1000 Guineas – Listed (TB) $125,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner Soft Whisper, Frankie Dettori, Saeed bin Suroor
9.25pm Handicap (TB) $68,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner Bedouin’s Story, Frankie Dettori, Saeed bin Suroor
Financial considerations before buying a property
Buyers should try to pay as much in cash as possible for a property, limiting the mortgage value to as little as they can afford. This means they not only pay less in interest but their monthly costs are also reduced. Ideally, the monthly mortgage payment should not exceed 20 per cent of the purchaser’s total household income, says Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching.
“If it’s a rental property, plan for the property to have periods when it does not have a tenant. Ensure you have enough cash set aside to pay the mortgage and other costs during these periods, ideally at least six months,” she says.
Also, shop around for the best mortgage interest rate. Understand the terms and conditions, especially what happens after any introductory periods, Ms Glynn adds.
Using a good mortgage broker is worth the investment to obtain the best rate available for a buyer’s needs and circumstances. A good mortgage broker will help the buyer understand the terms and conditions of the mortgage and make the purchasing process efficient and easier.
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The five pillars of Islam
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
The team
Videographer: Jear Velasquez
Photography: Romeo Perez
Fashion director: Sarah Maisey
Make-up: Gulum Erzincan at Art Factory
Models: Meti and Clinton at MMG
Video assistant: Zanong Maget
Social media: Fatima Al Mahmoud
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