Frankly Speaking: Has Britain lost its tolerance?

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Updated 22 September 2024
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Frankly Speaking: Has Britain lost its tolerance?

Frankly Speaking: Has Britain lost its tolerance?
  • UK must tackle racists and people who take law into their hands head on, says former Tory chancellor and author of ‘The Boy from Baghdad’ Nadhim Zahawi
  • In wide-ranging interview, Zahawi describes PM Starmer’s decision to remove Margaret Thatcher’s portrait from office as “vindictive” and “petty” behavior

DUBAI: Britain is still the most tolerant place on earth, but it must tackle head on both the scourge of racism in society and those who are intent upon taking the law into their own hands, former Conservative MP and minister Nadhim Zahawi said.

His remarks follow a summer of unrest in the UK, where a knife attack in the town of Southport that killed three children and injured 10 sparked nationwide riots, exploited by far-right fringe groups to whip up hatred against immigrants.

“We have to address the racists head-on,” said Zahawi, appearing on the first episode of the new season of the Arab News current affairs program “Frankly Speaking.”

“And I think it’s important that we send a very clear message that taking things into your own hands and going out and antagonizing, bullying, beating people just because of their background or color is completely unacceptable.

“And we have to deliver that message very, very clearly. It’s incumbent on the leadership, from the prime minister down, to do that.”




In his new memoir, “The Boy from Baghdad,” Zahawi chronicles his family’s escape from the regime of Saddam Hussein in the 1970s. (Arab News photo)

Zahawi, who was a Conservative member of parliament for Stratford-upon-Avon from 2010 to 2024 and who served as chancellor of the exchequer in Boris Johnson’s cabinet, also spoke of his own struggles growing up in the UK as an Iraqi refugee.

In his new memoir, “The Boy from Baghdad,” Zahawi chronicles his family’s escape from the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein in the late 1970s, the struggles of building a new life in Britain, and the onset of serious financial difficulties.

“I talk about my sort of impostor feeling that just because I came from a privileged family background in Iraq, landing in the UK in 1978-79, but not having the same financial struggles as, say, a refugee today that would land in the UK,” he said.

“We had different financial struggles much later on, which I address in the book, and pretty dire ones, including the bank taking away our home. But because of success and maybe because I don’t conform to the stereotype of what brown people should do in politics in the UK, that they should be socialist or they should be leftwing Labour.”

Indeed, Zahawi also had to contend with racial discrimination. Does he believe Britain has always had a racism problem?




A knife attack in the town of Southport that killed three children sparked riots nationwide. (AFP)

“In the 1980s, it was very different to today, including my own party,” he said. “I think the Conservative Party of the ’80s was a bit of a closed shop for people of my background, but I persevered.

“There are always going to be elements of racism. But I think, if you look at the evidence, the UK has dealt with it in a much better way than pretty much every other country around us in Europe.”

Because of his own experiences as a refugee who made his fortune and rose to the front bench of politics, it seems somewhat jarring that he would go on to support the Conservative government’s scheme to deport failed asylum-seekers to Rwanda.

“So, let me just unpack some of that,” said Zahawi.

“The net increase in migration into the UK was about 740,000 people last year. Clearly, our public services cannot cope with a city the size of Bath being built every year to be able to accommodate that level of migration.

“We’ve been promising, prime minister after prime minister, that we would bring down migration numbers. David Cameron said it would be tens of thousands. It has gone on one trajectory, and that’s up. And that has to be our priority, this government’s priority.”

Of particular concern to UK authorities — and especially to those who took part in the summer’s rioting — are the irregular migrants arriving in Britain on small boats, crossing the English Channel from northern France.

“Forty thousand are coming in illegally on these small boats,” said Zahawi. “Now, the problem with that is ... the unfairness of that, the perception that this is really bad, it’s unfair. Why should these people get to jump the queue to come into the UK? That poisons the well of goodwill with the British public. And so, Rwanda, in my view, was a good deterrent.”




