At a table outside a hotel in London, a former colonel in the Afghan Army can at least reflect on the fact that the safety and happiness of his children are his priority.
Despite the traumatic upheaval of a chaotic and dangerous evacuation from Afghanistan last year, the former officer's children are “doing very well” at the school they attend in London.
His youngest, who is 6, now speaks English fluently, while his father has been taking courses for construction skills in the hope of starting a new career once he is finally settled.
But a recent letter from the UK Home Office poses the challenge of renewed upheaval, underlining how far off remains the stability he and thousands of other Afghans have craved.
After being put up in a bridging hotel in London for the past 10 months, the colonel has been told that next month they will be moved to another hotel, 320 kilometres away in Manchester.
Others have been told they will be sent to hotels near Gatwick in West Sussex, or in Kent, both in the south-east of England. Some still do not know where in the UK they will be moved to when the reshuffle of accommodation begins.
In March, 100 families staying in one central London hotel were dispersed to hotels in cities outside the capital.
Elsewhere, hotels in Wigan, in Greater Manchester, north-west England, and Stafford, in Staffordshire, in the West Midlands, are now said to be closing to Afghan refugees. That group is in the process of being moved up to 130km away to Liverpool.
Having not yet been offered a permanent home, the father-of-five in London finds the move to yet another temporary accommodation in a city four hours’ drive away disappointing and difficult.
“Where’s the strategy? Where’s the planning? If I had a permanent home I could just focus on the children and our future. I would like to work eventually too, but how can we plan anything?” he told The National.
His children will have to re-enrol in a school in Manchester, although how long they will stay in the city is not clear.
“Our concern is mainly for our children, creating a good environment for them. We have already lost so much of our physical lives and possessions, I don’t want to lose our family.”
Another Afghan refugee at the hotel, who has already been moved to three different hotels since arriving in the UK in August, said that everyone is “sad, stressed and anxious” about the impending move.
“We used to gather together at dinner time and talk about our plans to study or to work, how our children were doing at school, the things we wanted to do with our lives.
“Now everyone is just comparing notes on what the Home Office letter told them and what city they are now going to be sent to,” said the resident, who asked not to be identified.
These hotel occupants are all part of the 15,000 Afghans and British citizens who were moved to the UK in August after Kabul fell to the Taliban.
The government’s promise of a warm welcome and permanent homes encouraged many to try to rebuild their fractured lives with new friendships, jobs and education opportunities, but ever-changing living conditions are threatening an already fragile situation.
Unsettled: the 'warm welcome' leaving Afghans in the cold
In the hotel The National visited, about two thirds of the families have children who are at school and at least two people have jobs in London. Several people told me they were applying to do postgraduate studies ― one had already been accepted on a scholarship to study at a university in the capital.
These building blocks are now at risk of being dismantled, and not for the last time.
“My children have been doing really well at school here. One of them got put in advanced computer classes but now that we are moving, I’m not sure if he can continue with them,” said an Afghan father in the lobby of the hotel.
He was hoping to apply to study for a postgraduate degree himself, but said it was “impossible to make any plans” without clarity on where they will live.
According to a Home Office official, more than 6,000 people have been moved — or are in the process of moving — into homes since June 2021.
This leaves 6,000 to 9,000 people still living in temporary accommodation.
But as London hotels look to welcome back tourists in the first summer after pandemic restrictions were removed, some establishments are not renewing the contracts made with the Home Office to temporarily house Afghan refugees.
Poor planning, insufficient staff numbers
The problem, say those who are working on resettling Afghans in the UK, stems from a lack of government planning and “unmanaged expectations”, which has led to some Afghans rejecting available homes.
“I don’t see an end to bridging hotels, not in the near future, not in the next six months unless they come up with a very robust housing plan,” Yvonne Kachikoti from Refugee Action, which helps refugees build new lives in the UK, told The National.
A lack of strategy and insufficient Home Office staffing ― some of which has been diverted to assisting Ukrainian refugees ― leaves Afghans caught in a holding cycle.
While the government speaks of its “leading role in the international response to supporting at-risk Afghan citizens”, it has urged more local authorities to come forward to offer homes.
This week, a top civil servant commended “the positive contribution” by the government in resettling Afghans and said families in hotels were “better off” than if they were in Afghanistan.
