Political taxonomy is just as muddled right now as electoral trends.
In South Korea, a progressive politician with socially conservative views won Tuesday’s presidential election. France’s new president-elect is a banker who served in the outgoing socialist government and describes himself as a “radical centrist”.
In Britain’s continuing election campaign, the governing centre-right Conservative Party is successfully co-opting the far-right UK Independence Party’s issues, some of its language and a lot of its fervour. India’s prime minister, who came to office on a Hindu nationalist free-market platform, has started to hew left as a class warrior. In the US election, a billionaire with no discernible religious sympathies was successfully able to present himself as a champion of the working classes and of conservative Christians.
In Spain, shortly before the US presidential election, the conservative party’s prime minister was returned to office with parliamentary assistance from the socialists, but the latter are under pressure from the nationalist ultra-left Podemos. Just to add to the chaos, Podemos was the only Spanish political party to express doubts about Emannuel Macron, who defeated his far-right challenger Marine Le Pen. Their doubts revealed the uniting of the extreme ends of the political spectrum, against centrist forces and globalisation.
With right, left and centre of the spectrum increasingly muddled, how do you classify these politicians, their parties, broad ideological fraternities and the people they represent? What do you call politicians who are fairly left-wing but unwilling to unite with centrists against the far-right? Might they be called “Light-ist”? Opportunists? Pragmatists? Conversely, what do you call far right politicians who support the welfare state?
The labelling headache is compounded now that politicians increasingly claim not to lead political parties but “movements”. Donald Trump, an atypical candidate of the US Republican Party, repeatedly says he led a movement to victory. Ms Le Pen and her supporters claim the same word for the 11 million people who voted for her on Sunday. The Front National, they say, is a movement that measures its progress over decades. Even Mr Macron has said his victorious, now-renamed, upstart outfit is a movement rather than a new political party.
The taxonomic tangle gets worse when it comes to voters.
In many parts of the world, the electorate is no longer precisely right or left. Those who turned out enthusiastically for South Korea’s new president Moon Jae-in may be a case in point. They were overwhelmingly young and passionate about economic revival and fighting corruption, something they call “dirt spoon vs gold spoon” policies. This issue seems to link Mr Moon’s supporters with electorates around the world. They were also progressive in their pacifist inclinations, expressing support for his stated desire for a dialogue with North Korea.
Interestingly, however, they were at ease with Mr Moon’s social conservatism, which may indicate the extent to which these young South Koreans remain rooted in their own culture and norms, rather than straining towards a fast-liberalising, homogeneous global groupthink. And they probably approve of Mr Moon’s notion of South Korean self-reliance – a quasi-nationalist foreign policy – because he has been upfront about the idea that Seoul should “learn to say no” to Washington.
A clutch of categories are hurriedly being cobbled together in an attempt to bring some order to the chaos of the new political divides that straddle right and left even as they skitter off in other directions too. These are as follows: nationalists versus globalists. Tribals versus cosmopolitans. Somewhere versus anywhere. Populists versus elites. Losers versus winners. Rural versus urban.
Broadly, each of these categories indicates the same basic difference in mindsets. Voters who believe that they share one planet and have an interdependent future versus those that resent the idea. This may sound promising considering Ms Le Pen recently cast the French presidential election as a contest between globalists and patriots. Mr Trump has oft thundered about the “forgotten people” and British prime minister Theresa May invokes the problems of those “left behind”. But there are problems with these taxonomic definitions. First, they don't cover the globe, being truer for the west than for the east. Rural vs urban doesn’t really apply to the political reality of countries such as India, where Mr Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party has long been an urban success story. Second, none of these definitions properly explains the motivations or even the situation of the western voter who opted for Mr Trump and Ms Le Pen.
Their supporters were neither mostly rural nor always left-behind. An early estimate of Mr Trump’s supporters put their income at $72,000 (Dh264,000) a year, which is comfortably above the national average.
Rural western France did not exactly thrill to the Front National's siren call. And parts of urban America did embrace Mr Trump. Does this American president then embody the hopes of the “heartland”, of “Real America”, or of somewhere vaguely located in Middle America, somewhat rural, and somewhat de-industrialised, somewhat envious and anxious?
Is Ms Le Pen’s support deeply held in so-called La France profonde, a rural region of deep and authentic Frenchness? Or does it reflect the angst of la France peripherique, “peripheral France”, a phrase that became popular during the election period? None of the above is probably the right answer. But then there isn’t a right answer just yet.
Rashmee Roshan Lall is a writer on world affairs
On Twitter: @rashmeerl
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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
Profile of Bitex UAE
Date of launch: November 2018
Founder: Monark Modi
Based: Business Bay, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: Eight employees
Investors: Self-funded to date with $1m of personal savings
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The specs
Engine: 5.2-litre V10
Power: 640hp at 8,000rpm
Torque: 565Nm at 6,500rpm
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: From Dh1 million
On sale: Q3 or Q4 2022
About RuPay
A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank
RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards
It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.
In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments
The name blends two words rupee and payment
Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs
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What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Fixtures
Tuesday - 5.15pm: Team Lebanon v Alger Corsaires; 8.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Pharaohs
Wednesday - 5.15pm: Pharaohs v Carthage Eagles; 8.30pm: Alger Corsaires v Abu Dhabi Storms
Thursday - 4.30pm: Team Lebanon v Pharaohs; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Carthage Eagles
Friday - 4.30pm: Pharaohs v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Team Lebanon
Saturday - 4.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Team Lebanon
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
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
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
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Racecard
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Seven tips from Emirates NBD
1. Never respond to e-mails, calls or messages asking for account, card or internet banking details
2. Never store a card PIN (personal identification number) in your mobile or in your wallet
3. Ensure online shopping websites are secure and verified before providing card details
4. Change passwords periodically as a precautionary measure
5. Never share authentication data such as passwords, card PINs and OTPs (one-time passwords) with third parties
6. Track bank notifications regarding transaction discrepancies
7. Report lost or stolen debit and credit cards immediately
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