King Charles paying tribute to the victims in Southport. (AFP)

Owing to repeated defeats in the UK’s highest courts over its human rights implications, the Rwanda scheme never got off the ground, and was immediately scrapped by the new Labour administration, which has pledged to tackle the smuggling gangs at the source.

If Europe wants to prevent hundreds of millions of migrants arriving on its doorstep, however, Zahawi says governments would do well to imitate the development agendas of the UAE, China, and others in helping countries in Africa and beyond to stabilize and prosper.

“In Libya and anything south of Libya, there are about half a billion people who will come under pressure and are capable of movement for political reasons, for environmental reasons, or economic reasons,” he said.

“Clearly, Europe cannot absorb half a billion people. So, we have to have some really serious work done upstream in those countries to stabilize them, to allow them to become prosperous.

“The UAE is doing a lot of that work. We should look at what they’re doing and see if we can partner with them, because the work they’re doing in Africa is second only to China and the investment China is making in Africa.”

In July, Zahawi’s party, under the leadership of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, suffered the worst election defeat in the party’s 190-year history, losing to Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour by a landslide.




Of particular concern to UK authorities are the irregular migrants arriving in Britain on small boats. (AFP)

Despite pledging to put “country first, party second,” Sir Keir has already ruffled feathers among his Tory rivals after deciding to remove a portrait of Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher from his office at 10 Downing Street.

Although he denied moving the portrait for ideological or party political reasons, opponents have used the new PM’s choice of decor to accuse him of pettiness. “I just think this sort of, dare I say, vindictive type behavior,” said Zahawi. “I thought it’s petty, honestly.”

In early September, Zahawi faced a backlash of his own after posting a photograph on social media of a homeless person sleeping on the pavement in Mayfair, one of the British capital’s wealthiest neighborhoods.

Although Zahawi insists he was merely drawing attention to the high rates of rough sleeping, critics pointed out that homelessness had risen significantly under Conservative rule, and attacked Zahawi’s personal wealth.

“I just happened to be walking through Hertford Street, and I saw this poor, tragic human being lying on the pavement in the morning, and I wanted to highlight that this really is an issue. And it’s heartbreaking,” said Zahawi.

“But then you’ve got the Twitter pile-on from the lefties, who then attack your success, as if I’m somehow affronted by this just because it happens to be Mayfair. No.”




Zahawi appeared on the first episode of the new season of the Arab News current affairs program “Frankly Speaking.”

Zahawi says he is concerned the scale of rough sleeping on London’s streets, combined with rates of crime and antisocial behavior, leaves foreign visitors with a bad impression.

“The perception around the world, in the UAE, of their citizens going to England and getting mugged or hurt by some of these criminal gangs, at the moment is reaching a level that I think is deeply damaging to the image of the UK and to London,” he said.

Another recent controversy involved Zahawi’s stance on Iraq. Although he did not have a hand in the UK’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003 — indeed, this was the work of a Labour government, and long predated Zahawi’s election to parliament — the Guardian newspaper criticized him for refusing to condemn the war in his new memoir.

Zahawi has since clarified that he supported the toppling of Saddam, but not the way the post-war situation was handled. Indeed, analysts are united in the view that these failures led directly to the emergence of Daesh.

“What Saddam did to the Kurds and the Shiite community in the south was abominable,” he said, referring to the regime’s successive bouts of repression.

“It was murderous. It was criminal. The Anfal program alone is responsible for 182,000 innocent souls being murdered, 4,000 Kurdish villages burnt to the ground. And so I think it’s only right that the world helped these unfortunate souls, these communities, depose such an evil tyrant.

“Post war, I think actually we really made a terrible error of judgment. And I would very easily explain to those interested that I think Tony Blair should have been much more robust to our most important ally, the US, by saying, look, show me the plan.”




Britain is still the most tolerant place on earth, Zahawi told Arab News. (AFP)

He highlighted the de-Baathification campaign and the disbanding of the Iraqi army as particularly grave errors that sparked the extremist insurgency that followed.

“You send home 700,000 men with no hope of a job, no way to put food on the table, and a gun in their pocket. What do you think is going to happen? The end is Daesh. That was a terrible, terrible decision,” he said.

