First published in 2008, Giorgio Vasta’s debut novel, Time on My Hands, has finally been translated into English. Set in Sicily in the late 1970s, Time on My Hands is a cautionary tale reminiscent of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, in which the political awareness of three 11-year-old boys is stirred by a shocking real-life event – the kidnapping and subsequent murder of prime minister Aldo Moro in Rome by the communist terror group the Red Brigades in 1978. Eager apprentices of militant ideology, heads shaved and ready to act without remorse or compassion, the trio decide to kidnap a classmate and hold him in a “people’s prison” before bringing about his terrible end.
A fierce anger is the lifeforce of this book. As the narrator, Nimbus says: “For I was an ideological, focused intense little boy, a non-ironic, anti-ironic, refractory little boy, a non-little boy …” And that’s before his gang begin their quest for a radical perfection, as another boy, the ringleader Comrade Flight, puts it. Vasta’s novel is not an entertaining read but it cannot fail to engage.
cdight@thenational.ae
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
Du Football Champions
The fourth season of du Football Champions was launched at Gitex on Wednesday alongside the Middle East’s first sports-tech scouting platform.“du Talents”, which enables aspiring footballers to upload their profiles and highlights reels and communicate directly with coaches, is designed to extend the reach of the programme, which has already attracted more than 21,500 players in its first three years.
Glossary of a stock market revolution
Reddit
A discussion website
Redditor
The users of Reddit
Robinhood
A smartphone app for buying and selling shares
Short seller
Selling a stock today in the belief its price will fall in the future
Short squeeze
Traders forced to buy a stock they are shorting
Naked short
An illegal practice
Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
The biogs
Name: Zinah Madi
Occupation: Co-founder of Dots and links
Nationality: Syrian
Family: Married, Mother of Tala, 18, Sharif, 14, Kareem, 2
Favourite Quote: “There is only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything.”
Name: Razan Nabulsi
Occupation: Co-founder of Dots and Links
Nationality: Jordanian
Family: Married, Mother of Yahya, 3.5
Favourite Quote: A Chinese proverb that says: “Be not afraid of moving slowly, be afraid only of standing still.”
