Are you busy? Well then, perhaps the best thing to do is … nothing. Absolutely nothing.
You may be relieved to hear that. I’m guessing that on your mobile phone, laptop or whatever devices you use, someone somewhere is sending you a message or interrupting your scrolling with a demand that you buy something, or watch, listen or read something, or worry about something or do something. Sign a petition! Join our call to action! Protest! Subscribe to my substack/magazine/newsletter/product.
The urgency to act is so overwhelming I have come up with a solution. Being bored. Being idle if you can. Switching off. Because that may be where some of the best ideas are born. Sir Isaac Newton famously understood the idea of gravity by sitting under an apple tree watching an apple fall. He wasn’t scrolling Twitter, playing Candy Crush or ordering something on Amazon. He was presumably relaxing. And perhaps idling is the antidote to the fact that the world’s most valuable (and scarce) commodity isn’t gold, diamonds or oil. It’s our attention span.
We are all bombarded and perplexed by the desperate race to attract our eyeballs to something startling, new, or fun – including an email which just pinged while I am writing this. When I watch a group of teenagers (or, increasingly, adults) sitting together yet all separately looking at their phones, I wonder if we are missing the creative opportunities not just of conversation but of doing almost nothing. In the 18th century that wonderful British intellectual Samuel Johnson wrote a series of essays under the pen-name “The Idler”. The idea of being idle as a virtue helped inspire the modern British magazine The Idler. It celebrates doing nothing very much, and doing it positively, returning (as they put it) a degree of dignity to the act of “loafing”.
I like this idea especially in the currently glorious British summer weather. Over the past six months writing a new book I discovered that “idling”, perhaps just staring out of the window on a long train journey or driving for an hour or two is a time when – if I am lucky – a solution comes to a problem I’ve been failing to solve. An idea appears as if from nowhere. A chapter of a book that I thought confused perhaps begins to take shape. What seems obvious is that our demand-your-attention-NOW economy is so pervasive that few of us ever take the time to be truly relaxed or even bored, emptying our mind of entertainment or work or personal problems.
We are all bombarded and perplexed by the desperate race to attract our eyeballs to something startling, new, or fun – including an email which just pinged while I am writing this
On a recent long and crowded train journey I walked through several carriages to get a coffee from the on-board restaurant. I must have passed more than a hundred people. A handful were reading books or magazines, but almost all the others were engaged with a screen, listening to something on ear buds, making a telephone call or tapping on laptops. I am usually doing the same. Suddenly I wondered what would happen if all electronic devices were magically switched off and all books and magazines confiscated. Would we – unusually on British public transport – begin a conversation with strangers on the train? Would we quietly contemplate some difficult problem in our lives and find a solution? Would we just relax and find switching off to be the most creative thing of all?
There is some research to back up the idea of creative relaxation. The prestigious Johns Hopkins medical school in the US reports that older people taking naps perform better in cognitive tests than those who do not have a short sleep. The report noted: “Researchers looked at data from 2,974 people in China ages 65 and older. Nearly 60 per cent of participants reported napping after lunch for about an hour. Scientists found that people who napped for 30 to 90 minutes had better word recall – which is a sign of good memory – than people who did not nap or who napped for longer than 90 minutes. People who napped for that golden 30 to 90 minutes were also better at figure drawing, another sign of good cognition.”
These findings are interesting, but not conclusive. Another report in the journal Scientific American defined idling, loafing or relaxing as taking a “mental vacation” and described it as hugely important in boosting creativity and productivity. They put a time limit on it: “Our bodies benefit most from a 20-minute reprieve about every one and a half to two hours. If we do not allow ourselves this recovery time, our performance will begin to deteriorate, and we will start to feel worn down.”
While writing the new book, I adopted that kind of time limit. I don’t know if the book is any better for the repeated work breaks, but I am definitely better for it. And so right now I’m going to leave my desk, switch off this laptop and go for a walk in the sunshine. I’m not being lazy. I’m boosting productivity. It’s a deserved “mental vacation”. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself.
OPINIONS ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL
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Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
RESULT
Argentina 0 Croatia 3
Croatia: Rebic (53'), Modric (80'), Rakitic (90' 1)
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Profile of Whizkey
Date founded: 04 November 2017
Founders: Abdulaziz AlBlooshi and Harsh Hirani
Based: Dubai, UAE
Number of employees: 10
Sector: AI, software
Cashflow: Dh2.5 Million
Funding stage: Series A
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