“It’s right to be able to almost disaggregate those two things and say, actually, the removal of an evil dictator was right. But we never really planned for the day after properly. And we have to take part of that responsibility in the UK.”

Returning to domestic affairs, Zahawi says he is concerned about the prospect of growth in the UK economy unless the tax burden can be reduced, inflation brought under control, and the flight of wealthy individuals abroad can be stemmed.

“If you really care about the British economy, why are you exporting talent? Second only to China in losing millionaires,” he said.

“Now, I know wealth is not the only proxy, as I said, to talent. But it’s a pretty good proxy. And we’re only second to China in losing people to Abu Dhabi and Dubai and elsewhere around the world. And we’re importing low-skilled labor.”

Having stood down ahead of the last general election, Zahawi is now free to return to his business ventures. One new acquisition he is said to be keen on is The Daily Telegraph — one of the Western world’s oldest conservative-leaning publications.

“It would be an honor and a privilege to lead a great newspaper like The Daily Telegraph and it is one of our great products,” he said.




Zahawi was a Conservative member of parliament for Stratford-upon-Avon from 2010 to 2024 and served as chancellor of the exchequer in Boris Johnson’s cabinet. (AFP)

The sale has met with controversy, however, after a UAE-backed bid to buy the paper was effectively blocked when the UK government published proposed laws banning foreign states or government officials from holding any direct stakes in newspaper assets.

Although he remains in the running to buy the paper, Zahawi feels the country was sending out the wrong signal. “The UK should always be open for business,” he said.

“The way you protect particular sectors of the economy, if they require protection, whether it’s nuclear or media, is through regulation, good regulation, not legislation.”

 


South Korea president says ‘not ruling out’ direct weapons to Ukraine

South Korea president says ‘not ruling out’ direct weapons to Ukraine
Updated 4 sec ago
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South Korea president says ‘not ruling out’ direct weapons to Ukraine

South Korea president says ‘not ruling out’ direct weapons to Ukraine
SEOUL: Major arms exporter South Korea is not ruling out providing weapons directly to Ukraine, President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday, signalling a possible shift in Seoul’s stance on the issue.
Yoon also revealed he had discussed North Korea with US president-elect Donald Trump in a phone conversation that laid the groundwork for a meeting in the “near future.”
South Korea has a long-standing policy of not providing weapons to countries in conflict but indicated that could change in light of Pyongyang’s deployment of troops to Russia to aid its war efforts in Ukraine.
“Now, depending on the level of North Korean involvement, we will gradually adjust our support strategy in phases,” Yoon said at a press conference in Seoul.
“This means we are not ruling out the possibility of providing weapons.”
North Korea has become one of the most vocal and important backers of Russia’s full-scale offensive in Ukraine.
Seoul and the West have long accused Pyongyang of supplying artillery shells and missiles to Moscow for use in Ukraine.
The latest accusations, based on intelligence reports, indicate the North has deployed around 10,000 troops to Russia, suggesting even deeper involvement in the conflict and triggering an outcry and warnings in Seoul, Kyiv, and Western capitals.
Yoon said his office would monitor unfolding developments related to the operations of North Korean soldiers, and if he decided to provide weapons to Kyiv, the initial batch would be defensive.
“If we proceed with weapons support, we would prioritize defensive weapons as a first consideration,” he said without elaborating further.
US-Korea relations
In a call with Trump that took place before the press briefing, Yoon said the two men had discussed a number of issues surrounding North Korea while agreeing to a face-to-face meeting.
“We agreed to meet in the near future... I believe there will be an opportunity to meet within this year,” Yoon said.
Among the topics discussed were recent moves by the North, including its sending of trash-carrying balloons southward, he said.
“Regarding North Korea, we addressed issues such as the launching of over 7,000 trash balloons, GPS jamming, and their indiscriminate firing of ICBMs, IRBMs and SRBMs,” Yoon said, referring to a recent flurry of missile tests.
Compared with his dovish predecessor Moon Jae-in, Yoon has taken a tough stance with the nuclear-armed North while improving ties with security ally Washington.
Since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s second summit with then-president Trump collapsed in Hanoi in 2019, Pyongyang has abandoned diplomacy, doubling down on weapons development and rejecting Washington’s offers of talks.
While in office, Trump met with Kim three times, beginning with a landmark summit in Singapore in June 2018, though the pair failed to make much progress on efforts to denuclearise the North.
During the campaign, Trump said: “I think he misses me,” and that it was “nice to get along with somebody that has a lot of nuclear weapons.”
In a commentary released in July, North Korea said that while it was true Trump tried to reflect the “special personal relations” between the heads of states, he “did not bring about any substantial positive change.”

