The days are long, but the years are short. It is what parents are often told through the challenges of parenting.
That resonates particularly thinking about children in today’s chapter of history.
As I watch my own children grow, I wonder every day as anyone who interacts with children might: how will the world around them unfold, and what should their role be?
When I kiss them goodnight in their beds, warm and safe, the heart hurts to think of the thousands of children who are not so safe, and upon whose heads violence is raining down.
It makes me wonder, what will children in 100 years say about the world today and what we did about it? Will they ask why we accepted as status quo situations that future generations will consider shocking? By considering such questions perhaps we can accelerate a change to eradicate and redress what may well come to be seen as the wrong side of history.
It is instructive to look back 100 years to see how even in our own purview what the status quo was once has been challenged and, in many cases, thankfully, brought to an end.
We see the radical shifts in societal attitudes that were once considered acceptable. At the beginning of the 20th century indentured servitude was practiced across the British Empire, and finally abolished in 1917 by the Gladstone Act. Women’s suffrage was only just coming on to the agenda. Even slavery was not outlawed fully until the mid-20th century. Civil rights and racial segregation in the US did not end until the 1960s. And apartheid in South Africa – with a controversial "constructive engagement" policy by the British government under Margaret Thatcher – only came to an end in 1994.
Up to 50 per cent of the world was under imperial rule 100 years ago. And 25 per cent of the world was colonies of the British Empire, ruling over 412 million people.
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The imperial struggles were the backdrop to the world wars and created a carve up of the world with long legacies. The people in rooms drawing lines across the map did not have the peoples of those lands in their conversations. We find that mind-boggling now, but at the time what rights did the "natives", cast as "savages", have over their own lives and lands?
If that doesn’t provide sharp relief, then perhaps consider what we ought to have learnt. The 1918 flu pandemic led to deaths of an estimated 50 million people. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic reshaped our world again, and scientists have cautioned that it may not be the last global pandemic we live to see.
Along with politics, the international order and health, the shift in our relationship with global resources and climate has been paradoxical over the past century or so, but what will the children in the future make of it? In 1896, the first scientific paper about the idea of climate change was published and the facts gradually took hold. But the 20th century has also been an era of development, fossil fuel use, as well as trends like fast fashion, consumerism and products which it is cheaper to buy than to fix.
All of this makes me think, what will our children's grandchildren down the line say about present-day ethics or the way we use technology? In the way that we look back and are horrified by slavery, what will they say about our lack of support for global equality, access to education and healthcare? What will people look back and say about Palestine and Israel? What will be the condition of the earth and what choices will we be judged for when it comes to our treatment of nature and resources?
We have the power to make transformative change by addressing our behaviours, policies and asking ourselves what will children in the future make of things now, and how can we make things better for future generations? What do we need to do to deliver promises we make to them of a safe, respectful thriving future? As we kiss our children goodnight, it is something to think about.
Tips to stay safe during hot weather
- Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
- Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
- Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
- Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
- Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
- Home adaptations: Use blinds or curtains to block sunlight, avoid using ovens or stoves, and ventilate living spaces during cooler hours.
- Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.
Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams began recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live shows that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blends his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that made her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will use the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
The bio:
Favourite holiday destination: I really enjoyed Sri Lanka and Vietnam but my dream destination is the Maldives.
Favourite food: My mum’s Chinese cooking.
Favourite film: Robocop, followed by The Terminator.
Hobbies: Off-roading, scuba diving, playing squash and going to the gym.
Essentials
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Delhi from about Dh950 return including taxes.
The hotels
Double rooms at Tijara Fort-Palace cost from 6,670 rupees (Dh377), including breakfast.
Doubles at Fort Bishangarh cost from 29,030 rupees (Dh1,641), including breakfast. Doubles at Narendra Bhawan cost from 15,360 rupees (Dh869). Doubles at Chanoud Garh cost from 19,840 rupees (Dh1,122), full board. Doubles at Fort Begu cost from 10,000 rupees (Dh565), including breakfast.
The tours
Amar Grover travelled with Wild Frontiers. A tailor-made, nine-day itinerary via New Delhi, with one night in Tijara and two nights in each of the remaining properties, including car/driver, costs from £1,445 (Dh6,968) per person.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
History's medical milestones
1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Key recommendations
- Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
- Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
- Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
- More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.