Definable Traces in the Atmosphere,
Mike Marquesse, OR Books
Mike Marqusee was an anti-Zionist Jewish American socialist activist, poet, journalist, pamphleteer, novelist and author who wrote about cricket with more grace and insight than just about anyone in his adopted country of England. When he died of bone cancer in 2015 memorial meetings were held in Islington and India, where Marquesee's columns in The Hindu had gained him a devoted readership.
"Losing Mike", The Nation's sports editor Dave Zirin wrote, "is like losing several pints of blood". In Delhi, friends reminisced about the "cold intellectual commitment" that made it possible for Marqusee to clarify complex political phenomena through his luminous ruminations on cricket. In London, a backbench Labour member of the British parliament recalled a woman stopping him as he cycled home on a cold and wet night to inquire about Marqusee's health a month before his death. The MP, who first met Marqusee as a young campaigner in north London in the 1960s, remembered the American as an "inspiration to the disparate group of youth who enjoyed zany evenings" with him at the local pub; the friendly acquaintance lubricated by drink and conversation matured over the decades into a loyal friendship cemented by mutual affection and fidelity to socialism.
And six months after Marqusee's premature departure, his obscure intellectual comrade, notorious throughout his parliamentary career for principled rebellion, was abruptly lofted into the office of the leader of the opposition in a race he had entered with 100/1 odds. In one of his first major events as leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn paid tribute to his intellectual mentor by reading from an anthology of his poems to a captive audience in London. Definable Traces in the Atmosphere is a title borrowed from a poem from that collection, and the writings gathered here by Liz Davies, a distinguished lawyer and Marqussee's partner of more than 25 years, are a testament to the vigour, virtuosity and range of their late author's intellect.
There are sparkling essays on Muhammad Ali and Bob Dylan – subjects, respectively, of Marqusee's Redemption Song (1999) and Chimes of Freedom (2003) – that rescue them from the claims of the state and place them at the centre of radical political traditions. Marqusee's encomium for his hero Tom Paine – "prime menace and demon, the carrier of the dreaded French disease" in the eyes of the British establishment – does not yield to the view adopted by most biographers that his years in France were tragic; they were, Marqusee insists with the certainty of a romantic separated by centuries from the revolutionary horrors to which Paine was exposed in Paris, heroic.
He repudiates the conservatism of Paine’s intellectual bête noire Edmund Burke with a stirring case for utopia. “Utopias provide a perspective from which the assumed limitations of the present can be scrutinised, from which familiar social arrangements are exposed as unjust, irrational or superfluous”, Marqusee writes. “You can’t chart the surface of the earth, compute distances or even locate where you are without reference to a point of elevation – a mountain top, a star or satellite. Without utopias we enjoy only a restricted view of our own nature and capacities. We cannot know who we are.”
The London riots of 2011 prompt him to revisit William Blake's London – "a psyche, a city of the mind" – to argue for its inclusive spirit: "A London of free labourers, in which individual and collective creativity flourish together, a city thriving off the dialectic of the one and the many."
Davies has included a lovely memoir of her late partner’s first visit to India in the 1970s, a tour that forever changed his life. Cricket was the preferred lens through which he examined the subcontinent’s history and politics, and there is plenty of elegant, and some elegiac, writing about his beloved game. “People are urged to see the triumphs of the Indian elite … as the country’s triumphs”, Marqusee writes at the advent of the Indian Premier League. “Status by proxy is offered as a substitute for real empowerment.”
For a Jewish intellectual who opposed Israel with the same intensity and passion that many Muslim Indian nationalists opposed the creation of Pakistan, Marqusee could be disappointingly anodyne in his appraisal of the intra-sub-continental politics of South Asia. The hardened convictions that informed his view of what was just and unjust dissolved, when confronted with the India-Pakistan rivalry, into untypically politically polite banalities about peace. How could India have arrived at a synthesis, one wishes Marqusee had asked, with the antithesis of its composite nationalism? Maybe the question is obsolete in the age of Narendra Modi’s Hindu-supremacist rule; but his reluctance to defend India’s secular nationalism, pre-Modi, from external sectarian adversaries – along the lines, say, of his defence of pluralistic societies from the particularistic claims of Zionism – is emblematic of that enduring intellectual vice of the left of which Marqusee was such a towering figure: its failure to condemn ethno-religious nationalism in all its forms.
