If Brexit was a pressure cooker, it would have suddenly popped the lid last week.
Politics behind the scenes suddenly sprang into an ugly public feud as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly lost two of his closest henchmen. What it says is that Mr Johnson has reached a fork in the road and chosen to change tack. It also says that there has been a decisive shift in the global political weather.
Scope for manoeuvre as Britain breaks its nearly five-decade partnership with the European Union has steadily shrank throughout 2020. At the eleventh hour, Mr Johnson could not go on toeing the line of his most zealous advisers. That is not to say that the EU and Britain could fall into a bitter no-deal situation when trade talks reach the end of the road in the coming days.
Most importantly Dominic Cummings, the mercurial Prime Minister's adviser, was reportedly driven out. No one was more central to the promises of a transformational UK leadership in the wake of Brexit than Mr Cummings.
Read More from Damien McElroy
In walking with a cardboard box from the lacquered black door of 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's residence and office, Mr Cummings added a soap opera feel to the week. The cracks had first emerged when Mr Johnson’s director of communications Lee Cain made a bid for the open position of the chief of staff job in No 10.
Mr Cain could best be described as hard charging, as is his mentor Mr Cummings. He served as Mr Johnson's handler during the campaign for the Brexit referendum in 2016. A depiction of Mr Cummings by Benedict Cumberbach, star of the TV series Sherlock, sealed the legend of the operative as a "Svengali" of the process. Following his rumoured exit, questions swirl over whether Brexit can enter a messy realm of compromise that visionary cannot stomach.
The answer to that will be known when the negotiators finally break up.
There will be a wider impact of the bust-up. Strategic considerations about Britain’s place in the western firmament have suddenly changed.
The election of Joe Biden as the next US president turns the weather for Brexit into an oncoming storm. Mr Biden has long-standing concepts of how the West should hang together to progress its goals and shape the global order. His world view is opposite of that of the current US President, Donald Trump, who credited the Brexit vote in 2016 as a precursor to his own rise to power.
No one can reverse that vote, not even a new American president with his own perspective. Yet that is only a baseline call in 2020.
To drive out the discordant notes from the centre of power is one thing. To find the positive paths is another
A second Trump term would not have sought the unity of purpose that used to characterise America's relationship with Europe and other close allies. Mr Biden thus offers a very different proposition. The imperative on British policymakers is to recognise that the space for guiding the Brexit project to a new stage has shifted.
It will be incumbent upon London to show that it is ready to keep a platform of unity with the rest of the Europeans.
Aides to Mr Johnson have touted the Prime Minister’s leadership of the G7 and the Cop26 conference in 2021 as proof of a central role for the British leader as Mr Biden takes the reins. Both men adopted the slogan "Build Back Better".
Almost year after his own election victory, Mr Johnson is still grappling with how to deliver on his tagline. In the febrile corridors of Downing Street, senior Conservative figure Bernard Jenkin described events of the week as an "opportunity to reset”. One Conservative newspaper columnist, Fraser Nelson, said simply that the "Vote Leave" clique had “fallen".
Amid all the talk of a reset, however, there is no real vision of what lies on the other side. Mr Jenkin talked of a chance to restore respect, integrity and trust. Mr Nelson talked of an end to psychodrama and bedlam. In Britain – as in America – it seems that the opportunity for government by impulse and radical experimentation has suddenly vanished.
The coronavirus pandemic amounts to the other big pressure on the system. Even after the 15 per cent jump in GDP in the third quarter, the British economy was 10 per cent below the high water mark set before lockdown.
Mr Cummings and his clique were suspected to hold a tantalising thought that the slump was already so big that people would not feel the effects of another big drop induced by a Brexit that severed European trade links. But that was always an experiment that no sensible government could unleash.
That said, to drive out the discordant notes from the centre of power is one thing. To find the positive paths is another.
Mr Johnson can still change the shape of his government to respond to the turning winds. It would be a move to preserve and repair his position. It would also set the tone for 2021, almost as much as Mr Biden’s inauguration.
Damien McElroy is the London bureau chief of The National
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Norway
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Canada
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
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If you go...
Etihad Airways flies from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur, from about Dh3,600. Air Asia currently flies from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu, with Berjaya Hotels & Resorts planning to launch direct chartered flights to Redang Island in the near future. Rooms at The Taaras Beach and Spa Resort start from 680RM (Dh597).
Cry Macho
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam
Rating:**
Uefa Nations League: How it Works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
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What is hepatitis?
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, which can lead to fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis or liver cancer.
There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.
Hepatitis C is mostly transmitted through exposure to infective blood. This can occur through blood transfusions, contaminated injections during medical procedures, and through injecting drugs. Sexual transmission is also possible, but is much less common.
People infected with hepatitis C experience few or no symptoms, meaning they can live with the virus for years without being diagnosed. This delay in treatment can increase the risk of significant liver damage.
There are an estimated 170 million carriers of Hepatitis C around the world.
The virus causes approximately 399,000 fatalities each year worldwide, according to WHO.
Race card
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 Group 1 (PA) US$100,000 (Dirt) 2,000m
7.05pm: Meydan Classic Listed (TB) $175,000 (Turf) 1,600m
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 2,000m
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (D) 1,600m
8.50pm: Nad Al Sheba Trophy Group 2 (TB) $300,000 (T) 2,810m
9.25pm: Curlin Stakes Listed (TB) $175,000 (D) 2,000m
10pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 2,000m
10.35pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 1,400m
The National selections
6.30pm: Shahm, 7.05pm: Well Of Wisdom, 7.40pm: Lucius Tiberius, 8.15pm: Captain Von Trapp, 8.50pm: Secret Advisor, 9.25pm: George Villiers, 10pm: American Graffiti, 10.35pm: On The Warpath
if you go
The flights
Etihad, Emirates and Singapore Airlines fly direct from the UAE to Singapore from Dh2,265 return including taxes. The flight takes about 7 hours.
The hotel
Rooms at the M Social Singapore cost from SG $179 (Dh488) per night including taxes.
The tour
Makan Makan Walking group tours costs from SG $90 (Dh245) per person for about three hours. Tailor-made tours can be arranged. For details go to www.woknstroll.com.sg
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
Five healthy carbs and how to eat them
Brown rice: consume an amount that fits in the palm of your hand
Non-starchy vegetables, such as broccoli: consume raw or at low temperatures, and don’t reheat
Oatmeal: look out for pure whole oat grains or kernels, which are locally grown and packaged; avoid those that have travelled from afar
Fruit: a medium bowl a day and no more, and never fruit juices
Lentils and lentil pasta: soak these well and cook them at a low temperature; refrain from eating highly processed pasta variants
Courtesy Roma Megchiani, functional nutritionist at Dubai’s 77 Veggie Boutique
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
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
MATCH INFO
Manchester United 2
(Martial 30', McTominay 90 6')
Manchester City 0