2024 ‘virtually certain’ to be hottest year on record: EU monitor

2024 ‘virtually certain’ to be hottest year on record: EU monitor
Updated 07 November 2024
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2024 ‘virtually certain’ to be hottest year on record: EU monitor

2024 ‘virtually certain’ to be hottest year on record: EU monitor
  • Copernicus said 2024 would likely be more than 1.55 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 average — the period before the industrial-scale burning of fossil fuels
  • Scientists say the safer 1.5C limit is rapidly slipping out of reach, while stressing that every tenth of a degree of temperature rise heralds progressively more damaging impacts

PARIS: This year is “virtually certain” to be the hottest in recorded history with warming above 1.5C, EU climate monitor Copernicus said Thursday, days before nations are due to gather for crunch UN climate talks.
The European agency said the world was passing a “new milestone” of temperature records that should serve to accelerate action to cut planet-heating emissions at the UN negotiations in Azerbaijan next week.
Last month, marked by deadly flooding in Spain and Hurricane Milton in the United States, was the second hottest October on record, with average global temperatures second only to the same period in 2023.
Copernicus said 2024 would likely be more than 1.55 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 average — the period before the industrial-scale burning of fossil fuels.
This does not amount to a breach of the Paris deal, which strives to limit global warming to below 2C and preferably 1.5C, because that is measured over decades and not individual years.
“It is now virtually certain that 2024 will be the warmest year on record and the first year of more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels,” said Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Deputy Director Samantha Burgess.
“This marks a new milestone in global temperature records and should serve as a catalyst to raise ambition for the upcoming Climate Change Conference, COP29.”

The UN climate negotiations in Azerbaijan, which will set the stage for a new round of crucial carbon-cutting targets, will take place in the wake of the United States election victory by Donald Trump.
Trump, a climate change denier, pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement during his first presidency — and while his successor Joe Biden took the United States back in, he has threatened to do so again.
Meanwhile, average global temperatures have reached new peaks, as have concentrations of planet-heating gases in the atmosphere.
Scientists say the safer 1.5C limit is rapidly slipping out of reach, while stressing that every tenth of a degree of temperature rise heralds progressively more damaging impacts.
Last month the UN said the current pace of climate action would result in a catastrophic 3.1C of warming this century, while all current climate pledges taken in full would still amount to a devastating 2.6C temperature rise.
Global warming is not just about rising temperatures, but the knock-on effect of all the extra heat in the atmosphere and seas.
Warmer air can hold more water vapor, and warmer oceans mean greater evaporation, resulting in more intense downpours and storms.
In a month of weather extremes, October saw above-average rainfall across swathes of Europe, as well as parts of China, the US, Brazil and Australia, Copernicus said.
The US is also experiencing ongoing drought, which affected record numbers of people, the EU monitor added.
Copernicus said average sea surface temperatures in the area it monitors were the second highest on record for the month of October.
C3S uses billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations to aid its calculations.
Copernicus records go back to 1940 but other sources of climate data such as ice cores, tree rings and coral skeletons allow scientists to expand their conclusions using evidence from much deeper in the past.
Climate scientists say the period being lived through right now is likely the warmest the earth has been for the last 100,000 years, back at the start of the last Ice Age.