“Even for a family in a hotel who would rather be integrated somewhere else, they are still better off in the UK than they would have been in Afghanistan,” Matthew Rycroft, permanent secretary at the Home Office, said.
“And I think it is worth remembering the big picture about why we do this sort of thing,”
But Ms Kachikoti, who heads resettlement and integration services at Refugee Action, blames poor Home Office management for leaving people in limbo.
“I don’t believe it is local authorities who aren’t coming in to help. We’ve sent information on Afghans and houses available to the Home Office before and it takes weeks for them to get back to us,” she said.
The criticism was echoed by a source working with a local authority on the resettlement programme who told The National that the government’s promised wraparound support, but that has not been that readily available.
“There are people who have been moved to areas where there is very little support offered and no relatable community so they feel quite vulnerable and confused,” he said.
As part of the government’s Operation Warm Welcome to Afghan refugees, local councils were allocated funding packages of £20,520 ($25,230) per person over three years. The funding will help refugees to enrol in education, find work and integrate in their new communities.
Finding homes for Afghan families proves slow and difficult
The process of matching people with homes has come under fire from Afghans and those working to resettle them.
One of the Afghans The National spoke to wondered why the Home Office sent them a long form to fill out in which their circumstances and preferences for where to live were explained, if ultimately “they were never going to listen to us”.
“They told us to fill out the form and let them know all our circumstances, what we were doing, where we wanted to live. And now there are people with jobs in London who are being told they’re moving hours away to Manchester,” the hotel resident said.
Poor communication and “unmanaged expectations” have resulted in some Afghan refugees rejecting offers of permanent homes in areas where they would prefer not to live.
“There is a level of fear, people who have moved out are telling others that it is really difficult to budget, that there aren’t many Afghans or ethnic minorities around, that it feels isolated,” Ms Kachikoti said.
As a result, she fears the UK has created “a dependency syndrome” for hotel residents who worry that the availability of a caseworker, three meals a day and a room ― even an impersonal hotel one ― is better than what is being offered in the long term.
Earlier this year, the Home Office revealed that keeping Afghans in hotels was costing the taxpayer £1.2 million a day and, like some of the Afghans interviewed, Ms Kachikoti wonders if that money would not be better spent providing financial assistance to Afghans to find and rent their own homes.
“We have always said that from the word go that the government should let people find their own homes. They should have a private rental scheme, give people deposits, help them search within a local housing rate ― we just won’t find enough housing otherwise,” Ms Kachikoti said.
This housing crisis may yet worsen as hundreds of Ukrainian refugees who were hosted under the Homes For Ukraine scheme become homeless, adding more burden on local authorities who need to house them.
The worry is that a confluence of an increasing number of refugees, a slow resettlement process and decreasing housing options will keep these unsettled people trapped in a cycle of dependency where they are unable to build new lives for themselves, however much they want to.
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
Mubadala World Tennis Championship 2018 schedule
Thursday December 27
Men's quarter-finals
Kevin Anderson v Hyeon Chung 4pm
Dominic Thiem v Karen Khachanov 6pm
Women's exhibition
Serena Williams v Venus Williams 8pm
Friday December 28
5th place play-off 3pm
Men's semi-finals
Rafael Nadal v Anderson/Chung 5pm
Novak Djokovic v Thiem/Khachanov 7pm
Saturday December 29
3rd place play-off 5pm
Men's final 7pm
RESULTS
Cagliari 5-2 Fiorentina
Udinese 0-0 SPAL
Sampdoria 0-0 Atalanta
Lazio 4-2 Lecce
Parma 2-0 Roma
Juventus 1-0 AC Milan
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Dubai World Cup nominations
UAE: Thunder Snow/Saeed bin Suroor (trainer), North America/Satish Seemar, Drafted/Doug Watson, New Trails/Ahmad bin Harmash, Capezzano, Gronkowski, Axelrod, all trained by Salem bin Ghadayer
USA: Seeking The Soul/Dallas Stewart, Imperial Hunt/Luis Carvajal Jr, Audible/Todd Pletcher, Roy H/Peter Miller, Yoshida/William Mott, Promises Fulfilled/Dale Romans, Gunnevera/Antonio Sano, XY Jet/Jorge Navarro, Pavel/Doug O’Neill, Switzerland/Steve Asmussen.
