They say teenage girls are more difficult than teenage boys. If Megan Abbott's Dare Me is anything to go by, parents with girls beware. The all-American girls who form a varsity cheerleading squad at the centre of Abbott's new novel are far from innocent; their spray-tanned skin and bobbing ponytails are a facade for a dark underbelly of scheming and manipulation, feeding off boredom and new-found freedom.
Addy and Beth rule the cheerleading roost. They are best friends but their relationship is strained when a pretty new coach arrives to shake things up. Coach French is a tough taskmaster who quickly gains the squad's admiration and respect. The discipline she demands satisfies a craving for structure within Addy but Beth is threatened, first losing her spot as captain and then as flyer (the girl at the top of the pyramid).
Beneath a thin veil of niceties, a deceptively sophisticated power struggle ensues between Beth and Coach, with Addy caught in the middle. There are no boy crushes to get in the way - this is war.
* Hilary O'Hagan
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The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
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