News that former US president Jimmy Carter made the decision to go into hospice last month generated a flood of appreciative commentary about his life and work. It is important to reflect on both.
When he lost his reelection bid to Ronald Reagan in 1980, many deemed his presidency a failure. Inflation was at record highs, consumer confidence was at an all-time low, and Americans, still recovering from our humiliating defeat in Vietnam, were being traumatised anew by the prolonged captivity of US embassy staff held hostage in Iran. The criticisms were largely unfair, since the problems Mr Carter confronted were not of his making and were beyond his ability to control.
While most former presidents have either capitalised on their fame or faded into obscurity, Mr Carter chose a different path. He made the conscious decision to invest his prestige in doing work for others through public service.
I had the great fortune to get to know Jimmy Carter
For example, almost immediately upon leaving the White House, Mr Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, embraced and became closely identified with Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit volunteer project that builds low-income housing and repairs homes in areas hit by natural disasters. They volunteered in building projects and gave a public face to the group that, during their association with Habitat, built more than 100,000 homes for over one and a half million people. Even into their 70s, Mr and Mrs Carter were devoting at least one week a year to Habitat projects. He became so identified with the group that when thinking of him more Americans probably called to mind Mr Carter in denim with hammer in hand than Mr Carter in a suit in the White House.
In 1982, the former president launched the Carter Centre that described its role as “waging peace, fighting disease, and building hope”. Leading many of the Centre’s initiatives, he travelled the globe monitoring elections, negotiating peace in troubled areas of the world and launching programmes to help eradicate diseases or providing expertise to farmers to increase yield and improve their lives.
I had the great fortune to get to know Jimmy Carter. Among the most memorable of those encounters was a lengthy interview I had with him about his life and his views on a range of Middle East topics and the opportunity to speak alongside him on a panel at the Carter Centre on Israel’s treatment of Palestinian Christians.
The Carter I encountered in my dealings with him validated the image the public had grown to know and love about this man. He was humble, honest and thoughtful. He accepted blame and deflected praise.
In our first meeting, I told him how I had hired a pilot to fly one night around Camp David while he was meeting Israeli and Egyptian leaders there. The pilot, careful to remain outside the restricted perimeter of the area, carried a lit sign that read “Palestinians are the key to peace”. When I told him this, he smiled and said: “That was you! I wondered who did that. It was an important reminder.” He went on to describe his frustration that he hadn’t been able to deliver more for Palestinians and noted the pushback, both domestically and in Israel, he received for his efforts. (He had written much the same to me in a letter he sent to me in 1980 before leaving the White House.) He was also critical of the extent to which the US had continued to “look the other way”, allowing the Israelis to deepen the occupation and further impede any hope for a just peace.
In further conversations, while acknowledging that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was “a callous and inept leader”, he was deeply critical of the US-led sanctions regime that he noted had contributed to the deaths of hundreds of thousands Iraqi children. He called the sanctions “counterproductive”, saying that they played into the hands of the regime.
Most revealing of the character of the man was his response to me when, in an interview, I complimented his work in fighting disease in Africa. He deflected the praise and said that while the accolades were given to the Carter Centre, if it hadn’t been for the support given by the UAE Founding Father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, much of their work in Africa could not have been done.
It is with these characteristics of humility, honesty, and thoughtful self-reflection and criticism, that Mr Carter has established his well-earned reputation as “America’s greatest ex-president”.
With the announcement that Mr Carter would enter hospice, I was reminded of a quote from a talk he gave to his church in 2019. He said: “I didn’t ask God to let me live, but I asked God to give me a proper attitude towards death. And I found that I was absolutely and completely at ease with death.”
This is his legacy. A great former president who taught us how to live a life for others and, as he approaches his end, is teaching us how to die with grace. His has been a life well-lived.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
At Everton Appearances: 77; Goals: 17
At Manchester United Appearances: 559; Goals: 253
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
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
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
Types of bank fraud
1) Phishing
Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
2) Smishing
The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
3) Vishing
The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
4) SIM swap
Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
5) Identity theft
Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
6) Prize scams
Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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