A recent ruling by the European Commission means that, pretty soon, passengers on aircraft in the EU will be able to use their phones “to the maximum of their capacity and features, just like with a ground-based 5G mobile network”.
Cue obnoxiously loud phone calls at 30,000 feet.
These expanded cabin services will be provided courtesy of special network equipment called “pico-cell”, which routes calls, texts and data, typically via a satellite network, between the plane and ground-based mobile networks. It is projected that airlines will begin offering these services as early as June next year.
There is still some debate about whether the power surge from a plane full of phones trying to connect to 5G will affect a plane’s altimeters, but I’ll leave it to the experts to iron out those details. I know very little about the intricacies of aircraft engineering, but I do know a little bit about human nature. And the prospect of hundreds of people chatting away while I’m trying to take a snooze on an overnight flight fills me with dread.
Planes are already a hotbed of social misdemeanours, as perfect strangers are forced to share minuscule amounts of space in ways entirely counter-intuitive in a post-Covid world.
I’ve spent the past 20 years travelling for work on an almost monthly basis ― and I’m still trying to work out who gets first dibs on the armrest, whether or not it is acceptable to recline your seat all the way, and whether you should wake up the person next to before you clamber over them to get to the loo ― or run the risk of them being startled into consciousness and find you straddling them.
In my experience, human beings are not known for their thoughtfulness when dealing with people they don’t know. Case in point, the woman sitting behind me on a flight from London last month, who spent the best part of an hour reading a story to her young son, across the aisle, at the top of her (annoyingly faux-childlike) voice.
I don’t want to have to listen to a bunch of inconsiderate strangers talking about their day, or their travel plans, or their latest business deal, or anything else, when I am unable to escape to a quieter spot. And I feel like cabin crew have enough to contend with without also having to manage the volume levels of boisterous passengers. Anyone who has ever been to the cinema in the UAE knows that there’s always that one person who forgets to put their phone on silent and then insists on answering a clearly non-critical call mid-movie, speaking in that mock whisper that is, in fact, not a whisper at all.
Beyond that, this latest ruling will rob me of my very last bastion of unreachability. I was upset enough when planes started to offer Wi-Fi and messaging services. In our increasingly connected world, there is virtually nowhere left where you are allowed to switch off completely.
That was what plane journeys used to represent for me. A few uninterrupted hours to myself, where I wasn’t obliged to manage the constant barrage of emails, WhatsApp messages and calls that plague my day-to-day existence. However hard I try to extricate myself, there is the unspoken expectation in 2022 that you should be reachable. At. All. Times. It is not unusual for me to receive an email, a follow-up email, a WhatsApp message and then a phone call from the same person in a single day, for something that is absolutely not urgent.
On a plane, I could curl up, watch a film, wait to be fed and know that the world would still be as I left it when I touched down a few hours later. The ability to make calls on planes just feeds into the great anxiety of our age ― that need to constantly be “on”, productive and connected.
I, for one, could do with a few hours off the hamster wheel every now and again. And the skies will soon no longer be my refuge.
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Barbie
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
RESULT
Leeds United 1 Manchester City 1
Leeds: Rodrigo (59')
Man City: Sterling (17')
Man of the Match: Rodrigo Moreno (Leeds)
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The biog
Name: Mohammed Imtiaz
From: Gujranwala, Pakistan
Arrived in the UAE: 1976
Favourite clothes to make: Suit
Cost of a hand-made suit: From Dh550
Conservative MPs who have publicly revealed sending letters of no confidence
- Steve Baker
- Peter Bone
- Ben Bradley
- Andrew Bridgen
- Maria Caulfield
- Simon Clarke
- Philip Davies
- Nadine Dorries
- James Duddridge
- Mark Francois
- Chris Green
- Adam Holloway
- Andrea Jenkyns
- Anne-Marie Morris
- Sheryll Murray
- Jacob Rees-Mogg
- Laurence Robertson
- Lee Rowley
- Henry Smith
- Martin Vickers
- John Whittingdale
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Baby Driver
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Lily James
Three and a half stars
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala
