This is the age of political disruptors. US President Donald Trump is obviously the Disruptor-in-Chief, joined in different ways by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as leader of the Brothers of Italy party, President Javier Milei of Argentina, the far-right AfD in Germany, and others including the Reform UK party.
Reform is Nigel Farage’s latest political incarnation, and his leadership took the party to great success in the English local elections last week. It also won a byelection, taking a House of Commons seat from the governing Labour party. Mr Farage’s political genius is to connect strongly with some voters even if he repels others. He does well with older voters and those who are not university graduates.
In person he’s affable, humorous and good company, but is better known for exploiting problems rather than solving them. His focus is hot-button grievances about immigration, the alleged (but unsubstantiated) preferential treatment of ethnic minorities, climate change and “diversity”.
Now Mr Farage has gone full Trump, claiming to be leader of the UK’s political opposition. He isn’t, although he could be. The current leader of the opposition is Kemi Badenoch, with 121 Conservative MPs. Labour has more than 400 MPs. Reform, despite picking up that new MP last week, still has just five members in a Parliament of 650. Under Mr Farage, Reform is the mouse that roared, threatening to destroy the Conservative party.
The Conservatives are sometimes described as the most successful party in British history, but nowadays they have only themselves to blame for successive failures. Between 1886 and 1997, they were in government for an astonishing 77 out of 111 years. Since 2010, however, their leaders have been serially incompetent.
This began with then-prime minister David Cameron’s promise in 2016 of a Brexit referendum in the hope of seeing off the hard-right threat from Mr Farage. It proved to be one of the biggest mistakes in modern British political history, giving Mr Farage a platform for his many grievances. Mr Cameron lost the referendum and quit. His hapless Conservative successors – Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak – rapidly entered the dustbin of political history.
All the while, Mr Farage survived and thrived by inventing new parties and making new converts through constant campaigning. The former New York state governor, Mario Cuomo, once warned that campaigning is like poetry, while governing is prose. Mr Farage is about to understand what Mr Cuomo meant.
Having run an engaging campaign last week, his Reform party governs through control of some English local councils. But local government is prosaic, difficult and often dull work that demands competence, not rousing speeches. Voters who love a feisty campaign will soon loathe local governments if the garbage isn’t collected, the schools don’t work and the buses don’t run on time.
Mr Farage also has a track record of making enemies, internal party feuds and personal gripes. One former Reform MP, Rupert Lowe, is now shunned and aggrieved. The news organisation Politico catalogued 11 significant Farage feuds with colleagues (now mostly former colleagues). One of them, in the European Parliament, is quoted as describing Mr Farage as “snarling, thin skinned and aggressive”.
Mr Farage himself began as a member of the Conservative party (1978-1992), then the Anti-Federalist League (1992-1993), then the UK Independence Party (1993-2018), followed by the Brexit party, renamed since 2021 as Reform.
Having run an engaging campaign last week, his Reform party governs through control of some English local councils. But local government is prosaic, difficult and often dull work that demands competence, not rousing speeches
The real story of the past few days, therefore, is not Mr Farage’s personal talents nor the collapse of the Conservative party. The overarching story is that delusions about having a two-party British political system have at last been exploded. There are now five significant parties in England – Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives, the Greens and Reform. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have nationalist parties of considerable importance.
The British delusion about a two-party system based on “first past the post” voting – resulting in “the government” and “opposition” (Conservatives and Labour) – does not reflect the profound diversity of the modern British electorate. This delusion is an abuse of democracy. We have, as we noted last year, a Labour government holding two thirds of the House of Commons seats based on just one third of the votes in last year’s general election.
Predictions in this unpredictable decade are, therefore, not worth much. But Mr Farage’s latest party will face scrutiny as never before.
Reform lacks in-depth talent, as it is little more than a vehicle of convenience for Mr Farage. Without him, it would be a party mostly of political nobodies. For now, therefore, the Conservatives will keep Ms Badenoch as leader because in this mess no one else wants the job. Ms Badenoch probably has a year to turn things around, or say goodbye.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has longer – four years before the next election – but he needs to lead, not merely manage. He could begin by conceding that the two-party system is a living fossil and promise that if Labour wins the next general election, he will introduce a fairer voting system fit for the 21st – not the 19th – century. He could also publicly recognise that the vast majority of British people now think Brexit – Mr Farage’s supposed great success – has failed by every conceivable metric.
