Eight years ago this was the newsroom of The National. Gleaming new desks and chairs ready for the journalists (and all their clutter) who would launch the UAE’s new English language newspaper on April 17, 2008.
None of us looked forward very far. The biggest concern was getting that historic first edition off the printing presses and into the hands of readers. Now it is April 2016, and all of us are producing what we proudly believe is the best English language newspaper in the Middle East.
Well, all of us apart from one. This is my last Time Frame, although by no means the last Time Frame. After eight years with The National and more than five years editing and researching the Time Frame series, I am moving on. From next week there will be a new voice, as well as new images from a past that seems to recede at an alarming speed.
To everyone who has enjoyed the weekly series, thank you, and to all those who have helped to contribute with research and images, a special thanks. And long may those once-empty desks remain occupied.
* James Langton
