Float through any social event with M's fast facts. This week John Mather explains Burns Night. THE BASICS Every January 25, the anniversary of the birth of the Scottish poet Robert Burns, the poet's admirers, and Scots in general, gather to celebrate his life and work. Burns Night, featuring poetry, speeches and haggis, started the year before his death in 1796 and shows no sign of waning.
THE PROGRAMME The evening starts with the piping in of hosts and guests. Next, the host gives a welcome speech, which is followed by the Selkirk Grace. Then the haggis - really, the star of the evening - is brought in to bagpipes. Before it's carved, the host recites The Address To A Haggis, written by Burns in the dish's honour. The address begins "Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face, Great chieftain o' the puddin-race". Various toasts follow, with a final toast to the Queen (well, sometimes), or leader of the country where the dinner is being held. This may be followed with more poetry, while the evening ends with the singing of Burns's most famous work, Auld Lang Syne.
THE MEAL The centrepiece of the meal is the haggis, a sheep's heart, liver and lungs mixed with spices and oatmeal boiled in a sheep's stomach. The haggis is served with "neeps and tatties", swede and potatoes. The appetiser is a cock-a-leekie soup and dessert is a clootie dumpling. THE CONVERSATION Why isn't more food honoured in a poem? For instance, Address To A Bowl Of Guacamole: "Holà, you mushy green paste / A taco chip, I eat with haste!"
Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
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- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
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Five expert hiking tips
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
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Tenet
Director: Christopher Nolan
Stars: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh
Rating: 5/5
The biog
Favourite film: Motorcycle Dairies, Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, Kagemusha
Favourite book: One Hundred Years of Solitude
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First car: VW Golf
Proudest achievement: Building Robotics Labs at Khalifa University and King’s College London, Daughters
Driverless cars or drones: Driverless Cars
Scoreline:
Manchester City 1
Jesus 4'
Brighton 0
Should late investors consider cryptocurrencies?
Wealth managers recommend late investors to have a balanced portfolio that typically includes traditional assets such as cash, government and corporate bonds, equities, commodities and commercial property.
They do not usually recommend investing in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies due to the risk and volatility associated with them.
“It has produced eye-watering returns for some, whereas others have lost substantially as this has all depended purely on timing and when the buy-in was. If someone still has about 20 to 25 years until retirement, there isn’t any need to take such risks,” Rupert Connor of Abacus Financial Consultant says.
He adds that if a person is interested in owning a business or growing a property portfolio to increase their retirement income, this can be encouraged provided they keep in mind the overall risk profile of these assets.
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MATCH INFO
Who: UAE v USA
What: first T20 international
When: Friday, 2pm
Where: ICC Academy in Dubai
City's slump
L - Juventus, 2-0
D - C Palace, 2-2
W - N Forest, 3-0
L - Liverpool, 2-0
D - Feyenoord, 3-3
L - Tottenham, 4-0
L - Brighton, 2-1
L - Sporting, 4-1
L - Bournemouth, 2-1
L - Tottenham, 2-1
Business Insights
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- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
TRAP
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Director: M Night Shyamalan
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
FIRST TEST SCORES
England 458
South Africa 361 & 119 (36.4 overs)
England won by 211 runs and lead series 1-0
Player of the match: Moeen Ali (England)
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Mina Al Oraibi: Air strike casts a long shadow over the decade ahead
Jack Moore: Why the assassination is such a monumental gamble
Matthew Levitt: Iran retains its ability to launch terror attacks
Damien McElroy: A CEO tasked with spreading Iran's influence
Hussein Ibish: Trump's order on solid constitutional ground
Rashmee Roshan Lall: Sound of silence in South Asia
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