US, China must ‘get along’, Xi tells Trump

US, China must ‘get along’, Xi tells Trump
Updated 25 min 10 sec ago
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US, China must ‘get along’, Xi tells Trump

US, China must ‘get along’, Xi tells Trump
  • Trump’s crushing presidential victory heralded a possible shift in US-China relations
  • Both Republican Trump and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris had pledged to get tougher on Beijing

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday said Beijing and Washington must find a way to “get along” in a message to US president-elect Donald Trump, state media said.
Trump’s crushing presidential victory heralded a new era of uncertainty in the United States and the world.
It also heralded a possible shift in US-China relations, frayed in recent years by tensions over everything from trade to the status of the self-ruled island of Taiwan.
In a congratulatory message to Trump, Xi “pointed out that history has shown that China and the United States benefit from cooperation and suffer from confrontation,” state broadcaster CCTV said.
“A stable, healthy and sustainable China-US relationship is in the common interest of both countries and is in line with the expectations of the international community,” Xi said.
He called for Washington and Beijing to “strengthen dialogue and communication” and “properly manage differences.”
The two countries must “find a correct way... to get along in this new era, to benefit both countries and the world,” Xi said.
Both Republican Trump and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris had pledged to get tougher on Beijing.
But Trump upped the ante, vowing to slap 60-percent tariffs on all Chinese goods entering the United States.
That proposal could hit $500 billion worth of Chinese exports, asset managers PineBridge Investments have suggested.
In his first message to Trump since the former president secured a second term in office, Chinese leader Xi said he hoped “that both sides will uphold the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.”
Chinese Vice President Han Zheng also sent a message to vice president-elect JD Vance, CCTV said.


Record drought in Amazon impacts 420,000 children: UNICEF

Record drought in Amazon impacts 420,000 children: UNICEF
Updated 07 November 2024
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Record drought in Amazon impacts 420,000 children: UNICEF

Record drought in Amazon impacts 420,000 children: UNICEF

RIO DE JANEIRO: More than 420,000 children in the Amazon basin are being badly affected by a drought parching much of South America that is impacting water supplies and river transport, UNICEF said Wednesday.
The record-breaking drought is taking a toll on Indigenous and other communities in Brazil, Colombia and Peru reliant on boat connections, the UN agency said.
“We are witnessing the devastation of an essential ecosystem that families rely on, leaving many children without access to adequate food, water, health care and schools,” UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said in a statement.
The resulting food insecurity increased the risk of child malnutrition, the agency said, while less access to drinking water could spur a rise in infectious diseases.
In Brazil’s Amazon region alone, more than 1,700 schools and more than 760 medical clinics had to close or became inaccessible because of low river levels.
In Colombia’s Amazon, lack of drinking water and food forced 130 schools to suspend classes. In Peru, more than 50 clinics were inaccessible.
UNICEF said it needs $10 million in coming months to help the stricken communities in those three countries, including by providing water and sending out health brigades.
Weather observation agencies such as NASA’s Earth Observatory and the EU’s Copernicus service say the drought across the Amazon basin since the latter half of last year was caused by the 2023-2024 El Nino climate phenomenon in the Pacific.
Brazilian experts said the climate crisis was also to blame.
The insufficient rain and shrinking of the vital rainforest’s rivers exacerbated forest fires, disrupted hydroelectric power generation and dried out crops in parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.


Thousands ordered to evacuate as powerful wind-fed wildfire burns homes in Southern California

Thousands ordered to evacuate as powerful wind-fed wildfire burns homes in Southern California
Updated 07 November 2024
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Thousands ordered to evacuate as powerful wind-fed wildfire burns homes in Southern California

Thousands ordered to evacuate as powerful wind-fed wildfire burns homes in Southern California

