In the eyes of some, a landmark assault on British values comes into effect on Friday as shoppers are finally mandated to wear face masks to limit exposure to Covid-19.
Despite being the worst hit European country by the pandemic, with more than 45,000 deaths, the government is only now introducing measures to compel face coverings as a barrier to infections.
Research released last week by YouGov found that the proportion of Britons wearing face masks during the crisis “has remained stubbornly low” compared to other countries, with 37 per cent of those surveyed admitting they had not worn a mask in the last week.
The reasons why are complex and can in part be blamed by confused messaging from Conservative government, which has constantly been criticised for its sluggishness in imposing lockdown measures. Even on Thursday it still remained unclear exactly when people would have to wear the mask inside.
At Liverpool Street train station in central London, observance public transport mask rules was not universal. Marcus Donnelly, 27, wears a plastic visor covering his entire face as he handed out flyers offering discounted haircuts.
While supportive of the public health needs, he was equivocal about the covering over the nose and mouth. The full mask is “quite restrictive”, said Mr Donnelly and he was put off by the potential negative reaction of others. Nonetheless he added Friday’s new rules should have been introduced sooner.
“I personally feel it’s a bit too late in my opinion. Because I’m doing a job now where I’m communicating with people, it’s more of a respect thing. But I think that had they made people wear masks earlier on a lot more people would have taken it seriously,” he said.
“I think a lot of people are wearing them because they have to like on public transport. If you didn’t have to I don’t think people would. I don’t think people wear it as many because they’re scared, I think people do it because they’ll get told off if they don’t.”
Roughly 22 per cent of those questioned by YouGov said they had not recently worn a mask because it wasn’t mandatory.
Others said they had instead been abiding by social distancing rules or felt they were at low risk of the disease.
Peter Hansen sells clothes – including fashionable face masks – in London’s Spitalfields Market and believes there has been a complete lack transparency from the government.
“I’m not opposed to masks. I’m opposed to the fact that when something is killing people that there’s not a public debate about the effects of wearing masks. This has not happened.”
But the antipathy in parts towards wearing a face mask point towards a much deeper sentiment in British society, according to Raj Persaud, a consultant psychiatrist working in private practice on Harley Street.
“It seems to raise very strong feelings and more so than other things like asking people to socially distance, doesn’t seems to cause such strong emotions,” he said. “There’s a very strong sense of western culture that values individualism and individual identity” in how people look or what they wear.
“It’s a deeply embedded part now of our sense of freedom and rights. So the face mask directly attacks that in taking away our ability to decide how we want to look and in a particularly important bit, the facial area,” he said.
There’s even evidence that face masks proved controversial during the deadly Spanish flu epidemic 100 years ago. Last week in parliament Conservative MP Desmond Swayne took up the rebellion's cause as he railed against the government’s face mask order, declaring it a “monstrous imposition”.
Many people do follow the advice, even on a hot summer’s day in central London. A teacher, who asked to remain anonymous because of his job, said that in recent months he would cycle to school, take his mask off as required “and I’m in a room with 15 children who are coughing in my face”.
After travelling on the London Underground for the first time in months on Wednesday, the teacher said not everyone was wearing masks and questioned how offenders were really being held to account.
Dr Persaud, the psychiatrist, said it seemed "that a lot of people find face masks uncomfortable to wear and again it’s a cultural thing".
“What’s particularly interesting is it’s seen much more as an infringement of personal rights than practically anything else the government’s asking people to do,” he added.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
How to help
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
2252 - Dh50
6025 - Dh20
6027 - Dh100
6026 - Dh200
MATCH INFO
Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Namibia beat Oman by 52 runs
UAE beat Namibia by eight wickets
UAE v Oman - abandoned
Oman v Namibia - abandoned
If you go
- The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
- The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
- The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.
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.”
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Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
TEACHERS' PAY - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
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Did you know?
Brunch has been around, is some form or another, for more than a century. The word was first mentioned in print in an 1895 edition of Hunter’s Weekly, after making the rounds among university students in Britain. The article, entitled Brunch: A Plea, argued the case for a later, more sociable weekend meal. “By eliminating the need to get up early on Sunday, brunch would make life brighter for Saturday night carousers. It would promote human happiness in other ways as well,” the piece read. “It is talk-compelling. It puts you in a good temper, it makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow beings, it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week.” More than 100 years later, author Guy Beringer’s words still ring true, especially in the UAE, where brunches are often used to mark special, sociable occasions.
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New schools in Dubai
