Weekend Box: Scotland’s new hope, Royal Mail in crisis & more
Welcome to The Weekend Box, Audley’s weekly round-up of interesting or obscure political, business and cultural news from around the world.
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MORE OF THE SAME?
Humza Yousaf may have beaten out his competitor to become the SNP’s new first minister, but after a bitterly contested race, the hard work to unite the party starts now. Yousaf, who is Scotland’s first Muslim leader and has been branded the “continuity candidate” only squeaked a victory over Kate Forbes by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent on Monday. To many, as Nicola Sturgeon’s unacknowledged favourite and having received the most endorsements from SNP parliamentarians, he represents the old guard of the party.
This was a key area of attack for Kate Forbes, the young centre-right candidate, who argued that ‘more of the same won’t cut it’ in the first televised TV debate. Yousaf will have to persuade his detractors in the party that he is listening to them, although this was not helped this week by Kate Forbes’s rejection of a demotion to rural affairs secretary and subsequent return to the backbenches. There is also no role for the other defeated candidate Ash Regan, leading to criticism that he has filled his cabinet with loyalists – a strategy that many argue led to former PM Liz Truss’s downfall.
Aside from alleviating political in-fighting, developing a new independence strategy will be Yousaf’s great test, following the Supreme Court ruling that holding a referendum without the approval of the UK parliament was not within the Scottish parliament’s powers. How much will he let independence dominate his leadership, and will he go down the Sturgeon route of considering the general election a ‘de facto referendum’? It will also be interesting to see what Yousaf’s strategy will entail when it comes to the Westminster–Holyrood relationship. Will the first minister build bridges or engage in constitutional clashes like that of Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill? All this is yet to be seen but with the fall-out of his cabinet selection and a by-election looming, the new first minister will have to do more to prove Scotland will not see ‘more of the same’.
Image credit/www.president.gov.ua
AUTOCRACY ON THE UP
Researchers at the University of Gothenburg published their annual ‘democracy survey’ recently under an arresting headline. For the first time in more than two decades, the world has more closed autocracies than democracies. In short, the idea of democracy is in retreat. One doesn’t have to look too far to see this might be true.
This week, President Macky Sall of Senegal strengthened his grip on power as the main opposition leader Ousmane Sonko appeared in court on charges that are likely to rule him out of the next presidential elections in February.
A similar scene played out in India, where Rahul Gandhi – leader of India’s Congress party – was convicted on charges that see him face prison and disqualification from next year’s general election.
And Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu paused – but did not drop – legislation that many feel threatens to undermine the only democracy in the Middle East. New limits on the powers of the country’s supreme court, which have seen scores of Israelis from all walks of life take to the streets in protest, have been demanded by Mr Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition partners. But they have the added benefit of helping the prime minister, who is under investigation for corruption, avoid jail and cling to power.
A good time then for President Biden to convene his latest ‘Democracy Summit’ – in reality a two day Zoom call – with a pledge to spend $700 million to strengthen democracy around the world. Yet perhaps his problem is that too many are taking him at his word. “Let us lead not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example”, he said at his inauguration. The trouble is that America’s example has not always been great in recent years.
It will take more than a Zoom call to turn that around.
FIRST CLASS FLOP
For those readers that still treasure posting and receiving letters, the problems at the Royal Mail over the past 12 months will have been felt acutely. Numerous strikes, service delays, and stop-start negotiations have seen relations between Royal Mail management, and the Communication and Workers Union (CWU) reach breaking point. Arguments over pay and working conditions threaten to see another wave of strikes called, if last-ditch talks cannot reach an agreement.
Such are the tensions between management and the union, the Royal Mail had begun to brief the unthinkable: that should pay negotiations fail, the board would seek to declare a form of insolvency and enter administration.
It is unclear what private company - if any - could take over the letter service, given the Universal Service Obligation which ensures the Royal Mail delivers letters six days a week, across the country (with a stamp costing the same, however far you send a letter domestically).
The Royal Mail forms part of the holding company recently renamed International Distribution Services; the other part of the group being the parcels business, GLS. Put simply, the letters business is losing money; the parcels business is not.