Moving away from India, Marqusee’s diary entries from his 1997 campaign to re-elect Corbyn to parliament are full of astringent observations about the direction of Labour under Tony Blair. From his deep anxieties about Blairism to his fierce opposition to the Iraq war, Marqusee has been thoroughly vindicated by history. But perhaps even he would struggle, were he alive, with the rapid turn of events that have placed his old comrade, unapologetically brandishing ideas and beliefs that first brought them together, on the threshold of power. Still, it’s a tragedy that Marqusee isn’t around to savour the moment.
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Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE players with central contracts
Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Adnan Mufti, Mohammed Usman, Ghulam Shabbir, Ahmed Raza, Qadeer Ahmed, Amir Hayat, Mohammed Naveed and Imran Haider.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Fly Etihad or Emirates from the UAE to Moscow from 2,763 return per person return including taxes.
Where to stay
Trips on the Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian cost from US$16,995 (Dh62,414) per person, based on two sharing.
if you go
The flights
Air Astana flies direct from Dubai to Almaty from Dh2,440 per person return, and to Astana (via Almaty) from Dh2,930 return, both including taxes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Ritz-Carlton Almaty cost from Dh1,944 per night including taxes; and in Astana the new Ritz-Carlton Astana (www.marriott) costs from Dh1,325; alternatively, the new St Regis Astana costs from Dh1,458 per night including taxes.
When to visit
March-May and September-November
Visas
Citizens of many countries, including the UAE do not need a visa to enter Kazakhstan for up to 30 days. Contact the nearest Kazakhstan embassy or consulate.
How to avoid crypto fraud
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THE SPECS
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 258hp at 5,000-6,500rpm
Torque: 400Nm from 1,550-4,400rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.4L/100km
Price, base: from D215,000 (Dh230,000 as tested)
On sale: now
UAE tour of the Netherlands
UAE squad: Rohan Mustafa (captain), Shaiman Anwar, Ghulam Shabber, Mohammed Qasim, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Chirag Suri, Ahmed Raza, Imran Haider, Mohammed Naveed, Amjad Javed, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
Fixtures: Monday, first 50-over match; Wednesday, second 50-over match; Thursday, third 50-over match
Explainer: Tanween Design Programme
Non-profit arts studio Tashkeel launched this annual initiative with the intention of supporting budding designers in the UAE. This year, three talents were chosen from hundreds of applicants to be a part of the sixth creative development programme. These are architect Abdulla Al Mulla, interior designer Lana El Samman and graphic designer Yara Habib.
The trio have been guided by experts from the industry over the course of nine months, as they developed their own products that merge their unique styles with traditional elements of Emirati design. This includes laboratory sessions, experimental and collaborative practice, investigation of new business models and evaluation.
It is led by British contemporary design project specialist Helen Voce and mentor Kevin Badni, and offers participants access to experts from across the world, including the likes of UK designer Gareth Neal and multidisciplinary designer and entrepreneur, Sheikh Salem Al Qassimi.
The final pieces are being revealed in a worldwide limited-edition release on the first day of Downtown Designs at Dubai Design Week 2019. Tashkeel will be at stand E31 at the exhibition.
Lisa Ball-Lechgar, deputy director of Tashkeel, said: “The diversity and calibre of the applicants this year … is reflective of the dynamic change that the UAE art and design industry is witnessing, with young creators resolute in making their bold design ideas a reality.”
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Overview
What: The Arab Women’s Sports Tournament is a biennial multisport event exclusively for Arab women athletes.
When: From Sunday, February 2, to Wednesday, February 12.
Where: At 13 different centres across Sharjah.
Disciplines: Athletics, archery, basketball, fencing, Karate, table tennis, shooting (rifle and pistol), show jumping and volleyball.
Participating countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Qatar and UAE.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
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.
The biog
Alwyn Stephen says much of his success is a result of taking an educated chance on business decisions.
His advice to anyone starting out in business is to have no fear as life is about taking on challenges.
“If you have the ambition and dream of something, follow that dream, be positive, determined and set goals.
"Nothing and no-one can stop you from succeeding with the right work application, and a little bit of luck along the way.”
Mr Stephen sells his luxury fragrances at selected perfumeries around the UAE, including the House of Niche Boutique in Al Seef.
He relaxes by spending time with his family at home, and enjoying his wife’s India cooking.
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
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.
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The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
Formula One top 10 drivers' standings after Japan
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 306
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 247
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes 234
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull 192
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 148
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull 111
7. Sergio Perez, Force India 82
8. Esteban Ocon, Force India 65
9. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso 48
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault 34