Football fans have a reputation for claiming ownership of certain parts of their city, particularly if that city is shared with another club.
In the dark days of the 1980s in England, when I began to follow Birmingham City, I listened agog as older and tougher fans briefed me over which areas were “Blues” territory and which pitiful few we had not yet bothered to “take” from Aston Villa.
If memory serves, our precious “territory” generally involved hostelries, nightclubs, pool halls and the occasional railway station plus a smattering of key roads, bus routes and shopping precincts.
Unsurprisingly, Birmingham’s central library was never mentioned. It was neutral territory, if you like. A place where Bluenoses and Villans might put aside their differences and chat in peace about the latest Philip Roth novel.
Or perhaps they were simply unaware that Birmingham even had a library. I wouldn’t like to judge.
Either way, you can imagine my surprise when a new territorial row erupted this week – with the library at its heart.
Trouble began when it was announced out of the blue – or should that be claret and blue – that every night until New Year’s Eve the new central library would be lit up in the colours of Aston Villa.
“The library is ours” boasted a headline on the official Aston Villa website. Inevitably, Birmingham City fans were outraged and a growing number are vowing to never set foot in the library again.
Or for the first time.
Frankly, I do not know whether to hang my head in shame at my beloved birth city tearing itself apart over something so petty or be quietly impressed that we have at least moved on to fighting over something more highbrow than a chip shop.
It will be fascinating to see what sort of precedent this sets for other clubs.
Villa's audacious library grab may start a trend for other Premier League clubs laying claim to their nearby cultural jewels.
But which ones would they go for?
Manchester United fans like to call Old Trafford the “Theatre of Dreams”, so perhaps they should bathe every other theatre in the city in red.
Manchester City, meanwhile, is a stellar team with a famous club anthem. Would it really be so hard to colour the moon blue?
Liverpool is blessed with some world-class museums that could be lit up in red. Kopites do enjoy talking about the past quite a lot.
Everton, meanwhile, could colour the River Mersey blue. On cold winter nights it can be very bitter.
The Hull City chairman is not known for his love of local culture and heritage, but he is very keen on looking east so perhaps he’d like to light up every Chinese takeaway in tiger stripes.
And what about London, the most divided city of all?
For moneybags Chelsea, the city’s financial district could be turned blue. Aesthetic Arsenal, meanwhile, could go for the National Portrait Gallery.
And Tottenham Hotspur? Well, there is a circus coming to London in spring. Perhaps they could light up the Big Top.
As for West Ham, they needn’t bother with anything: they have already got Birmingham Central Library.
Oh sorry, my mistake, that is Villa isn’t it? I always get those two mixed up. It must be the shared colour scheme. Or the smug supporters puffed up on sepia-tinged victories from the olden days.
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Children not welcome when adults play a kid’s game
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There are two camps forming over the case of the young Tottenham Hotspur mascot who made fun out of Liverpool’s Luis Suarez at White Hart Lane.
The first camp – mainly supporters of any team apart from Liverpool – believes it is hilarious that Olivia Brown, 10, thumbed her nose at Suarez during the pre-match handshake routine.
Their main argument is that Suarez is a nasty so-and-so who deserves taking down a peg or two.
The second camp – mainly supporters of Liverpool and any Uruguayans who happen to be passing – say that young Olivia showed a shocking lack of respect.
No wonder society is falling apart, they say, when a youngster is actively encouraged to show such a lack of manners. Her father later told how he offered her £20 (Dh120) to pull the stunt.
Personally, I am setting up a third camp. In fact, I set it up years ago, but new members are always welcome.
My camp just wants to get rid of mascots from football matches, full stop.
Children are passion-killers on the football field as well as at home. They have turned the pre-match tunnel routine from pits of snarling tension (think Roy Keane-Patrick Viera) to a prissy photo opportunity.
Children offer immediate perspective.
They remind players that this is just a game and that there are more important things in life than scoring goals. Plus, their physical presence alone is enough to stop the merest hint of a brawl.
In other word, children make adults behave like adults. And that is the last thing we want from our footballers.
Get rid of the real youngsters, I say, and let us just make do with the 22 overgrown ones on the pitch. The results will be far more entertaining than a wee scamp thumbing her nose at a pantomime villain.
sports@thenational.ae
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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.
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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.”
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
The five pillars of Islam
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Director: Matty Brown
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Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
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if you go
The flights
Direct flights from the UAE to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, are available with Air Arabia, (www.airarabia.com) Fly Dubai (www.flydubai.com) or Etihad (www.etihad.com) from Dh1,200 return including taxes. The trek described here started from Jomson, but there are many other start and end point variations depending on how you tailor your trek. To get to Jomson from Kathmandu you must first fly to the lake-side resort town of Pokhara with either Buddha Air (www.buddhaair.com) or Yeti Airlines (www.yetiairlines.com). Both charge around US$240 (Dh880) return. From Pokhara there are early morning flights to Jomson with Yeti Airlines or Simrik Airlines (www.simrikairlines.com) for around US$220 (Dh800) return.
The trek
Restricted area permits (US$500 per person) are required for trekking in the Upper Mustang area. The challenging Meso Kanto pass between Tilcho Lake and Jomson should not be attempted by those without a lot of mountain experience and a good support team. An excellent trekking company with good knowledge of Upper Mustang, the Annaurpuna Circuit and Tilcho Lake area and who can help organise a version of the trek described here is the Nepal-UK run Snow Cat Travel (www.snowcattravel.com). Prices vary widely depending on accommodation types and the level of assistance required.
