More than half the British public do not have confidence in Liz Truss to perform at the highest levels as a world leader according to an exclusive poll for The National that found people believe Brexit has gone wrong.
A total of 52 per cent of respondents said they had little or no confidence in Ms Truss on the world stage and the same number agreed that Boris Johnson has damaged the UK's international standing.
Questioned on Brexit, 52 per cent of the public also agreed it was a bad thing that Britain had left the EU and, by a margin of 46 per cent to 19 per cent, that the process had gone badly.
Other findings in the wide-ranging poll:
Just 6 per cent of the 2,096 British adults questioned by Deltapoll said they were “very confident” that Ms Truss would be an effective world leader. The research was carried out exclusively for The National from September 9-12, during Ms Truss’s first week in office.
The data captures the start of an era, coming just days after the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the accession of King Charles III, the first change on the UK throne in 70 years.
The outlook is clouded by the first war in a generation in Europe, soaring electricity and gas prices, Britain entering a recession and divisions over Brexit deepening long after the country decided to quit the EU.
Ms Truss is the fourth Conservative prime minister in a decade, a reflection of the turmoil on the political stage. She is promising a radical new departure for the government to pursue lower taxes, deregulation and faster economic growth.
Against this backdrop, 28 per cent of respondents maintained they felt “quite confident” she would do a good job as leader.
Nearly a third (30 per cent) said they were “not very confident” about her in 10 Downing Street, while 22 per cent said they were “not at all confident”.
The Brexit promise of a lift to British prosperity has faded with most respondents (43 per cent compared to 34 per cent) saying the trade deals that have been struck with countries such as Australia have been “generally bad” for the UK.
The country remains outward looking despite the vicissitudes of recent years with 62 per cent looking for the same or better ties with Arab countries.
Anand Menon, professor of European politics and foreign affairs at King’s College London and director of the UK in a Changing Europe think tank, pointed out that it is still early days to say what kind of leader Ms Truss is likely to be.
He suggested that levels of public confidence in her could rise steadily over the coming months if her emergency package of measures achieves its aim of effectively reducing the strain of the cost of living crisis on households and businesses.
Prof Menon said much would also depend on how Labour would seize the crisis as an opportunity to boost itself as a government in waiting, and paint the Truss administration as ineffective. He said it “hinges on Labour banging home the message” that “this is the government for the few”.
Boris Johnson's toxic legacy
The highs of the Johnson administration — the delivery of Brexit and the early introduction of Covid-19 vaccines — were not enough to make up for his failures, the poll suggests. Prof Menon said the “Boris Johnson brand has been irrevocably tarnished” in the minds of many voters.
“It’s a poignant failure,” he said. “With Ukraine, that’s gone down quite well in Washington and also in eastern Europe.”
The ballot also showed that events in UK politics over the last few months have damaged Britain’s position in the international arena with only 7 per cent saying it had improved.
Prof Menon said events in Britain that recently made global headlines, regardless of whether they were positive or negative, have increased foreign interest in the country.
He said the perception abroad that the UK is boring “has been shattered” by recent happenings, which he argued was a good thing. “In 2015 we were proudly dull,” he said, recalling a time before the EU referendum which saw Brexit dominate conversations.
The historical legacy of Britain's involvement in conflicts overseas this century is something that people are keen to draw a line under. Despite the rise of the Taliban and the chaos that saw tens of thousands airlifted from Kabul airport, a total of 40 per cent said it was right to withdraw from the country with 37 per cent saying it was the wrong choice.
Two decades after the country was led to war on the premise that deposing Saddam Hussein in Iraq would transform the region along western parallels, a total of 42 per cent said it was the wrong course.
The effort to eradicate global terror networks and neutralise Al Qaeda, the group behind bombings and attacks in New York, London and Madrid among other targets, cannot be seen as a success from the poll findings. Rating the threat from 1-5 with the top figure representing a significant threat a total of 66 per cent said the group rated 3 or higher.
Liz Truss's premiership begins in tumultuous times — in pictures
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Biography
Her family: She has four sons, aged 29, 27, 25 and 24 and is a grandmother-of-nine
Favourite book: Flashes of Thought by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid
Favourite drink: Water
Her hobbies: Reading and volunteer work
Favourite music: Classical music
Her motto: I don't wait, I initiate
Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster with a decades-long career in TV. He has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others. Karam is also the founder of Takreem.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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Match info
Huddersfield Town 0
Chelsea 3
Kante (34'), Jorginho (45' pen), Pedro (80')
Huroob Ezterari
Director: Ahmed Moussa
Starring: Ahmed El Sakka, Amir Karara, Ghada Adel and Moustafa Mohammed
Three stars
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Things Heard & Seen
Directed by: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, James Norton
2/5
Key facilities
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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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
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Schedule:
Friday, January 12: Six fourball matches
Saturday, January 13: Six foursome (alternate shot) matches
Sunday, January 14: 12 singles
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The struggle is on for active managers
David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.
The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.
Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.
Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.
Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.
At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn.
What is a black hole?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
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Brief scoreline:
Manchester United 2
Rashford 28', Martial 72'
Watford 1
Doucoure 90'
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
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Tell-tale signs of burnout
- loss of confidence and appetite
- irritability and emotional outbursts
- sadness
- persistent physical ailments such as headaches, frequent infections and fatigue
- substance abuse, such as smoking or drinking more
- impaired judgement
- excessive and continuous worrying
- irregular sleep patterns
Tips to help overcome burnout
Acknowledge how you are feeling by listening to your warning signs. Set boundaries and learn to say ‘no’
Do activities that you want to do as well as things you have to do
Undertake at least 30 minutes of exercise per day. It releases an abundance of feel-good hormones
Find your form of relaxation and make time for it each day e.g. soothing music, reading or mindful meditation
Sleep and wake at the same time every day, even if your sleep pattern was disrupted. Without enough sleep condition such as stress, anxiety and depression can thrive.
The biog
Name: Mohammed Imtiaz
From: Gujranwala, Pakistan
Arrived in the UAE: 1976
Favourite clothes to make: Suit
Cost of a hand-made suit: From Dh550
What's in the deal?
Agreement aims to boost trade by £25.5bn a year in the long run, compared with a total of £42.6bn in 2024
India will slash levies on medical devices, machinery, cosmetics, soft drinks and lamb.
India will also cut automotive tariffs to 10% under a quota from over 100% currently.
Indian employees in the UK will receive three years exemption from social security payments
India expects 99% of exports to benefit from zero duty, raising opportunities for textiles, marine products, footwear and jewellery
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