This week, the high court in England will preside over an important case. It will hear a challenge to the 1961 Suicide Act, which forbids suicide and assisting in suicide - a challenge brought by a patient who was diagnosed as terminally ill. It's a case of deeply pertinent ethical proportions.
I’ve cared for people close to me and have watched them slip away. Some years ago, one relative died after a deeply debilitating illness. I’m sure many of you can relate to that kind of experience. I can and do understand that there are many people who are sympathetic to the idea that we should end people’s lives before they naturally pass away, because their existence has become so difficult. But while I understand their feelings, ultimately that kind of approach doesn’t imbue human life with more dignity. On the contrary, I believe it lessens the value of human life and I hope the court agrees.
The arguments for euthanasia depend greatly on a particular type of certainty - that we know, for a fact, that an individual will die in a certain way and at a specific point in time. The truth is, medical science doesn’t have that answer, and most likely never will. Medical science can suggest likely patterns - it can estimate, on the basis of past or similar cases - but it cannot be sure. Often the estimates are simply incorrect.
Seeing people I’m close to go through difficult times due to illness, I also am reminded of a very key reality: that friends and family who care for their loved ones towards the end of life have truly beautiful experiences together. As hard as it was for me in one particular case, it was something I would not have traded for the world. It allows you to serve in a way you could never have dreamed possible. I am also aware of the argument that changing the laws against suicide would give doctors powers that they frankly ought not to have and could potentially discourage the search for cures to debilitating diseases.
But those who argue that people suffering from difficult, life-limiting conditions, do not always receive the right kind of care, make a valid and profound point. The fact of the matter is, palliative (end of life) care is incredibly poor in far too many places in the world.
In some countries, the idea of palliative care is compared to 'turning patients into drug addicts", which is as ridiculous as it is morally repugnant. But because the perception persists, the funding and support of this truly indispensable part of the medical establishment suffers enormously.
But it doesn't need to be like that. There are some truly incredible examples of end-of-life care. I had the opportunity to observe the work of the Jersey Hospice Care team in the Channel Islands, and it is a phenomenal place, to be sure. The care, generosity and kindness their staff show patients and their families are beyond admirable, and it is all provided free of charge. That is down to the charitable contributions the hospice is fortunate enough to receive. But funds don't make an institution. People do. The staff at the Jersey Hospice, from the nurses to the administrative staff, all take very seriously the calling of caring for those in profoundly challenging circumstances.
Rather than seek to change the laws forbidding suicide, which protect the sanctity of life, we should be looking to ensure that those who do have life-challenging conditions - including conditions that are diagnosed as terminal - are treated with the utmost dignity.
It's not the easiest of endeavours, and the reality is that far fewer people want to give their money to care for those who have a limited time to live. Charitable foundations, presumably, have a much easier time raising funds for research into cancer cures, for example, than for caring for those who are already diagnosed as terminal. That is where attention must change, towards recognising that end-of-life care is not a luxury or an optional add-on, but part and parcel of a caring society. No matter what medical condition a human being has, he or she deserves to be treated with respect and decency.
Dr H A Hellyer is a senior nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington DC and the Royal United Services Institute in London
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
- Saturday 15 January: UAE beat Canada by 49 runs
- Thursday 20 January: v England
- Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad:
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles
Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly,
Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya
Shetty, Kai Smith
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
