An empty podium ahead of a news conference with Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, on December 13. Bloomberg
An empty podium ahead of a news conference with Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, on December 13. Bloomberg
An empty podium ahead of a news conference with Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, on December 13. Bloomberg
An empty podium ahead of a news conference with Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, on December 13. Bloomberg

A no-deal Brexit looks imminent to mark the end of a four-year-long 'fairy tale'


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For three centuries all British governments have shared one strategic foreign policy goal: to ensure Britain was never isolated in Europe. That meant wars in the 18th and 19th century against the dominant power, France, two wars against Germany in the 20th century, and the UK’s part in the Cold War until the end of the Soviet threat in 1989.

But in 2020, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has achieved something quite astonishing. He has managed to unite the continent of Europe from Ireland to the Baltic, from Sweden to Spain and Italy, in a European Union which sees Britain as behaving badly.

After failing to achieve a deal to leave the EU – a deal Mr Johnson claimed was “oven ready” – and with disagreements including fishing rights, the Johnson government has sent gunboats to protect “our fish.”

The Times newspaper headline read "Navy to board French boats." A former Conservative MP, now Times newspaper political commentator, Matthew Parris describes Mr Johnson as an English (not a British) nationalist.

He has not only reversed the central element of British foreign policy of 300 years, but he has also undermined the unity of the UK, by reviving competing nationalisms in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

My own book on this resurgent English nationalism How Britain Ends, will be published in February, and concludes that the UK as currently constructed will either boldly have to reinvent itself or risk pulling apart.

More immediately there is still no clarity on whether the UK will leave the EU with a deal or no deal. After four and a half years and countless extensions, talks are yet again extended with a supposedly “final” deadline on December 31. Whatever the outcome, the damage has been done.

The Johnson government has made Britain look incompetent, arrogant and badly led – a terrible combination.

Mr Johnson has alienated Britain's friends in Europe and irritated the incoming Biden administration in Washington.

British newspapers have attacked Emanuel Macron and Angela Merkel in ways which are both unfair and that damage Britain itself. Chancellor Merkel has always been a great ally.

She once told me that as a girl in the former East Germany she listened to BBC radio under her bedclothes, learning English and admiring British culture.

On January 31, the British flag was taken off the European Council in Brussels, Belgium EPA
On January 31, the British flag was taken off the European Council in Brussels, Belgium EPA

So what happens now? A deal – any likely deal – will make the UK poorer than staying in the EU. But no deal will be even more damaging and will sour relationships for years.

With no deal, Mr Johnson's gunboats can presumably protect "British fish" – a peculiar species unknown to science

Mr Johnson claims no-deal Britain will trade very well with the European union on World Trade Organisation terms, though he often calls them “Australian terms”. This is utterly misleading.

WTO terms mean new tariffs – taxes – on goods, rising prices, onerous form filling, bureaucratic snarl-ups and long queues at ports.

Lorry drivers will struggle with new rules. Britain will need thousands more customs agents. Besides, Australia has no Free Trade Agreement with the EU, but is seeking one.

A boat in the harbour in Folkestone, Kent, Britain, December 13. EPA
A boat in the harbour in Folkestone, Kent, Britain, December 13. EPA

The former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said that “Australia’s relationship with the EU is not one from a trade point of view that Britain would want.” The Bank of England forecasts “no deal” will be even more damaging to the British economy in the long term than the coronavirus pandemic, which has already cost multiple billions.

A lorry arrives at the Port of Dover in Dover, Kent, Britain, December 13. EPA
A lorry arrives at the Port of Dover in Dover, Kent, Britain, December 13. EPA

But a deal with the EU also has a catch. What would be the point of Brexit if the UK stays aligned with EU standards and rules as a necessary prerequisite of obtaining a deal? This problem has been obvious for years.

Last year former prime minister Tony Blair summed it up snappily by saying no deal would mean “a painful Brexit,” while any deal would – for the Brexit ideologues – be a “pointless Brexit.” For years Mr Johnson has slipped over these obvious problems with glib phrases and impossible promises.

For a flavour of his Brexit delusions, here is a reminder of his Daily Telegraph column just three days after the Brexit referendum, 26 June 2016:

“At home and abroad the negative consequences are being wildly overdone… British people will still be able to go and work in the EU; to live; to travel; to study; to buy homes and to settle down… there will continue to be free trade and access to the single market.

Britain is and always will be a great European power, offering top-table opinions and giving leadership on everything from foreign policy to defence to counter-terrorism and intelligence-sharing – all the things we need to do together to make our world safer.”

With no deal, none of these words will ring true. Reality bites. While a deal is still possible, any deal means some Brexit hardliners will accuse Mr Johnson of “betrayal.”

With no deal, Mr Johnson’s gunboats can presumably protect “British fish” – a peculiar species unknown to science – but only by angering and alienating our closest European friends and valued Nato allies.

