After six years in the indie rock business it can be tough to attract new followers, but the UK outfit Slow Club have hit upon a foolproof method: enlist one of the world's most popular movie stars.
Always critically acclaimed, the low-key Sheffield duo have suddenly made a mighty global splash with their single Beginners, chiefly due to the presence in their video of the Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe. That video currently boasts almost 400,000 YouTube views; their previous single, The Dog, is still stuck at around 9,000.
It may seem a curious role for Radcliffe, but the 22-year-old music buff is a fan of the band and revelled in the opportunity to mime their song and spread the word. He's in good company - The Lord of the Rings actor Sir Ian McKellen offered his services to Slow Club's indie contemporaries Guillemots a few years ago, having been introduced by a younger relative - but such arrangements are not always entirely selfless. Rock videos offer a unique opportunity for the ambitious actor, and two further examples have emerged in recent weeks.
Particularly improbable, the Transformers star Shia LaBeouf took on the most daring role of his career in the promo film for Fjögur Píanó, by the atmospheric Icelanders Sigur Rós. A darkly surreal fantasy featuring ballet, blood and bare flesh, it showcases the experimental side of an actor better known recently for lowbrow blockbusters and street brawls. Admittedly, the film has also been described as "nauseatingly pretentious".
More traditional is the video for Everybody's on the Run, the latest release from the Oasis star Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. It features Mischa Barton, formerly of the US soap The OC but more gossiped about - her weight in particular - than seen on screen of late. Barton chases Gallagher's taxi through New York, shows off her newly svelte figure and happily indulges in energetic slapstick: a useful trailer for her talents.
Radcliffe is also actively attempting to update his image, of course. In the Slow Club video he plays a stumbling, stubble-faced wreck who winds up dancing wildly on a table, a scene faintly reminiscent of Christopher Walken's memorable cameo in the video for Fatboy Slim's track Weapon of Choice. Far from ruining the sinister actor's reputation, that mesmerising four-minute dance routine became one of the most famous roles of Walken's career.
Only music videos allow clever, creative short films to reach such a vast and varied audience. Radcliffe's old colleague Rupert Grint, aka Ron Weasley, enjoyed his most-seen part since Potter in the video for Ed Sheeran's song Lego House. It involved an unshaven Grint - spot the trend - playing a deranged fan of the similar-looking singer, a well-realised concept which has now gathered 31 million YouTube views.
Recently, the French electro-pop outfit The Shoes featured Jake Gyllenhaal as a fencing suit-wearing, sabre-wielding serial killer in the video Time to Dance. Gyllenhaal also appeared in Vampire Weekend's video for Giving Up the Gun in 2010.
For bigger pop acts, the movie star-bedecked video is often just a badge of status - Michael Jackson's output was increasingly peppered with pointless cameos - but the right actor can really help your record. Chevy Chase did much for his close pal Paul Simon's Graceland album by belittling him in the simple, splendid video for the single You Can Call Me Al, in 1986. Meanwhile, actors' careers are actively aided by famous musician buddies, on occasion: witness the benevolent work of Elton John in 2001.
In the video for This Train Don't Stop There Anymore, a younger Elton was played by Justin Timberlake, a high-profile part that helped launch his acting career. Then, the follow-up single, I Want Love, offered a vital comeback role for the industry outcast Robert Downey Jr. It proved a small but significant step for the future Avengers star.
Indeed, Downey has recently been linked with an Elton John biopic, as has Timberlake. Perhaps those videos were just elaborate screen tests, after all.
Slow Club's new single will be out on August 6.
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi
Director: Kangana Ranaut, Krish Jagarlamudi
Producer: Zee Studios, Kamal Jain
Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Ankita Lokhande, Danny Denzongpa, Atul Kulkarni
Rating: 2.5/5
SCHEDULE
Saturday, April 20: 11am to 7pm - Abu Dhabi World Jiu-Jitsu Festival and Para jiu-jitsu.
Sunday, April 21: 11am to 6pm - Abu Dhabi World Youth (female) Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
Monday, April 22: 11am to 6pm - Abu Dhabi World Youth (male) Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
Tuesday, April 23: 11am-6pm Abu Dhabi World Masters Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
Wednesday, April 24: 11am-6pm Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
Thursday, April 25: 11am-5pm Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
Friday, April 26: 3pm to 6pm Finals of the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jitsu Championship.
Saturday, April 27: 4pm and 8pm awards ceremony.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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.”
Straightforward ways to reduce sugar in your family's diet
- Ban fruit juice and sodas
- Eat a hearty breakfast that contains fats and wholegrains, such as peanut butter on multigrain toast or full-fat plain yoghurt with whole fruit and nuts, to avoid the need for a 10am snack
- Give young children plain yoghurt with whole fruits mashed into it
- Reduce the number of cakes, biscuits and sweets. Reserve them for a treat
- Don’t eat dessert every day
- Make your own smoothies. Always use the whole fruit to maintain the benefit of its fibre content and don’t add any sweeteners
- Always go for natural whole foods over processed, packaged foods. Ask yourself would your grandmother have eaten it?
- Read food labels if you really do feel the need to buy processed food
- Eat everything in moderation
States of Passion by Nihad Sirees,
Pushkin Press
Arabian Gulf League fixtures:
Friday:
- Emirates v Hatta, 5.15pm
- Al Wahda v Al Dhafra, 5.25pm
- Al Ain v Shabab Al Ahli Dubai, 8.15pm
Saturday:
- Dibba v Ajman, 5.15pm
- Sharjah v Al Wasl, 5.20pm
- Al Jazira v Al Nasr, 8.15pm
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
Results:
CSIL 2-star 145cm One Round with Jump-Off
1. Alice Debany Clero (USA) on Amareusa S 38.83 seconds
2. Anikka Sande (NOR) For Cash 2 39.09
3. Georgia Tame (GBR) Cash Up 39.42
4. Nadia Taryam (UAE) Askaria 3 39.63
5. Miriam Schneider (GER) Fidelius G 47.74
