Bahrain scores big with human capital
As a country with a rich heritage of education, it is no surprise that the Kingdom of Bahrain Bahrain has been ranked as the top destination in the Arab world after the UAE and 46th globally in the latest edition of the World Bank’s annual Human Capital Index released last week.
The...
Every step closer to the solution
Never has the phrase “Hang In There” been more meaningful. Amidst all the gloom of the pandemic, now entering its seventh month in Bahrain (if you count March 2020 as the first month when the action against COVID-19 was officially mounted), we are seeing a break in the grey clouds, a ...
Foreign investors need to be heard
It is a well-known fact that the GCC countries have historically turned to expatriates to work alongside their nationals in building the modern infrastructure of their countries, post the ‘seventies oil boom. And yet, ex-pat employees are unfortunately the soft target whenever GCC governmen...
Strengthening the sunshine real estate sector
There is no denying that the real estate sector is going through a massive churn in its use and its repositioning as a safe investment zone. A global poll conducted by KPMG shows that 58% of real estate professionals surveyed believe that it will take the industry 5 years to recover to pre-pandem...
Don’t let the mask slip
It is now six months since the dreaded pandemic came to our beloved Bahrain in full force and although we have weathered it reasonably, with full precaution and the implementation of the three Ts – Testing, Tracing, Treatment – it has undoubtedly taken a toll on us all.
Septem...
Teach a nation to fish..
The pandemic has thrown light on the chinks in our armour when it comes to many things – and foremost is food security. Bahrain is lucky that the government has been monitoring the food stocks closely and also ensuring that there is no hoarding or price increase because of the unusual times...
Is common sense very common?
I always wonder how to judge the common sense of a person or of a decision-maker with my little common sense! Starting from Aristotle, so many brilliant social scientists tried to define common sense as sound, practical judgment concerning everyday matters, or a basic ability to perceive, underst...
The new Arab approach
Through millennia, mankind has always valued peace. Wars have been fought to secure peace and the irony of how a desire for peace fans conflict is not lost on any of us. When there is peace, we can all enjoy prosperity and growth. In the Middle East, the canker of Palestinian-Israeli conflict has...
Saving a life in 20 seconds
Take a deep breath. Now hold your breath and count slowly upto twenty. Difficult? Its actually less than that amount of time for a child to drown if left unattended in a swimming pool or water body. In fact, a child need not even be left alone in a pool or by the beach.
She or he can have...
Educational perestroika in the Indian system?
The Indian Cabinet approved the National Education Policy 2020 on July 29, 2020. The New Education Policy of India aims at an education system that contributes to an equitab...
Are you ready for the gyms opening?
Yet another channel for normal life will soon be opening up – the sports and fitness centres. Gyms and sports coaching centres, closed since March this year, have been reeling under losses. They will be opening for business again in August and for fitness enthusiasts, who have missed their ...
Taking our health protocol seriously
We talk so casually about the “new normal” and about “social distancing”. They are trending phrases in conversations and seem to encapsulate our new attitudes and ways of living. Unfortunately, in many cases, that’s all they seem to be: empty words which are disconne...
Dreaming with your eyes open
An important consumer debate is currently ongoing in the Shura Council where a bill is being discussed to limit the mark-up of cost on products purchased on instalment. With over 40% interest built into instalment plans, your purchase of furniture or mobile phone may well be flouting the CBB guid...
Saluting Bahrain’s fight against traffickers
The common image of human trafficking is usually that of women being pushed into vice rings and prostitution and of children being made to work in sweat shops and slavery. That is indeed true of an unfortunate majority of cases – 51% of trafficked persons are women and 28% are children, mos...
Celebrating HH Shaikh Nasser fatherhood in the 21st century
Today is a double-label day. For a few years now, June 21, which signifies the summer solstice or the journey of our life-giving star into the Northern hemisphere of the planet has been celebrated also as International Yoga Day and millions of people around the world together practice the ancient...
Getting ready for the future
The trending phrase these days seems to be ..no, not ‘social distancing’ but ‘new normal’. As governments discuss the re-opening of services, malls, places of worship, these come with a raft of caveats from the mandatory mask and gloves to maintaining the two-metre distanc...
Getting real about land deals
One of the indicators of a country’s economic health, especially in the GCC, where industrial growth is a new phenomenon, is the value of the real estate market.
In many neighbouring countries, the economic stimulus package includes specific points for the real estate sector. I woul...
An introspective Ramadan this year
Ramadan Kareem to all our readers.
For many of us, the Holy Month is a timely gift from Allah, a reminder that even when the world faces shutdown, our souls can still access the healing spiritual presence of the Almighty through discipline.
Stuck in isolation, stripped of the fril...
Price wars – a frag‘oil’ situation?
The oil markets suffer from the double shock of pandemics and politics, which pressured prices to multi-year lows below USD 20 per barrel. The collapse of oil demand is unprecedented, swift and deep.
Official US statistics provide an accurate and timely insight into the status of the oil ...
Videoconferencing and Data Security
“Zoom, the video conferencing app that has become wildly popular during the coronavirus crisis admitted that it had “mistakenly” routed some user data through China.” This news item in the Financial Times of 4 April 2020 said that Zoom “had ‘mistakenly’ a...
The Brunels: A Tribute to the British Engineering Duo
On this day, April 8, exactly 182 years ago, a new service began across the Atlantic, with a new ship. The ’SS Great Western’, was a wooden-hulled paddle-wheel steamship built for the primary purpose of ferrying passengers across the Atlantic Ocean at high-speed.
She was not o...