Britain has endured four years of Brexit fairytales but is now on the brink of the worst British foreign policy debacle in living memory.

Gavin Esler is a broadcaster and UK columnist for The National

Desert Warrior

Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley

Director: Rupert Wyatt

Rating: 3/5

Teams

Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq

Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi

Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag

Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC

Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC

Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan

Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium

Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes

Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals

Volunteers offer workers a lifeline

Community volunteers have swung into action delivering food packages and toiletries to the men.

When provisions are distributed, the men line up in long queues for packets of rice, flour, sugar, salt, pulses, milk, biscuits, shaving kits, soap and telecom cards.

Volunteers from St Mary’s Catholic Church said some workers came to the church to pray for their families and ask for assistance.

Boxes packed with essential food items were distributed to workers in the Dubai Investments Park and Ras Al Khaimah camps last week. Workers at the Sonapur camp asked for Dh1,600 towards their gas bill.

“Especially in this year of tolerance we consider ourselves privileged to be able to lend a helping hand to our needy brothers in the Actco camp," Father Lennie Connully, parish priest of St Mary’s.

Workers spoke of their helplessness, seeing children’s marriages cancelled because of lack of money going home. Others told of their misery of being unable to return home when a parent died.

“More than daily food, they are worried about not sending money home for their family,” said Kusum Dutta, a volunteer who works with the Indian consulate.

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What is cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying or online bullying could take many forms such as sending unkind or rude messages to someone, socially isolating people from groups, sharing embarrassing pictures of them, or spreading rumors about them.

Cyberbullying can take place on various platforms such as messages, on social media, on group chats, or games.

Parents should watch out for behavioural changes in their children.

When children are being bullied they they may be feel embarrassed and isolated, so parents should watch out for signs of signs of depression and anxiety

Huroob Ezterari

Director: Ahmed Moussa

Starring: Ahmed El Sakka, Amir Karara, Ghada Adel and Moustafa Mohammed

Three stars

BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES

Friday (all kick-offs UAE time)

Hertha Berlin v Union Berlin (10.30pm)

Saturday

Freiburg v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)

Paderborn v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)

Wolfsburg v Borussia Dortmund (5.30pm)

Borussia Monchengladbach v Bayer Leverkusen (5.30pm)

Bayern Munich v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm)

Sunday

Schalke v Augsburg (3.30pm)

Mainz v RB Leipzig (5.30pm)

Cologne v Fortuna Dusseldorf (8pm)

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

Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten

Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a  month before Reaching the Last Mile.

Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

 

Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Queen

Nicki Minaj

(Young Money/Cash Money)

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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Brandt%20Andersen%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EOmar%20Sy%2C%20Jason%20Beghe%2C%20Angeliki%20Papoulia%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE SQUAD FOR ASIAN JIU-JITSU CHAMPIONSHIP

Men’s squad: Faisal Al Ketbi, Omar Al Fadhli, Zayed Al Kathiri, Thiab Al Nuaimi, Khaled Al Shehhi, Mohamed Ali Al Suwaidi, Farraj Khaled Al Awlaqi, Muhammad Al Ameri, Mahdi Al Awlaqi, Saeed Al Qubaisi, Abdullah Al Qubaisi and Hazaa Farhan

Women's squad: Hamda Al Shekheili, Shouq Al Dhanhani, Balqis Abdullah, Sharifa Al Namani, Asma Al Hosani, Maitha Sultan, Bashayer Al Matrooshi, Maha Al Hanaei, Shamma Al Kalbani, Haya Al Jahuri, Mahra Mahfouz, Marwa Al Hosani, Tasneem Al Jahoori and Maryam Al Amri

What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
 
  • Grade 9 = above an A*
  • Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
  • Grade 7 = grade A
  • Grade 6 = just above a grade B
  • Grade 5 = between grades B and C
  • Grade 4 = grade C
  • Grade 3 = between grades D and E
  • Grade 2 = between grades E and F
  • Grade 1 = between grades F and G
SPAIN SQUAD

Goalkeepers Simon (Athletic Bilbao), De Gea (Manchester United), Sanchez (Brighton)

Defenders Gaya (Valencia), Alba (Barcelona), P Torres (Villarreal), Laporte (Manchester City), Garcia (Manchester City), D Llorente (Leeds), Azpilicueta (Chelsea)

Midfielders Busquets (Barcelona), Rodri (Manchester City), Pedri (Barcelona), Thiago (Liverpool), Koke (Atletico Madrid), Ruiz (Napoli), M Llorente (Atletico Madrid)

Forwards: Olmo (RB Leipzig), Oyarzabal (Real Sociedad), Morata (Juventus), Moreno (Villarreal), F Torres (Manchester City), Traore (Wolves), Sarabia (PSG)

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