Tom Hanks portrays Ben Bradlee, left, and Meryl Streep portrays Katharine Graham in a scene from "The Post." The film was nominated for an Oscar for best picture. Niko Tavernise / 20th Century Fox via AP
Tom Hanks portrays Ben Bradlee, left, and Meryl Streep portrays Katharine Graham in a scene from "The Post." The film was nominated for an Oscar for best picture. Niko Tavernise / 20th Century Fox viaShow more

In awards season, look to Hollywood to understand modern America



The outgoing German ambassador in London, Dr Peter Ammon, believes British people may be attached to the idea of Brexit because we harbour a nostalgic fascination with "standing alone" against Nazi Germany in the Second World War. It is certainly true that two films that touch on precisely that public sentiment, Dunkirk and Darkest Hour, are very popular in British cinemas right now. But a bigger point is that movies are often a guide to the soul of a nation, our own self-image — and nowhere is that more obvious than in Donald Trump's America. The United States is on the brink of the Oscars season and the British equivalent, the Baftas, is coming up soon. I'm a voting member at Bafta and the films I have been watching touch the beating heart of Trumpland. They help explain why the strangest president in living memory made it to the Oval Office, and they portray an America at peace — but not at peace with itself.

The most obvious Trump-linked movie is The Post. It's a Steven Spielberg account of the bullying by President Nixon's administration of newspapers including the Washington Post. The performances of Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep make clear parallels with the "fake news" bullying going on in Washington now. Nixon, like Mr Trump, attacked newspapers for publishing not lies but the gloriously embarrassing truth. The film reflects the American psyche in 2018 in an even bigger way. It is about a strong woman finding her voice. Streep's Katharine Graham, the Washington Post's owner, begins as a wealthy socialite, a party goer, not used to taking big decisions and dependent on the men around her. By the end of the film, like the women who have spoken out against Harvey Weinstein and other sexual predators, Katharine Graham is transformed into a formidable decision taker. She risks everything for what she believes to be right. It's part of the spirit of America now and Hollywood has rightly identified feminist themes and suspicion of people in power as the core of the 2018 American zeitgeist. It surfaces in many of the best Oscar contenders.

In Molly's Game Jessica Chastain plays a woman who bursts into the man's world of high stakes gambling, only to be arrested and bullied by the FBI, leered at and patronised by many of the men who surround her. Or there is I, Tonya, the story of Tonya Harding, once a star US figure skater, whose career was wrecked when she was accused of conspiring to put a rival out of action. Harding (played by Margot Robbie) is bullied by her mother, her abusive husband and by the skating establishment who look down on her as a symbol of poor, uneducated, unqualified and sometimes violent white America. Like the Streep and Chastain characters, Harding refuses to be bullied, yet the film is populated by losers from the white middle class or working class, the left-behind people who built modern American prosperity in the 1950s but who by the 1990s felt the American Dream had died. Many of them voted for Mr Trump in 2016.

It would be also surprising if American audiences did not recognise, like Caliban, their faces in the Hollywood mirror. Many will be shocked at what they see. These films and others, including the harrowing Detroit, set during the 1967 race riots in that city, or Saoirse Ronan's performance in Ladybird, set against the background of the 2003 Gulf War, portray America in many different decades, but they are, as always with Hollywood, insights into America now. They examine the great fault-lines of class, race, power and money. As the director of Detroit, Kathryn Bigelow, put it when comparing the 1960s race riots in her film with those which took place in Ferguson, Missouri as she began production in 2014, "These events seem to recur — this (the Detroit riot) is a situation that was 50 years ago, yet it feels very much like it's today."

Yet that is where there is room for hope. Hollywood is itself a flawed American institution, but the film industry is capable of rapid change. In the past the Oscars have been condemned as "so white", tending to marginalise African Americans and women. A couple of years ago I interviewed two of the most powerful women in American film-making, Meryl Streep and the African-American director Ava DuVernay (the excellent Selma and 13th are among her credits). Streep said Hollywood often failed to recognise that women's lives were interesting. This was morally wrong and also bad for business, since women form more than half the available audience. I asked DuVernay why so few women, especially African American women, were Hollywood film directors. She laughed sarcastically and replied that the number of African American women Hollywood directors was so small that she knew them all personally and they could meet for lunch and sit around one table. DuVernay, Bigelow and others, have driven change for women behind the camera in Hollywood and in film-making worldwide. The characters played by Streep, Chastain, Robbie and Ronan are also symbols of change. They confront some of the toughest problems in American society, and they demonstrate that Streep's observation about women's lives not being seen as interesting, has also begun to change.

This is also the week of Mr Trump's first State of the Union message, and he declared that "there has never been a better time to start living the American Dream". That might be a convenient political message in Washington, but on the other coast, in Hollywood, the Oscar contenders suggest that for millions the Dream died a long time ago. Nevertheless Hollywood also caters for those whose dreams are escapist fantasies. Another high profile movie shows an embattled woman bravely surmounting difficulty, Wonder Woman. A comic book hero may not tell us much about America, but it does tell us that Hollywood's instinct to appeal to the paying customer remains assured. Wonder Woman has grossed more than $800 million so far and you will not be surprised to learn that Wonder Woman 2 is on its way.  Perhaps another Wonder Woman should pay attention — Hillary Clinton. Mrs Clinton must be "wonder woman" in the sense of still wondering why she is not president. But instead of picking the brains of pollsters and political experts in the Democratic Party, Mrs Clinton should go to the movies. Ladyird, Molly's Game, I, Tonya and many other Hollywood productions provide a better guide to America now than opinion polls, and the empty rhetoric of political speeches. Mrs Clinton might enjoy one of the best Hollywood efforts this year, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri. It is the story of a wronged woman. She sets out for revenge. I will not spoil it by saying how it ends.

Paatal Lok season two

Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy 

Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong

Rating: 4.5/5

Cryopreservation: A timeline
  1. Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
  2. Ovarian tissue surgically removed
  3. Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
  4. Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
  5. Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
THE SPECS

Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine 

Power: 420kW

Torque: 780Nm

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

Price: From Dh1,350,000

On sale: Available for preorder now

Other workplace saving schemes
  • The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
  • Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
  • National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
  • In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
  • Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
If you go...

Fly from Dubai or Abu Dhabi to Chiang Mai in Thailand, via Bangkok, before taking a five-hour bus ride across the Laos border to Huay Xai. The land border crossing at Huay Xai is a well-trodden route, meaning entry is swift, though travellers should be aware of visa requirements for both countries.

Flights from Dubai start at Dh4,000 return with Emirates, while Etihad flights from Abu Dhabi start at Dh2,000. Local buses can be booked in Chiang Mai from around Dh50

Vidaamuyarchi

Director: Magizh Thirumeni

Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra

Rating: 4/5

 

The specs: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ

Price, base: Dh1,731,672

Engine: 6.5-litre V12

Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic

Power: 770hp @ 8,500rpm

Torque: 720Nm @ 6,750rpm

Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
If you go

The flights

Fly direct to London from the UAE with Etihad, Emirates, British Airways or Virgin Atlantic from about Dh2,500 return including taxes. 

The hotel

Rooms at the convenient and art-conscious Andaz London Liverpool Street cost from £167 (Dh800) per night including taxes.

The tour

The Shoreditch Street Art Tour costs from £15 (Dh73) per person for approximately three hours. 

Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE

There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.

It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.

What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.

When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.

It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.

This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.

It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.

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
THE BIO

Favourite place to go to in the UAE: The desert sand dunes, just after some rain

Who inspires you: Anybody with new and smart ideas, challenging questions, an open mind and a positive attitude

Where would you like to retire: Most probably in my home country, Hungary, but with frequent returns to the UAE

Favorite book: A book by Transilvanian author, Albert Wass, entitled ‘Sword and Reap’ (Kard es Kasza) - not really known internationally

Favourite subjects in school: Mathematics and science

Scoreline

Man Utd 2 Pogba 27', Martial 49'

Everton 1 Sigurdsson 77'

The%20specs
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HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX RESULT

1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 1:39:46.713
2. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 00:00.908
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes-GP 00:12.462
4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-GP 00:12.885
5. Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing 00:13.276
6. Fernando Alonso, McLaren 01:11.223
7. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso 1 lap
8. Sergio Perez, Force India 1 lap
9. Esteban Ocon, Force India  1 lap
10. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren 1 lap
11. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso 1 lap
12. Jolyon Palmer, Renault 1 lap
13. Kevin Magnussen, Haas 1 lap
14. Lance Stroll, Williams 1 lap
15. Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber 2 laps
16. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber 2 laps
17r. Nico Huelkenberg, Renault 3 laps
r. Paul Di Resta, Williams 10 laps
r. Romain Grosjean, Haas 50 laps
r. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing 70 laps

Our legal consultants

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

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

WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?

1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull

2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight

3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge

4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own

5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed

Emergency

Director: Kangana Ranaut

Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry 

Rating: 2/5

FIGHT CARD

Bantamweight Hamza Bougamza (MAR) v Jalal Al Daaja (JOR)

Catchweight 67kg Mohamed El Mesbahi (MAR) v Fouad Mesdari (ALG)

Lighweight Abdullah Mohammed Ali (UAE) v Abdelhak Amhidra (MAR)

Catchweight 73kg Mostafa Ibrahim Radi (PAL) v Yazid Chouchane (ALG)

Middleweight Yousri Belgaroui (TUN) v Badreddine Diani (MAR)

Catchweight 78kg Rashed Dawood (UAE) v Adnan Bushashy (ALG)

Middleweight Sallaheddine Dekhissi (MAR) v Abdel Emam (EGY)

Catchweight 65kg Rachid Hazoume (MAR) v Yanis Ghemmouri (ALG)

Lighweight Mohammed Yahya (UAE) v Azouz Anwar (EGY)

Catchweight 79kg Omar Hussein (PAL) v Souhil Tahiri (ALG)

Middleweight Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Laid Zerhouni (ALG)

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAlmouneer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dr%20Noha%20Khater%20and%20Rania%20Kadry%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEgypt%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E120%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EBootstrapped%2C%20with%20support%20from%20Insead%20and%20Egyptian%20government%2C%20seed%20round%20of%20%3Cbr%3E%243.6%20million%20led%20by%20Global%20Ventures%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs

Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now

CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Enterprise-grade%20security%20and%20privacy%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Unlimited%20higher-speed%20GPT-4%20access%20with%20no%20caps%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Longer%20context%20windows%20for%20processing%20longer%20inputs%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Advanced%20data%20analysis%20capabilities%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Customisation%20options%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Shareable%20chat%20templates%20that%20companies%20can%20use%20to%20collaborate%20and%20build%20common%20workflows%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Analytics%20dashboard%20for%20usage%20insights%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Free%20credits%20to%20use%20OpenAI%20APIs%20to%20extend%20OpenAI%20into%20a%20fully-custom%20solution%20for%20enterprises%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
How to avoid crypto fraud
  • Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
  • Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
  • Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
  • Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
  • Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
  • Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
  • Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
The specs: 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk


Price, base: Dh399,999
Engine: Supercharged 6.2-litre V8
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 707hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 875Nm @ 4,800rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 16.8L / 100km (estimate)

The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin

Director: Shawn Levy

Rating: 3/5