In the court of liberal opinion, few kind words are said about Poland's ruling Law and Justice party. It is not only viewed as being authoritarian and far right-wing but is also accused of having sought to undermine the independence of the judiciary and thus the separation of powers. It was all the more remarkable, then, to read a report in the UK's Guardian newspaper that conceded the Polish government remains highly popular because "for four years it has undeniably shown a striking commitment to the less wealthy".
The government has embarked on a huge programme of wealth distribution, aiming subsidies particularly at low-income families, raising the minimum wage and lowering the age of retirement. These are surprising, not just because we hear little about them but because they are not policies one associates with administrations of the right. But the Law and Justice party is not alone. In Britain, Boris Johnson's Conservatives have announced plans to spend many billions of pounds on hiring thousands of new police officers and invest in hospitals, transport and digital infrastructure.
Which leads me to ask: if governments on the right are doing this, and the left on both sides of the Atlantic have won new confidence and adherents by arguing unashamedly for expanding the state, have we finally reached a point where the old orthodoxy that favoured smaller government, tax cuts for the wealthy and curbs on public spending is over?
I cannot overstate how much this truly was the orthodoxy for decades in Europe, America and institutions such as the International Monetary Fund. I was taught economics in the 1990s at one of Oxford's most left-wing colleges by a tutor who had been an economics adviser to two Labour prime ministers. You might have thought that my youthful belief in the pro-government interventionist, expansionary ideas of JM Keynes would have been encouraged.
Instead, I left sadly concluding that Keynesian economics might have had some relevance in the 1930s but in the 1990s, it was delusional. The overwhelming intellectual agreement was that everyone had to come to terms with monetarism, sound finance and the supremacy of the markets. Anyone who had not lost contact with reality – so it was put – had to operate in that framework. This was the era of the so-called “third way”, the market-friendly governments that were nominally on the left but seemed only too comfortable with the terrain of the right – New Labour in Britain, Clintonism in the US, Gerhard Schroeder in Germany.
That the consensus was maintained by subsequent governments of the right was to be expected. But parties on the mainstream left remained committed to it, too, not least out of timidity and fear of being branded irresponsible. As US president, Barack Obama, a Democrat, promised affordable healthcare for all; he did not dare offer a free universal health service. Parties that wanted to break with the orthodoxy, such as Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain, were considered radical outliers whose dreams were unworkable.
All this has changed. While the resurgent left in both the US and the UK may be led by “oldies”, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in the former, Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell in the latter, the energy and sense of renewal is coming from younger activists, such as congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in America, and commentators such as Grace Blakely and Ash Sarkar in Britain.
And what they are saying is that it is possible to spend more money and not ruin the economy. They are not held back by the "realism", reluctant or otherwise, of my generation, and they cannot be dismissed as the "loony left" since they represent, or are aligned with, mass sections of the Democratic and Labour parties respectively.
If governments of the right are blowing up the old rules too, it just goes to show that you can always find the funds if you really want to
They have good arguments that have long been overlooked. If you put more money in the pockets of the less well-off, for instance, they are statistically more likely to spend it – the multiplier effect, which stimulates further growth and job creation. This is just what has happened in Poland, where, the Guardian noted that "the huge level of state spending appears to have boosted rather than damaged Poland's finances… fuelling a stellar growth rate last year of 5.1 per cent, which far outstrips the eurozone".
If governments of the right are blowing up the old rules too, it just goes to show that you can always find the funds if you really want to. Or, as the late British politician Tony Benn put it: “If we can find the money to kill people, we can find the money to help people.”
This is not to say that it is always right to borrow and spend. Profligate governments that allocate funds inefficiently or corruptly have wrought ruin in many countries, such as Zimbabwe and Venezuela. Neither should the state be so active that it crowds out the private sector.
But while out-of-control borrowing is not to be encouraged, it seems that the idea that public debt is intrinsically bad is being rejected as the lie it always was on both left and right. It sounded convincing because people compared it to personal debt. But much of the time government debt is not paid back; it is eroded by inflation. As any economist will tell you, the key figure is not the size of the debt – which is bound to sound alarming – but how much you have to pay to service it. If that is statistically small and the gains to the economy outweigh that cost, you can keep on borrowing.
Perhaps this is only the beginning of a change and the Keynesian model will not necessarily be right for every country. But it is a seismic shift and while people on the left might not want to be associated with right-wing governments in Poland and the UK, they should at least celebrate that they too are breaking an old orthodoxy that impoverished so many, and agree that they are all in effect saying – to paraphrase Mr Obama – “Yes, the state can.”
What is the definition of an SME?
SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.
A “medium-sized company” can either have staff of 51 to 200 employees or 101 to 250 employees, and a turnover less than or equal to Dh200m or Dh250m, again depending on whether the business is in the trading, manufacturing or services sectors.
The%20Caine%20Mutiny%20Court-Martial%20
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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
Company%20Profile
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
INDIA'S%20TOP%20INFLUENCERS
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MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
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.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Day 2, Dubai Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Pakistan’s effort in the field had hints of shambles about it. The wheels were officially off when Wahab Riaz lost his run up and aborted the delivery four times in a row. He re-measured his run, jogged in for two practice goes. Then, when he was finally ready to go, he bailed out again. It was a total cringefest.
Stat of the day – 139.5 Yasir Shah has bowled 139.5 overs in three innings so far in this Test series. Judged by his returns, the workload has not withered him. He has 14 wickets so far, and became history’s first spinner to take five-wickets in an innings in five consecutive Tests. Not bad for someone whose fitness was in question before the series.
The verdict Stranger things have happened, but it is going to take something extraordinary for Pakistan to keep their undefeated record in Test series in the UAE in tact from this position. At least Shan Masood and Sami Aslam have made a positive start to the salvage effort.
Islamic%20Architecture%3A%20A%20World%20History
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The specs
Engine: 2x201bhp AC Permanent-magnetic electric
Transmission: n/a
Power: 402bhp
Torque: 659Nm
Price estimate: Dh200,000
On sale: Q3 2022
The Al Barzakh Festival takes place on Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm in the Red Theatre, NYUAD, Saadiyat Island. Tickets cost Dh105 for adults from platinumlist.net
Rankings
ATP: 1. Novak Djokovic (SRB) 10,955 pts; 2. Rafael Nadal (ESP) 8,320; 3. Alexander Zverev (GER) 6,475 ( 1); 5. Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) 5,060 ( 1); 6. Kevin Anderson (RSA) 4,845 ( 1); 6. Roger Federer (SUI) 4,600 (-3); 7. Kei Nishikori (JPN) 4,110 ( 2); 8. Dominic Thiem (AUT) 3,960; 9. John Isner (USA) 3,155 ( 1); 10. Marin Cilic (CRO) 3,140 (-3)
WTA: 1. Naomi Osaka (JPN) 7,030 pts ( 3); 2. Petra Kvitova (CZE) 6,290 ( 4); 3. Simona Halep (ROM) 5,582 (-2); 4. Sloane Stephens (USA) 5,307 ( 1); 5. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 5,100 ( 3); 6. Angelique Kerber (GER) 4,965 (-4); 7. Elina Svitolina (UKR) 4,940; 8. Kiki Bertens (NED) 4,430 ( 1); 9. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 3,566 (-6); 10. Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) 3,485 ( 1)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THREE
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Champion%20v%20Champion%20(PFL%20v%20Bellator)
%3Cp%3EHeavyweight%3A%20Renan%20Ferreira%20v%20Ryan%20Bader%20%3Cbr%3EMiddleweight%3A%20Impa%20Kasanganay%20v%20Johnny%20Eblen%3Cbr%3EFeatherweight%3A%20Jesus%20Pinedo%20v%20Patricio%20Pitbull%3Cbr%3ECatchweight%3A%20Ray%20Cooper%20III%20v%20Jason%20Jackson%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EShowcase%20Bouts%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EHeavyweight%3A%20Bruno%20Cappelozza%20(former%20PFL%20World%20champ)%20v%20Vadim%20Nemkov%20(former%20Bellator%20champ)%3Cbr%3ELight%20Heavyweight%3A%20Thiago%20Santos%20(PFL%20title%20contender)%20v%20Yoel%20Romero%20(Bellator%20title%20contender)%3Cbr%3ELightweight%3A%20Clay%20Collard%20(PFL%20title%20contender)%20v%20AJ%20McKee%20(former%20Bellator%20champ)%3Cbr%3EFeatherweight%3A%20Gabriel%20Braga%20(PFL%20title%20contender)%20v%20Aaron%20Pico%20(Bellator%20title%20contender)%3Cbr%3ELightweight%3A%20Biaggio%20Ali%20Walsh%20(pro%20debut)%20v%20Emmanuel%20Palacios%20(pro%20debut)%3Cbr%3EWomen%E2%80%99s%20Lightweight%3A%20Claressa%20Shields%20v%20Kelsey%20DeSantis%3Cbr%3EFeatherweight%3A%20Abdullah%20Al%20Qahtani%20v%20Edukondal%20Rao%3Cbr%3EAmateur%20Flyweight%3A%20Malik%20Basahel%20v%20Vinicius%20Pereira%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
More on Quran memorisation:
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Match info
Newcastle United 1
Joselu (11')
Tottenham Hotspur 2
Vertonghen (8'), Alli (18')
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 592bhp
Torque: 620Nm
Price: Dh980,000
On sale: now
So what is Spicy Chickenjoy?
Just as McDonald’s has the Big Mac, Jollibee has Spicy Chickenjoy – a piece of fried chicken that’s crispy and spicy on the outside and comes with a side of spaghetti, all covered in tomato sauce and topped with sausage slices and ground beef. It sounds like a recipe that a child would come up with, but perhaps that’s the point – a flavourbomb combination of cheap comfort foods. Chickenjoy is Jollibee’s best-selling product in every country in which it has a presence.
Bert van Marwijk factfile
Born: May 19 1952
Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands
Playing position: Midfielder
Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia
Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 3 (Kroos 4', Ramos 30', Marcelo 37')
Eibar 1 (Bigas 60')