Every November, a small village in Cumbria in northwest England holds the “world’s biggest liar” competition. It’s a piece of fun in which competitors have five minutes to tell the biggest and most convincing lies.
The rules bar two professions from taking part: politicians and lawyers. These professions are said to be too skilled in telling lies.
You might need no convincing on that point. The Washington Post estimates that in his first 400 days in office US President Donald Trump has made more than 2,400 misleading or downright false claims.
The New York Times went so far as to publish a long list of what it said were Mr Trump's lies and claimed he told six times more falsehoods in just a few months than Barack Obama did in all eight years of his presidency.
But what is striking is that, reading through the list of Mr Trump's lies, the president would not win the biggest liar competition. His efforts are so obviously, demonstrably, untrue.
He claimed, for example, to have been against the 2003 Iraq war. He publicly supported it. He boasts about the popularity of his inauguration when television pictures showed it was not well attended. He claimed Americans pay the highest taxes in the world. They don’t. He tweeted that North Korea “agreed to denuclearisation”. They haven’t, although let’s hope they do.
And his verbal contortions over his relationship with porn star Stormy Daniels would be laughable, if they were not so demeaning of the great office of the presidency.
But the bigger question is whether lying actually matters anymore. More than a third of American voters continue to support Mr Trump and presumably would do so even if he claimed he was the first man on the moon. (He wasn't, just to be clear.)
Chicago university professor John Mearsheimer is an expert on when lies matter and when they do not seem to do so. In his book Why Leaders Lie, Prof Mearsheimer divides the telling of falsehoods into three categories – lies, deceit and spin.
He quotes a 19th century British statesman, Sir Henry Taylor, as observing that “falsehood ceases to be falsehood when it is understood on all sides that the truth is not expected to be spoken”.
This seems to be an important observation. Lies may be permissible, even advisable, in some circumstances.
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Sir Winston Churchill once quipped that in war, the truth is so precious it must always be surrounded “by a bodyguard of lies”. I doubt many would criticise Churchill for that. Nor do we really expect a finance minister to give entirely straight answers about devaluing a currency or other market-sensitive information.
And so Mr Trump’s extraordinary political achievement appears to be that in carpet-bombing the world with his misstatements, when a blatant falsehood is uncovered, most of us just shrug and assume that deception is just the new normal in Washington.
Sir Henry was correct: in the White House, “the truth is not expected to be spoken” by Mr Trump, nor by his closest associates. His lawyer Rudy Giuliani more or less admitted as much when he said publicly that he was focusing on the law rather than the facts.
This might be an effective political survival strategy but it has profound consequences. Domestically in the US, it means Mr Trump and his allies need to blacken the reputation of courts, judges, journalists and the FBI.
Internationally it might encourage others to tell enormous lies too. There is considerable evidence that the Assad regime is blatantly lying about its use of chemical weapons in Syria. Russia also appears to be thoroughly deceitful over the attack on British soil using nerve gas. British politicians have been, in that wonderfully English phrase, “economical with the truth” over Brexit.
So when Mr Trump meets President Kim Jong-un, let us hope these two leaders do create a lasting peace on the Korean peninsula — but whatever they say, the normalisation of untruths in political life suggests we should be very sceptical of any deal they may produce.
As a friend in Washington once put it, reciting an old joke: “How do you know when a politician is lying? His lips are moving.”
But how about the rest of us? Do ordinary citizens often tell lies, bend the truth or act deceptively? Has deception become normal in our lives too?
Well, just remember the last time you bought something and came to the point where you had to tick a box saying you have read the terms and conditions. Have you ever – ever – read the terms and conditions? Neither have I. Some T&Cs stretch to 30,000 words, twice the length of Shakespeare's Hamlet.
So perhaps this November any of us could go to Cumbria and win the world’s biggest liar competition with a speech saying: “I always read the terms and conditions on every internet purchase”. Even Mr Trump would find that obvious falsehood hard to beat.
Gavin Esler is an author, journalist and television presenter
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Persuasion
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Who is Allegra Stratton?
- Previously worked at The Guardian, BBC’s Newsnight programme and ITV News
- Took up a public relations role for Chancellor Rishi Sunak in April 2020
- In October 2020 she was hired to lead No 10’s planned daily televised press briefings
- The idea was later scrapped and she was appointed spokeswoman for Cop26
- Ms Stratton, 41, is married to James Forsyth, the political editor of The Spectator
- She has strong connections to the Conservative establishment
- Mr Sunak served as best man at her 2011 wedding to Mr Forsyth
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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Company%20Profile
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Chelsea 2 Burnley 3
Chelsea Morata (69'), Luiz (88')
Burnley Vokes (24', 43'), Ward (39')
Red cards Cahill, Fabregas (Chelsea)
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
RESULTS: 2018 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING - EUROPE
Albania 0 Italy 1
Finland 2 Turkey 2
Macedonia 4 Liechtenstein
Iceland 2 Kosovo 0
Israel 0 Spain 1
Moldova 0 Austria 1
Serbia 1 Georgia 0
Ukraine 0 Croatia 2
Wales 0 Ireland 1
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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TOUCH RULES
Touch is derived from rugby league. Teams consist of up to 14 players with a maximum of six on the field at any time.
Teams can make as many substitutions as they want during the 40 minute matches.
Similar to rugby league, the attacking team has six attempts - or touches - before possession changes over.
A touch is any contact between the player with the ball and a defender, and must be with minimum force.
After a touch the player performs a “roll-ball” - similar to the play-the-ball in league - stepping over or rolling the ball between the feet.
At the roll-ball, the defenders have to retreat a minimum of five metres.
A touchdown is scored when an attacking player places the ball on or over the score-line.
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Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Top tips
Create and maintain a strong bond between yourself and your child, through sensitivity, responsiveness, touch, talk and play. “The bond you have with your kids is the blueprint for the relationships they will have later on in life,” says Dr Sarah Rasmi, a psychologist.
Set a good example. Practise what you preach, so if you want to raise kind children, they need to see you being kind and hear you explaining to them what kindness is. So, “narrate your behaviour”.
Praise the positive rather than focusing on the negative. Catch them when they’re being good and acknowledge it.
Show empathy towards your child’s needs as well as your own. Take care of yourself so that you can be calm, loving and respectful, rather than angry and frustrated.
Be open to communication, goal-setting and problem-solving, says Dr Thoraiya Kanafani. “It is important to recognise that there is a fine line between positive parenting and becoming parents who overanalyse their children and provide more emotional context than what is in the child’s emotional development to understand.”