Japan: Matera Sky/Hideyuki Mori, KT Brace/Haruki Sugiyama. Bahrain: Nine Below Zero/Fawzi Nass. Ireland: Tato Key/David Marnane. Hong Kong: Fight Hero/Me Tsui. South Korea: Dolkong/Simon Foster.
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
Info
What: 11th edition of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship
When: December 27-29, 2018
Confirmed: men: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Hyeon Chung, Karen Khachanov; women: Venus Williams
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae, Virgin megastores or call 800 86 823
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Kamindu Mendis bio
Full name: Pasqual Handi Kamindu Dilanka Mendis
Born: September 30, 1998
Age: 20 years and 26 days
Nationality: Sri Lankan
Major teams Sri Lanka's Under 19 team
Batting style: Left-hander
Bowling style: Right-arm off-spin and slow left-arm orthodox (that's right!)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Timeline
1947
Ferrari’s road-car company is formed and its first badged car, the 125 S, rolls off the assembly line
1962
250 GTO is unveiled
1969
Fiat becomes a Ferrari shareholder, acquiring 50 per cent of the company
1972
The Fiorano circuit, Ferrari’s racetrack for development and testing, opens
1976
First automatic Ferrari, the 400 Automatic, is made
1987
F40 launched
1988
Enzo Ferrari dies; Fiat expands its stake in the company to 90 per cent
2002
The Enzo model is announced
2010
Ferrari World opens in Abu Dhabi
2011
First four-wheel drive Ferrari, the FF, is unveiled
2013
LaFerrari, the first Ferrari hybrid, arrives
2014
Fiat Chrysler announces the split of Ferrari from the parent company
2015
Ferrari launches on Wall Street
2017
812 Superfast unveiled; Ferrari celebrates its 70th anniversary
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors
It’ll be summer in the city as car show tries to move with the times
If 2008 was the year that rocked Detroit, 2019 will be when Motor City gives its annual car extravaganza a revamp that aims to move with the times.
A major change is that this week's North American International Auto Show will be the last to be held in January, after which the event will switch to June.
The new date, organisers said, will allow exhibitors to move vehicles and activities outside the Cobo Center's halls and into other city venues, unencumbered by cold January weather, exemplified this week by snow and ice.
In a market in which trends can easily be outpaced beyond one event, the need to do so was probably exacerbated by the decision of Germany's big three carmakers – BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi – to skip the auto show this year.
The show has long allowed car enthusiasts to sit behind the wheel of the latest models at the start of the calendar year but a more fluid car market in an online world has made sales less seasonal.
Similarly, everyday technology seems to be catching up on those whose job it is to get behind microphones and try and tempt the visiting public into making a purchase.
Although sparkly announcers clasp iPads and outline the technical gadgetry hidden beneath bonnets, people's obsession with their own smartphones often appeared to offer a more tempting distraction.
“It's maddening,” said one such worker at Nissan's stand.
The absence of some pizzazz, as well as top marques, was also noted by patrons.
“It looks like there are a few less cars this year,” one annual attendee said of this year's exhibitors.
“I can't help but think it's easier to stay at home than to brave the snow and come here.”
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Scoreline
Chelsea 1
Azpilicueta (36')
West Ham United 1
Hernandez (73')
Like a Fading Shadow
Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez
Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
RESULTS
2.15pm: Al Marwan Group Holding – Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
Winner: SS Jalmod, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ibrahim Al Hadhrami (trainer)
2.45pm: Sharjah Equine Hospital – Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,000m
Winner: Ghallieah, Sebastien Martino, Jean-Claude Pecout
3.15pm: Al Marwan Group Holding – Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Inthar, Saif Al Balushi, Khalifa Al Neyadi
3.45pm: Al Ain Stud Emirates Breeders Trophy – Conditions (PA) Dh50,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: MH Rahal, Richard Mullen, Elise Jeanne
4.25pm: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Cup – Prestige Handicap (PA) Dh100,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: JAP Aneed, Ray Dawson, Irfan Ellahi
4.45pm: Sharjah Equine Hospital – Handicap (TB) Dh40,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Edaraat, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
RESULT
Arsenal 2
Sokratis Papastathopoulos 45 4'
Eddie Ntkeiah 51'
Portsmouth 0
Moonfall
Director: Rolan Emmerich
Stars: Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry
Rating: 3/5
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
