All the way down The Mall, in the heart of London, you can see Union Jacks. The trees are in full leaf. The grand, white buildings look pristine, as do the swept roads and pavements.
At one end stands Admiralty Arch, proud and triumphant, a tribute to Queen Victoria and a glorious reign and empire.
At the other is its architectural match in Buckingham Palace, its lone flag flying as guards in red uniforms and black bearskins march up and down, and draw crowds of tourists.
Does any other nation do pageantry as well as Britain? Royal Ascot has just been and gone, complete with royal carriage processions and top hats and tails. The Chelsea Flower Show and The Derby, too. Then, it’s the turn of Wimbledon.
For a fortnight, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club will display its ability to put on a tennis tournament like no other. The attention to detail, the precision afforded to the mowing of the grass, painting of the white lines, pressing of the officials’ uniforms. And that’s before we get to the carefully arranged flowers and bowls of strawberries and cream.
Every single surface will be polished, nothing will be left to chance. Such is the lavishing of care that, amid all the curtsying and protocol, the grunts and groans and sheer sweat of the players can sometimes seem lost.
Not for the first time, I will be left wondering why is it that we can carry this off with such panache and earn the admiration of the rest of the world, when travelling even a short distance around the country is often a nightmare, we can’t build enough affordable houses, our state schools are not properly equipped and our hospitals cannot get enough staff. I could go on, but you get the picture.
We know how to put on a party, to entertain – witness Sir Elton John’s performance at the just-closed Glastonbury Festival. We’re brilliant at being a living museum, a heritage centre, at making ourselves accessible to the world’s visitors.
We excel at educating the rich folks’ children, in schools that require their pupils to pursue archaic dress codes and customs, housing them in medieval buildings set around quadrangles of neatly mown grass (again). In the City, our institutions carry weight and significance far beyond our shores.
Yet, look deeper and you will find a stock market that bears little semblance to the British economy, a FTSE 100 that could once lay claim to represent Britain’s biggest quoted companies but now can’t at all – the bulk of the names are foreign, with the majority of their operations abroad.
For the entry list at Wimbledon, see the London Stock Exchange. Until Andy Murray won, we went 77 years without a homegrown male winner. Then he did it again. But since then, we're back to where we were.
Next Monday’s draw will contain some British names, but many of them will be there because the organisers have supplied them with a free pass, a ‘wild card’. Otherwise, there would be very few. As it is, barely any will get beyond the early rounds. But look at the surroundings and you could be forgiven for thinking Britain is the powerhouse of world tennis, the land that keeps on producing more champions than any other.
Each year, Wimbledon generates vast revenues for the Lawn Tennis Association to be ploughed back into the development of the sport in Britain, and each year, excepting those flashes from Murray and, before him, Tim Henman, we struggle. Same in women’s tennis. Our best hope, Emma Raducanu, shone briefly but is now absent.
The perception is that players from elsewhere seem hungrier; they appear to want it more. Are Brits lulled into a false sense of security by their role as hosts? Possibly. It’s as if the grandeur of the environment acts as some sort of comfort blanket, so they do not try as hard.
It’s true in business. We have great schools and universities that spawn first-class minds. But when it comes to making money, to competing globally, to taking their smart ideas and turning them into world-beating corporate titans, we fail. Almost without exception, our brightest and best innovators head for the US.
What’s shaming about this is that it’s been this way for the past few decades. Our politicians, their officials, appear at a loss to know what to do about it.
They said they would make the ground better, that red tape would vanish. It’s still with us. We have one of the most punitive tax regimes in the world; one that is also hideously and unnecessarily complex (our tax rules take more space than those of India).
We don’t encourage innovation and risk-taking enough. Just as bad is that we do not ensure our commercial players, let alone the tennis variety, are able to move to the next level and turn into true global competitors.
There is another way of looking at it, which is to say that we should sit back and enjoy our status as one giant Disneyland; that other nations crave what we have. The last part is certainly true. So, for two weeks, forget about inflation, labour shortages, energy supply and all the other woes currently besetting us, and bask in something that is uniquely and delightfully British.
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
The biog
Favourite hobby: taking his rescue dog, Sally, for long walks.
Favourite book: anything by Stephen King, although he said the films rarely match the quality of the books
Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption stands out as his favourite movie, a classic King novella
Favourite music: “I have a wide and varied music taste, so it would be unfair to pick a single song from blues to rock as a favourite"
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 110 horsepower
Torque: 147Nm
Price: From Dh59,700
On sale: now
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
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Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
The years Ramadan fell in May
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Other promotions
- Deliveroo will team up with Pineapple Express to offer customers near JLT a special treat: free banana caramel dessert with all orders on January 26
- Jones the Grocer will have their limited edition Australia Day menu available until the end of the month (January 31)
- Australian Vet in Abu Dhabi (with locations in Khalifa City A and Reem Island) will have a 15 per cent off all store items (excluding medications)
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
HAEMOGLOBIN DISORDERS EXPLAINED
Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.
Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.
The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.
The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.
A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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.
The five pillars of Islam
Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
Results
3pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,400m, Winner: Lancienegaboulevard, Adrie de Vries (jockey), Fawzi Nass (trainer).
3.35pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Turf) 1,600m, Winner: Al Mukhtar Star, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.
4.10pm: Handicap Dh165,000 (D) 2,000m, Winner: Gundogdu, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
4.45pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (T) 1,200m, Winner: Speedy Move, Sean Kirrane, Satish Seemar.
5.20pm: Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Moqarrar, Dane O’Neill, Erwan Charpy.
5.55pm: Handicap Dh175,000 (T) 1,800m, Winner: Dolman, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
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
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
Who are the Soroptimists?
The first Soroptimists club was founded in Oakland, California in 1921. The name comes from the Latin word soror which means sister, combined with optima, meaning the best.
The organisation said its name is best interpreted as ‘the best for women’.
Since then the group has grown exponentially around the world and is officially affiliated with the United Nations. The organisation also counts Queen Mathilde of Belgium among its ranks.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The Specs
Price, base Dh379,000
Engine 2.9-litre, twin-turbo V6
Gearbox eight-speed automatic
Power 503bhp
Torque 443Nm
On sale now
Read more about the coronavirus
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
The biog
Hometown: Birchgrove, Sydney Australia
Age: 59
Favourite TV series: Outlander Netflix series
Favourite place in the UAE: Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque / desert / Louvre Abu Dhabi
Favourite book: Father of our Nation: Collected Quotes of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
Thing you will miss most about the UAE: My friends and family, Formula 1, having Friday's off, desert adventures, and Arabic culture and people