CAMARILLO, California: California was lashed by powerful winds Wednesday that fed a fast-moving wildfire, which destroyed dozens of homes and forced thousands of residents to flee as forecasters warned of the potential for “extreme and life-threatening” blazes.
Northwest of Los Angeles, the Mountain Fire exploded in size and prompted evacuation orders for more than 10,000 people as it threatened 3,500 structures in suburban communities, ranches and agricultural areas around Camarillo, according to a statement from Gov. Gavin Newsom. He said he has requested federal assistance for the area east of the Pacific coast city of Ventura.
The blaze was burning in a region that has seen some of California’s most destructive fires over the years. A thick plume of smoke rose hundreds of feet into the sky Wednesday, blanketing whole neighborhoods and limiting visibility for firefighters and evacuees. The fire grew from less than half of a square mile to 16 square miles (62 square kilometers) in little more than five hours.
Ventura County Fire Captain Trevor Johnson described crews racing with their engines to homes threatened by the flames to save lives.
“This is as intense as it gets. The hair on the back of the firefighters’ neck I’m sure was standing up,” he said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
At one spot, flames licked the burning remains of a home. Its roof was reduced to only a few charred shingles.
Two people suffered apparent smoke inhalation and were taken to hospitals, fire officials said. No firefighters reported significant injuries.
The erratic winds and limited visibility grounded fixed-wing aircraft, and gusts topped 61 mph (98 kph), said weather service meteorologist Bryan Lewis. Water-dropping helicopters were still flying.
First responders pleaded with residents to evacuate. Deputies made contact with 14,000 people to urge them to leave as embers spread up to 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) away and sparked new flames.
“This fire is moving dangerously fast,” Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said.
Aerial footage from local television networks showed dozens of homes in flames across several neighborhoods as embers were whipped from home to home. Other footage captured horses trotting alongside evacuating vehicles.
Jade Katz, who said she is disabled and does not drive, waited for a friend to pick her up near her Camarillo Heights home with a suitcase full of medication and Bella, her Great Dane service dog. But the friend couldn’t reach her, so first responders sent a squad car to escort her to safety as she watched the neighborhood burn.
Officials said they were using all resources, including water-dropping helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft dropping fire retardant, but it was still burning out of control Wednesday afternoon. Andrew Dowd, a Ventura County fire spokesperson, said he did not have details of how many structures had been damaged.
Gus Garcia, who owns a ranch south of the fire, said he’s waiting to see whether conditions will change to decide if he should evacuate his horses and cattle. Around 12:30 p.m., his animals were still safe and he was trying to stay out of the way as others got their livestock out.
His ranch is surrounded by others with horses and alpaca, and Garcia said his neighbors in the canyon did not seem panicked.
“The horse community, they prepare for this because it’s always a possibility up here,” he said.
Meanwhile to the south, Los Angeles County Fire Department crews scrambled to contain a wildfire near Malibu’s Broad Beach as authorities briefly shut down the Pacific Coast Highway as flames burned near multimillion-dollar properties. Residents were urged to shelter in place while aircraft dropped water on the 50-acre (20-hectare) Broad Fire. It was 15 percent contained around 12:30 p.m. with forward progress stopped. Fire officials said two structures burned.
The National Weather Service office for the Los Angeles area amended its red flag warning for increased fire danger with a rare “particularly dangerous situation” label, and officials in several counties urged residents to be on watch for fast-spreading blazes, power outages and downed trees amid the latest round of notorious Santa Ana winds.
With predicted gusts between 50 mph (80 kph) and 100 mph (160 kph) and humidity levels as low as 8 percent, parts of Southern California could experience conditions ripe for “extreme and life-threatening” fire behavior into Thursday, the weather service said.
Forecasters also issued red flag warnings until Thursday from California’s central coast through the San Francisco Bay Area and into counties to the north, where strong winds were also expected.
Utilities in California began powering down equipment during high winds and extreme fire danger after a series of massive and deadly wildfires in recent years were sparked by electrical lines and other infrastructure. On Wednesday, more than 65,000 customers in Southern California were without power preventatively, and upwards of 20,000 in Northern California.
Wednesday’s fires were burning in the same areas of other recent destructive fires, including the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which killed three people and destroyed 1,600 homes near Los Angeles, and the the 2017 Thomas Fire, which destroyed more than a thousand homes and other structures in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Southern California Edison has paid tens of millions of dollars to settle claims after its equipment was blamed for both blazes.