As Britain lurches shakily towards the European Union exit door, the country’s most senior diplomatic figure, the foreign minister Boris Johnson, has once again been caught using decidedly undiplomatic language.
London’s former mayor has a formidable record of resorting to insulting jibes.
In a 2007 newspaper article, he described Hillary Clinton as having “dyed blonde hair and pouty lips, and a steely blue stare, like a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital”.
Last year, he won a £1,000 (Dh4,610) poetry prize for a bawdy limerick poking fun at the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
And now, after warnings that Britain faces a heavy price for EU withdrawal, he accuses the French president Francois Hollande of wanting to “administer punishment beatings to anybody who seeks to escape, in the manner of some World War Two movie”.
The British prime minister Theresa May believes the shocked response, in which Mr Johnson’s comment was called “crass” and “abhorrent”, has been exaggerated. It was no more than a “theatrical comparison” and no one was really being likened to a Nazi, Mrs May’s spokeswoman claims implausibly.
Mr Hollande, who for all his failings bears not the slightest resemblance to a Nazi guard, may feel himself to be in both good and bad company.
As one of Barack Obama’s admirers, he may have been aghast when Mr Johnson asked whether removing a bust of Winston Churchill from the White House “was a symbol of the part-Kenyan president's ancestral dislike of the British Empire”.
But perhaps Mr Hollande allowed himself a smile at Mr Johnson’s barbed riposte to Donald Trump’s idea – a wretched one, but one he has acted upon since taking office – of stopping Muslims entering the United States. Mr Trump spoke in 2015 of needing to avoid the supposed fate of London and Paris, where police were “afraid for their lives” in Muslim-dominated no-go districts.
“The only reason I wouldn't visit some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump,” Mr Johnson retorted. He also recalled being mistaken for Mr Trump in a New York street as “one of the worst moments”.
For many public figures, especially those such as Mr Johnson who have worked in the media, recourse to hyperbole and sarcasm comes naturally.
They fail to see the offence that may be caused and are prepared to tough it out, or plead light-hearted intent, if criticised.
Social media, with unfettered opportunities for instant put-downs, undoubtedly bears a heavy responsibility for degenerating standards of debate.
Mr Trump is a past master of shoot-from-the-hip tweeting. He needs no lessons from a clever if occasionally clownish British politician; worse, his presidency began in ugly fashion amid suspicions of fake news generated by him or allies, intemperate attacks on the media and the phenomenon of “alternative facts”.
This unfortunate phrase was uttered by Mr Trump’s adviser, Kellyanne Conway, when grasping for a distinction between outright lie and counter-assertion.
As 2017 opens with the certainty of polls – in France, Germany, the Netherlands and beyond – as bitter as Brexit and the US presidential contest, the outlook for dignified political exchanges is unpromising.
But at least arguments about news manipulation have had one positive effect.
From CNN we learn that the furore over alleged untruths emanating from the Trump camp has helped inspire a new surge in sales of Nineteen Eighty-Four. Nearly 70 years have passed since George Orwell’s bleak satire first portrayed a totalitarian society in which the ministries of truth, peace, plenty and love deal respectively with peddling lies, running wars, ensuring perpetual poverty and torturing dissidents.
Colin Randall is a former executive editor of The National
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Fasset%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2019%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mohammad%20Raafi%20Hossain%2C%20Daniel%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%242.45%20million%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2086%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Pre-series%20B%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Investcorp%2C%20Liberty%20City%20Ventures%2C%20Fatima%20Gobi%20Ventures%2C%20Primal%20Capital%2C%20Wealthwell%20Ventures%2C%20FHS%20Capital%2C%20VN2%20Capital%2C%20local%20family%20offices%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Last 10 NBA champions
2017: Golden State bt Cleveland 4-1
2016: Cleveland bt Golden State 4-3
2015: Golden State bt Cleveland 4-2
2014: San Antonio bt Miami 4-1
2013: Miami bt San Antonio 4-3
2012: Miami bt Oklahoma City 4-1
2011: Dallas bt Miami 4-2
2010: Los Angeles Lakers bt Boston 4-3
2009: Los Angeles Lakers bt Orlando 4-1
2008: Boston bt Los Angeles Lakers 4-2
EMIRATES'S%20REVISED%20A350%20DEPLOYMENT%20SCHEDULE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEdinburgh%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20November%204%20%3Cem%3E(unchanged)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBahrain%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20November%2015%20%3Cem%3E(from%20September%2015)%3C%2Fem%3E%3B%20second%20daily%20service%20from%20January%201%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EKuwait%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20November%2015%20%3Cem%3E(from%20September%2016)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMumbai%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20January%201%20%3Cem%3E(from%20October%2027)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAhmedabad%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20January%201%20%3Cem%3E(from%20October%2027)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EColombo%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20January%202%20%3Cem%3E(from%20January%201)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMuscat%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cem%3E%20%3C%2Fem%3EMarch%201%3Cem%3E%20(from%20December%201)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ELyon%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20March%201%20%3Cem%3E(from%20December%201)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBologna%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20March%201%20%3Cem%3E(from%20December%201)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3ESource%3A%20Emirates%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Abu Dhabi card
5pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 2,400m
5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 2,200m
6pm: Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 1,400m
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Colts Classic Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 1,400m
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh85,000 1,600m
7.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
The National selections:
5pm: Valcartier
5.30pm: AF Taraha
6pm: Dhafra
6.30pm: Maqam
7pm: AF Mekhbat
7.30pm: Ezz Al Rawasi
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN MARITIME DISPUTE
2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.
2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus
2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.
2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: BorrowMe (BorrowMe.com)
Date started: August 2021
Founder: Nour Sabri
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: E-commerce / Marketplace
Size: Two employees
Funding stage: Seed investment
Initial investment: $200,000
Investors: Amr Manaa (director, PwC Middle East)