London and political debates !
( Not linked ! )
Hello everyone !
Welcome to MENA MARKET LAB !
We aim here to bring you regular updates on factors and events impacting financial markets in the Middle East and North Africa region with an accent on foreign exchange and rates.
We also aim to bring reflections on certain topics and subjects, close to recent events, which we think are worth stopping on .
Thank you for your attention !
( Not linked ! )
Before I go to the London part, political debates : we keep hearing at least from those promoting it that AI will " change the world for the better" ! So let's imagine political debates where in real time , AI-Chat GPT will cross check every statement and word proffered by our dear candidates and deliver a quick answer : true or false ! And at the same time of delivering that verdict, a loud buzzer would blast if the statement is false ! It can only work if it is instantaneous ! Imagine how it would resonate with one certain candidate and many others , on both sides, for that matter ! Mrs Harris was not completely honest as well in their only debate .A bit like some channels who censor programs with a bip for every bad word aired. No more conversation or debate possible ! Bip-bip-bip....
Now back to London ..
When my wife was still working in the fashion industry, I would commute back to London from Bahrain and then Dubai on a regular basis . After she left that prestigious brand , she would come more often to Dubai and my trips to London gradually became more spaced out in time to just one trip a year on our way to the Balearic islands.
With distance and time, you tend to notice more easily changes that otherwise would just be incremental !
Good news, nothing has changed, the love relationship between London and the Gulf countries is still as intense as before. The abolition of the VAT Refund program doesn't seem to have hurt business too much.
Sitting at a coffee shop terrace in a quiet ( and fancy) neighbourhood, my attention was drawn by the fact that quite a few cars were passing by ( school run time) but you just didn't hear them or barely ! All electrics! Now we know that London got very popular with cyclists over the past decade and quite a few of them take liberties with the highway code to speed up. True on two wheels, your senses are a bit more on alert than sitting comfortably in a car but lots of them are riding with big headphones. So you are losing your ears as cars are getting more silent . Touch wood !
One of the several points of comparison between Gulf countries, the UAE in particular, and European countries, and here London, besides taxation , is personal safety and security. Not talking about cyclist's safety but small criminality in the street, pickpockets and phone theft . One hears many stories about this and I personally heard it from people who directly experienced it. The police is more or less impotent against that rise in criminality, thieves know the tricks ( they are often minors and will ride bikes or scooters without a helmet ). You, knowing it, are much more careful. You keep your phone in a locked pocket or bag, avoid walking with your phone in hand oblivious to your surroundings. What is striking though is that if you know, others should as well. But it doesn't seem to change their behaviour. Everybody is walking, having a chat or texting or checking medias with barely a concern for what is around ! So is that rise in criminality a myth " a la Trump" or the urge to be glued to one's phone is bigger than the risk of getting it stolen !
Last immigration ! As last year, I was surprised by how many big renovation projects were going through in the same neighbourhood I sit for coffee ( and many others ). Not the light window repainting but big massive renovations with the house being boarded showing the logos of architect-design companies, excavators brought in to dig deep, some times just the outside walls remaining and the rest is gutted. All fine ! Some really need a good revamp and you buy it, you do what you want with it ( beware of the Council though and their drones ). When you walk by those building sites and despite all the English names you can read on the boards, no one speaks English ! High price is not always a guaranty of good quality but I would imagine that when one pays that much money for such big project, a certain quality is deserved and asked. So without all those workers and builders from the East ( mostly ) , nothing would get done ! Immigration still bad ?
Best for the end : when you contact a builder for a project and an estimate, he will ask you for your postcode . Not to find out where he might have to drive for the works : price estimates vary with the postcode. You live in South Kensington, Belgravia or other fancy zones, expect to pay more !
Thank you !
DC