Why Stratford-upon-Avon?
In an alternative reality, Stratford-upon-Avon would be almost entirely anonymous; another Lutterworth, Atherstone or Uttoxeter to add to the rich pantheon of perfectly pleasant but basically ignorable Midlands market towns.
But in 1564, a baby boy called William was born to John and Mary Shakespeare, and Stratford’s place in the great story of time was altered forever. No one comes to Stratford because it’s a half-decent market town between Birmingham and London with a few Tudor houses – they come because the greatest-ever English language writer was born there.
The Shakespeare trail is the bedrock of Stratford, and all but the most deeply dedicated Shakespeare scholars are likely to learn something.
It’s 400 years since the Bard died on April 23, but his legacy lives stronger than ever – not least in a theatre scene that would be the envy of any major city in the world, let alone a town of comparable size.
A comfortable bed
Right next to the Royal Shakespeare Company HQ, The Arden Hotel prides itself on hand-picked furniture and little extras such as free apples and plants in the room. The result is stylishly modern, with just enough antiques dotted around to keep things interesting. Rates start at £129 (Dh674) a night.
Most visitors stay in B&Bs, though, and there are a string of them to the west of the city centre – especially along Grove Road. The Adelphi Guesthouse is a reliable option with plenty of character for from £90 (Dh470).
For a just-out-of-town treat, Billesley Manor was supposedly where Shakespeare wrote As You Like It. It's now a country spa retreat, with immaculately maintained gardens, an indoor pool and a maze-like warren of rooms. Chaise longues, spa bath tubs and palatial patterned wallpaper add to the old-world decadence. Double rooms cost from £112.50 (Dh588) per night.
Find your feet
For Stratford at its prettiest, start where the canal meets the River Avon, with a monument to Shakespeare surrounded by some of his characters in the park. Then head up towards what is, perhaps dubiously, dubbed Shakespeare’s Birthplace (www.shakespeare.org.uk) on Henley Street. It includes a mini-museum that has a copy of the First Folio of his works, some items from the era and a fair bit of biographical detail. The section on phrases Shakespeare introduced, such as “truth will out”, “a sorry sight” and “snail-paced”, is most interesting.
The £17.50 (Dh92) pass also includes entry to two other houses with Shakespeare links – Harvard House and Hall's Croft. Tudor World looks tacky – it's heavy on the waxworks – but it makes a decent fist of explaining Shakespeare's era. And that ranges from Spain's attempted invasion of England to the weird costumes that plague doctors thought would stop them contracting the disease.
Finish off at the Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare and his wife are buried under a slightly gaudy and amateurish-looking monument erected by his friends.
Meet the locals
While the scrums of visitors huddle in the town centre, it’s often remarkably peaceful by the banks of the River Avon – particularly if you head a few hundred metres away from the centre. The narrowboaters and indisputably majestic swans will keep you company.
Book a table
Eating hours can be weird here – a lot of people are cramming something down pre-theatre. Lambs (www.lambsrestaurant.co.uk) has atmospheric 16th-century wooden beams, and offers a three-course set menu for £19 (Dh100). Save room for the pear and almond tart.
The Church Street Townhouse is more contemporary, and does a good job with seafood – the £17 (Dh88) grilled sea bass with purple sprouting and brown shrimp butter is a good example.
Shopper’s paradise
Stratford’s shopping options are surprisingly bland. Still, if you want department stores, then Bridge Street has Marks & Spencer, BHS and Debenhams among a sea of generic high-street names.
For Shakey trinketry, books, biographies, play DVDs and audio recordings, the shop at Shakespeare’s Birthplace has a strong selection.
Stock up on delectable treats and gifts at Roly’s Fudge Pantry, on High Street.
What to avoid
This is not a place for lie-ins. The experience at Shakespeare’s Birthplace (and other key sites) is very different at 9am before all the tour buses and day-trippers rock up. Get the big stuff done early before the crowds descend, and the day will be several times more peaceful and enjoyable.
Don’t miss
Stratford has a surprising amount of fringe theatre, but the big boy is the Royal Shakespeare Company, which has two theatres in its riverside complex and a reputation for attracting Britain's finest actors. The menu is understandably Shakespeare-heavy, but it's not all Bard. Current productions include an inventive and frequently funny Don Quixote, plus a daring take on Doctor Faustus. Tickets cost from £16 (Dh84).
Getting there
Emirates flies direct from Dubai to Birmingham for Dh3,870, including taxes. Stratford is 43 kilometres south of Birmingham airport, and the drive takes about 30 minutes.
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
THURSDAY'S FIXTURES
4pm Maratha Arabians v Northern Warriors
6.15pm Deccan Gladiators v Pune Devils
8.30pm Delhi Bulls v Bangla Tigers
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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THE LOWDOWN
Photograph
Rating: 4/5
Produced by: Poetic License Motion Pictures; RSVP Movies
Director: Ritesh Batra
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra, Farrukh Jaffar, Deepak Chauhan, Vijay Raaz
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 4.4-litre V8
Transmission: Automatic
Power: 530bhp
Torque: 750Nm
Price: Dh535,000
On sale: Now
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
How Beautiful this world is!
Ruwais timeline
1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established
1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants
1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed
1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.
1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex
2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea
2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd
2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens
2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies
2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export
2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.
2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery
2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital
2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13
Source: The National
Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
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ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
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
The biog
Date of birth: 27 May, 1995
Place of birth: Dubai, UAE
Status: Single
School: Al Ittihad private school in Al Mamzar
University: University of Sharjah
Degree: Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Hobby: I enjoy travelling a lot, not just for fun, but I like to cross things off my bucket list and the map and do something there like a 'green project'.
The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
The Written World: How Literature Shaped History
Martin Puchner
Granta
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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