The town of Davos is, from the looks of things, eerily quiet for late January. The Swiss mountain resort is usually marked by bustling streets, security checks and high-powered congregations when the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is held. This year the meeting has moved online, given the realities of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Davos Agenda, as this meeting is being called, has not suffered from a lack of a physical dimension too much, in terms of intellectual spirit. The leaders of government and business taking part, include China’s President Xi Jinping, Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel, France’s Emanuel Macron, King Abdullah of Jordan, Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Bill Gates and Google’s Sundar Pichai.
Much of the discussion during the meetings has been around the critical task of resetting global attitudes to international co-operation, trade and business. How to move towards a more inclusive economic model, one that addresses climate change, inequality and rapidly developing technology, is also front and centre.
Ending the pandemic, including making a success of a worldwide vaccination push, is also at the heart of what is being talked about. There has been action during this virtual Davos too, such as the formation of an international partnership to accelerate the development of treatments for Alzheimer’s. A coalition has also been created by dozens of companies to tackle racism in the workplace. Since last year, the Forum’s reskilling initiative has helped 50 million people. In the medium to long-term, the picture looks optimistic, as some of the most powerful and intelligent people work on our biggest problems.
This time last year, when these leaders were shaking hands in Switzerland, the solution to the pandemic was already being discussed
In the past two years, the Forum has worked hard to keep the annual meeting relevant and productive amid a challenging global landscape for multilateralism and globalisation. One way that it has been able to do this is to ensure that longer term strategies and goals are not undermined by shorter term realities, political or otherwise. Still there is always a concurrent discussion in Davos about the more immediate challenges and opportunities.
At the meeting a year ago, when former US president Donald Trump addressed the audience – an early stump speech essentially, for his re-election bid – many who were listening in Davos assumed that the remainder of 2020 would be dominated by the US presidential elections. Instead, the year was defined by the emergence of the coronavirus.
This week, as the Forum works to make productive gains on its agenda on the future, what happens in the next few days and months also remains of great concern. And like a year ago, it seems there could be an emerging issue that may overtake our plans once again.
Fresh protests and civil unrest have sprung up across nations, including in the Netherlands, Lebanon, India and Tunisia. The pressure of the pandemic, economic woes and political crises have triggered a small but angry wave of discontentment that threatens to become more permanent if we don't make progress quickly. While we have earlier witnessed similar scenes in many countries, rarely have they coincided at such a scale. It feels as if we are reaching a watershed moment.
The Forum’s founder Professor Klaus Schwab warned last summer that the pandemic revealed a great and collective desire for change that governments and companies around the world must urgently address or risk “violent shocks”.
From the photos of the troubles in the Netherlands and Lebanon, a violent reaction to severe coronavirus-related restrictions, it appears to be mainly young men on the streets.
As the International Monetary Fund highlighted: “the burden of the crisis has fallen unevenly” with the young among those groups that have suffered “disproportionate livelihood and income losses”. Such an experience will have consequences the longer the crisis drags on.
In the past dozen or so years, an entire generation has experienced a remarkable lurch – from a financial crisis to the rise of populism to the current public health crisis.
Saadia Zahidi, managing director of the Forum, said: “this rising erosion of social cohesion … comes in part from a generational shift, in particular, the pandemials that have been most affected by the current crisis".
The discontent goes beyond just the young, however. In India, farmers are frustrated over the government’s economic and agricultural policies. In Tunisia, a political deadlock has added to the sense of malaise in the country.
It is too much to expect that a Davos meeting – online or otherwise – can conjure up a quick solution to problems like these, which were perhaps inevitable as soon as the pandemic began to blight our lives.
However, it is worth noting that around this time last year, when these same leaders were shaking hands in Switzerland, the seeds of a solution to the pandemic were already being discussed. For example, an announcement was made during the Davos annual meeting last year that the development of Covid-19 vaccines would be accelerated, including by the American pharmaceutical company Moderna, which has become a reality.
So, if protests around the world dominate many of early 2021’s headlines, it is likely that the tools needed to resolve causes of any unrest will have been helped by discussions in these past few days – even if that is not immediately apparent to observers.
Mustafa Alrawi is an assistant editor-in-chief at The National
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
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Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
About Okadoc
Date started: Okadoc, 2018
Founder/CEO: Fodhil Benturquia
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Healthcare
Size: (employees/revenue) 40 staff; undisclosed revenues recording “double-digit” monthly growth
Funding stage: Series B fundraising round to conclude in February
Investors: Undisclosed
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
THE DETAILS
Deadpool 2
Dir: David Leitch
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Justin Dennison, Zazie Beetz
Four stars
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The Gentlemen
Director: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant
Three out of five stars
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Tributes from the UAE's personal finance community
• Sebastien Aguilar, who heads SimplyFI.org, a non-profit community where people learn to invest Bogleheads’ style
“It is thanks to Jack Bogle’s work that this community exists and thanks to his work that many investors now get the full benefits of long term, buy and hold stock market investing.
Compared to the industry, investing using the common sense approach of a Boglehead saves a lot in costs and guarantees higher returns than the average actively managed fund over the long term.
From a personal perspective, learning how to invest using Bogle’s approach was a turning point in my life. I quickly realised there was no point chasing returns and paying expensive advisers or platforms. Once money is taken care off, you can work on what truly matters, such as family, relationships or other projects. I owe Jack Bogle for that.”
• Sam Instone, director of financial advisory firm AES International
"Thought to have saved investors over a trillion dollars, Jack Bogle’s ideas truly changed the way the world invests. Shaped by his own personal experiences, his philosophy and basic rules for investors challenged the status quo of a self-interested global industry and eventually prevailed. Loathed by many big companies and commission-driven salespeople, he has transformed the way well-informed investors and professional advisers make decisions."
• Demos Kyprianou, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"Jack Bogle for me was a rebel, a revolutionary who changed the industry and gave the little guy like me, a chance. He was also a mentor who inspired me to take the leap and take control of my own finances."
• Steve Cronin, founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com
"Obsessed with reducing fees, Jack Bogle structured Vanguard to be owned by its clients – that way the priority would be fee minimisation for clients rather than profit maximisation for the company.
His real gift to us has been the ability to invest in the stock market (buy and hold for the long term) rather than be forced to speculate (try to make profits in the shorter term) or even worse have others speculate on our behalf.
Bogle has given countless investors the ability to get on with their life while growing their wealth in the background as fast as possible. The Financial Independence movement would barely exist without this."
• Zach Holz, who blogs about financial independence at The Happiest Teacher
"Jack Bogle was one of the greatest forces for wealth democratisation the world has ever seen. He allowed people a way to be free from the parasitical "financial advisers" whose only real concern are the fat fees they get from selling you over-complicated "products" that have caused millions of people all around the world real harm.”
• Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"In an industry that’s synonymous with greed, Jack Bogle was a lone wolf, swimming against the tide. When others were incentivised to enrich themselves, he stood by the ‘fiduciary’ standard – something that is badly needed in the financial industry of the UAE."
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5