Alok Sharma, the UK minister in charge of last year's Cop26 summit on climate change, was so passionate about the job that he broke down in tears when it looked like a final deal was in jeopardy.
He is still on the brief as the world prepares for the Cop27 meeting in Egypt in November. It looks like more tears could be in the offing as he has threatened to hand in his resignation if the ruling Conservative party abandons or waters down the net-zero targets that the country pledged under Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Mr Johnson is on his way out of power and the final two candidates for the Conservative leadership, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, are far more ambivalent about the commitment to carbon neutrality in the face of global warming.
It is just one of a range of areas in which the UK is poised to pivot in a new direction when the new prime minister kisses hands with Queen Elizabeth in early September.
In terms of the climate, Ms Truss, the current Foreign Secretary, has both promised to keep the net-zero target of 2050 but has said that there needs to be better ways to deliver it. She has pledged to suspend green energy levies to ease current energy bills for households.
Mr Sunak, chancellor until earlier this month, has also backed the target but is talking about scrapping renewable energy expansion on the UK land mass. Instead, he wants to put more effort into offshore turbines as well as funding for insulating the country’s draughty homes.
As the campaign unfolds, expect a bidding war on tough stands on migration
The emphasis in Mr Sunak’s policies is on energy with his proposed new separate Department of Energy to work along aside a dedicated Energy Security Committee overseeing market reforms.
Meanwhile, by setting a target to make Britain energy-sufficient by 2045, Mr Sunak is signalling an increase in UK fossil fuel output. Ms Truss is also making a similar pledge with her commitment to allow UK shale gas fracking, something that governments have failed to get across the line for decades.
On Europe, both sides must perform the role of Brexit hardliner, especially after the EU’s incendiary move to sue the UK for opening the door to systemic smuggling by failing to enforce the divorce agreement.
When former US president Donald Trump told ex-prime minister Theresa May that she should have moved to sue the EU first, he may have had a point on the years of wrangling ahead.
Mr Sunak is committed to removing all EU law from the UK statute book. Ms Truss wants to overhaul the European Convention on Human Rights.
As the campaign unfolds, expect a bidding war on tough stands on migration, too, with the candidates already saying that they back Mr Johnson’s controversial policy on deporting people to Rwanda. Mr Sunak is reportedly planning to frame his migration policies with a keynote speech this week.
It is the economic future that has seen the starkest dividing line drawn. Mr Sunak has called some of what Ms Truss has to say as socialism. Mr Johnson has even intervened to indicate that Mr Sunak’s “treasury orthodoxy” frustrated his government.
While both Ms Truss and Mr Sunak appear poised to drop Mr Johnson’s levelling-up agenda, that is where the consensus ends.
As the architect of the current tax policy, he maintains that tax cuts must wait until public finances are stronger and income tax reductions must follow. Mr Sunak believes that a corporation tax increase should proceed in line with the trend of raising revenues from companies that is prevalent among member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Ms Truss is promising a new budget on day one to address the slowdown in the UK economy as a result of rising energy prices. Her emphasis is tax cuts and, as a supply sider, she seeks a Reagan-style boost from a lighter government role in the economy.
What Ms Truss is proposing is a shift from a central bank-directed economic strategy, based on the level of interest rates, to government resuming its dominant role. This, some of her backers say, is worthwhile even as they predict interest rate rises from the current level just over 1 per cent to 7 per cent.
In fact, the theory underpinning her policy will be that government deficits will assist the Bank of England to raise rates while avoiding recession. That would be a whole new world. The principles behind central bank independence of the past three decades would certainly no longer be sacrosanct.
It is hard to escape the conclusion that this really is a watershed choice not only for the UK but for how the western world is going to function in the uncertain period ahead.
Mr Sunak would push very familiar policy options, while Ms Truss would gamble with the untested. Both would have two years to define their agenda before the next election must be called. The backdrop is an international system seized by crisis.
One thing is for sure: electability is not name of the game in this run-off.
Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
MATCH INFO
Serie A
Juventus v Fiorentina, Saturday, 8pm (UAE)
Match is on BeIN Sports
Race card:
6.30pm: Baniyas (PA) Group 2 Dh195,000 1,400m.
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 1,400m.
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 1,200m.
8.15pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 1,200m.
8.50pm: Rated Conditions (TB) Dh240,000 1,600m.
9.20pm: Handicap (TB) Dh165,000 1,400m.
10pm: Handicap (TB) Dh175,000 2,000m.
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
Hydrogen: Market potential
Hydrogen has an estimated $11 trillion market potential, according to Bank of America Securities and is expected to generate $2.5tn in direct revenues and $11tn of indirect infrastructure by 2050 as its production increases six-fold.
"We believe we are reaching the point of harnessing the element that comprises 90 per cent of the universe, effectively and economically,” the bank said in a recent report.
Falling costs of renewable energy and electrolysers used in green hydrogen production is one of the main catalysts for the increasingly bullish sentiment over the element.
The cost of electrolysers used in green hydrogen production has halved over the last five years and will fall to 60 to 90 per cent by the end of the decade, acceding to Haim Israel, equity strategist at Merrill Lynch. A global focus on decarbonisation and sustainability is also a big driver in its development.
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The stats
Ship name: MSC Bellissima
Ship class: Meraviglia Class
Delivery date: February 27, 2019
Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT
Passenger capacity: 5,686
Crew members: 1,536
Number of cabins: 2,217
Length: 315.3 metres
Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)
Match info
What: Fifa Club World Cup play-off
Who: Al Ain v Team Wellington
Where: Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
When: Wednesday, kick off 7.30pm
TEST SQUADS
Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mominul Haque, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mehedi Hasan, Shafiul Islam, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed.
Australia: Steve Smith (captain), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson and Jackson Bird.
Liverpool's all-time goalscorers
Ian Rush 346
Roger Hunt 285
Mohamed Salah 250
Gordon Hodgson 241
Billy Liddell 228
Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
Sreesanth's India bowling career
Tests 27, Wickets 87, Average 37.59, Best 5-40
ODIs 53, Wickets 75, Average 33.44, Best 6-55
T20Is 10, Wickets 7, Average 41.14, Best 2-12
Don't get fined
The UAE FTA requires following to be kept:
- Records of all supplies and imports of goods and services
- All tax invoices and tax credit notes
- Alternative documents related to receiving goods or services
- All tax invoices and tax credit notes
- Alternative documents issued
- Records of goods and services that have been disposed of or used for matters not related to business
Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
The five new places of worship
Church of South Indian Parish
St Andrew's Church Mussaffah branch
St Andrew's Church Al Ain branch
St John's Baptist Church, Ruwais
Church of the Virgin Mary and St Paul the Apostle, Ruwais
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
The specs
Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Power: 575bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh554,000
On sale: now
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
Australia tour of Pakistan
March 4-8: First Test, Rawalpindi
March 12-16: Second Test, Karachi
March 21-25: Third Test, Lahore
March 29: First ODI, Rawalpindi
March 31: Second ODI, Rawalpindi
April 2: Third ODI, Rawalpindi
April 5: T20I, Rawalpindi
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
European arms
Known EU weapons transfers to Ukraine since the war began: Germany 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles. Luxembourg 100 NLAW anti-tank weapons, jeeps and 15 military tents as well as air transport capacity. Belgium 2,000 machine guns, 3,800 tons of fuel. Netherlands 200 Stinger missiles. Poland 100 mortars, 8 drones, Javelin anti-tank weapons, Grot assault rifles, munitions. Slovakia 12,000 pieces of artillery ammunition, 10 million litres of fuel, 2.4 million litres of aviation fuel and 2 Bozena de-mining systems. Estonia Javelin anti-tank weapons. Latvia Stinger surface to air missiles. Czech Republic machine guns, assault rifles, other light weapons and ammunition worth $8.57 million.
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