Reform’s success is a wake-up call and yes, it’s time – at last – to wake up.
RESULTS
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What%20is%20Dungeons%20%26%20Dragons%3F%20
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Most F1 world titles
7 — Michael Schumacher (1994, ’95, 2000, ’01 ’02, ’03, ’04)
7 — Lewis Hamilton (2008, ’14,’15, ’17, ’18, ’19, ’20)
5 — Juan Manuel Fangio (1951, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57)
4 — Alain Prost (1985, ’86, ’89, ’93)
4 — Sebastian Vettel (2010, ’11, ’12, ’13)
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
J%20Street%20Polling%20Results
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EU Russia
The EU imports 90 per cent of the natural gas used to generate electricity, heat homes and supply industry, with Russia supplying almost 40 per cent of EU gas and a quarter of its oil.
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World Test Championship table
1 India 71 per cent
2 New Zealand 70 per cent
3 Australia 69.2 per cent
4 England 64.1 per cent
5 Pakistan 43.3 per cent
6 West Indies 33.3 per cent
7 South Africa 30 per cent
8 Sri Lanka 16.7 per cent
9 Bangladesh 0
First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
CHINESE GRAND PRIX STARTING GRID
1st row
Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
2nd row
Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes-GP)
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)
3rd row
Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)
Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull Racing)
4th row
Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
Sergio Perez (Force India)
5th row
Carlos Sainz Jr (Renault)
Romain Grosjean (Haas)
6th row
Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
Esteban Ocon (Force India)
7th row
Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren)
8th row
Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso)
Sergey Sirotkin (Williams)
9th row
Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)
Lance Stroll (Williams)
10th row
Charles Leclerc (Sauber)
arcus Ericsson (Sauber)
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
The%20specs
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The Byblos iftar in numbers
29 or 30 days – the number of iftar services held during the holy month
50 staff members required to prepare an iftar
200 to 350 the number of people served iftar nightly
160 litres of the traditional Ramadan drink, jalab, is served in total
500 litres of soup is served during the holy month
200 kilograms of meat is used for various dishes
350 kilograms of onion is used in dishes
5 minutes – the average time that staff have to eat
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
The Indoor Cricket World Cup
When: September 16-23
Where: Insportz, Dubai
Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE fixtures:
Men
Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
Tuesday, September 19 – 12.15pm, v Singapore; 5.30pm, v Sri Lanka
Thursday, September 21 – 2pm v Malaysia
Friday, September 22 – 3.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final
Women
Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
Monday, September 18 – 5.30pm, v England
Tuesday, September 19 – 10.30am, v New Zealand; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
The Outsider
Stephen King, Penguin
Results
6.30pm: Dubai Millennium Stakes Group Three US$200,000 (Turf) 2,000m; Winner: Ghaiyyath, William Buick (jockey), Charlie Appleby (trainer).
7.05pm: Handicap $135,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Cliffs Of Capri, Tadhg O’Shea, Jamie Osborne.
7.40pm: UAE Oaks Group Three $250,000 (Dirt) 1,900m; Winner: Down On Da Bayou, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer.
8.15pm: Zabeel Mile Group Two $250,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Zakouski, James Doyle, Charlie Appleby.
8.50pm: Meydan Sprint Group Two $250,000 (T) 1,000m; Winner: Waady, Jim Crowley, Doug Watson.
Fourth-round clashes for British players
- Andy Murray (1) v Benoit Paire, Centre Court (not before 4pm)
- Johanna Konta (6) v Caroline Garcia (21), Court 1 (4pm)
MATCH INFO
Tottenham Hotspur 0 Everton 1 (Calvert-Lewin 55')
Man of the Match Allan (Everton)
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
The Way It Was: My Life with Frank Sinatra by Eliot Weisman and Jennifer Valoppi
Hachette Books
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Skoda Superb Specs
Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol
Power: 190hp
Torque: 320Nm
Price: From Dh147,000
Available: Now
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
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
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – UAE won by 36 runs
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