It was just 10 years ago that the Royal Mail was part-privatised, in scenes reminiscent of the wave of state-utility privatisations under Margaret Thatcher. And like so many of those privatisations, it is not entirely clear that it has been a total success for customers vs private shareholders. The latter have seemed less keen to support the letters business (and vast swathes of property have been sold off, extracting some of that initial value). In tense scenes in front of the Business Select Committee, the Royal Mail CEO was forced to admit they had been prioritising parcels. Thus, the committee has recommended OFCOM, the regulator, investigate and take action over Royal Mail’s consistent and “systemic failing” to deliver their service obligation. For now, if a deal with workers is not reached, the future of our postal service hangs in the balance.
DAYLIGHT FAILINGS
“The best thing for me to do to not get lost is to wear a watch on the right hand following the new time and a watch on the left hand keeping the old time”, says Mohamad Al Arab, a Lebanese Citizen.
Lebanon has been perched on the edge of the Twilight Zone this week, with the country waking up in two time zones. On Sunday, mass confusion spread throughout Beirut and the rest of the country after the Government decided to delay daylight saving time until the end of Ramadan.
On Thursday via caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced that Lebanon would push the start of daylight savings to April 21, following a leaked video of Mikati and the Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, debating the topic. Berri, who appeared in favour of pushing the time back an hour, stated how it would allow Muslims to break their fast earlier in the day. And so it was decreed.
Despite the government and many state institutions following this mandate, others in the country decided to oppose the decision, following their European neighbours by switching the clocks forward an hour to Daylight Saving. Cue: mass confusion.
Berri-Mikati Time (BMT), or staying 1 hour behind, is being adhered to by the national airline and Lebanon’s phone companies, while many other Muslim-owned businesses manually amended clocks to show the “correct” time. Some organisations took to using two clocks to mitigate confusion.
Despite much quizzical jesting by the Lebanese, (“Even a stopped clock is right four times a day in Lebanon”), the roots of this confusion lie much deeper through Lebanon’s history. Many worried that it could reignite the sectarian divisions of the 15-year war which ended in 1990.
Christian institutions such as the Maronite Church criticised the decision, calling the so-called “Christian Time” and “Muslim Time” both politically and socially divisive. By Monday afternoon PM Mikati, who has repeatedly called for a President to be nominated and lead the country, reversed his decision. But with 2/3 of the population still in poverty, and the IMF warning of further economic instability, it seems that this and other attempts to untangle the country’s woes may still prove to be too hard a knot for the current leadership.
MISBEHAVIOUR STEALS THE SHOW
What’s the most annoying thing you might encounter at the theatre, besides a tedious play? Regarding the behaviour of your fellow audience members, it seems there are no bounds to violating theatre etiquette, good manners or even lawful behaviour. In fact, there’s been a trans-Atlantic competition playing out in New York and London media titles for who has the worst behaved audiences, with readers contributing increasingly ghastly contributions.
According to celebrity gossip email Popbitch, it all started in February with an article in Playbill, ‘Physical Assault, Vomit in the Aisles, Stalking in the Streets: Why Audience Misbehavior Has Gotten Out of Hand’ that was swiftly deleted because the CEO thought it ‘too salacious’ and risked deterring New Yorkers from visiting the theatre. A toned-down article has since been published and two prevailing themes are alcohol-fuelled misbehaviour and use of phones.
Once British titles picked up the challenge and trawled for entries., it seemed we could very much compete. Actors, theatregoers and front of house staff reported similar verbal and physical abuse, exhibitionism and boorish behaviour. Again, alcohol seems to fuel many transgressions, as does individuals seeing themselves as part of the performance. In response, the Ambassador Theatre Group has adjusted its marketing for musicals to remove phrases like ‘dancing in the aisles’, to discourage this notion.
These may be the actions of the few, but the consensus among theatre staff seems to be that there is ever more bad behaviour and an increasing risk to staff when they challenge it. Besides alcohol, some have pointed to the de-socialising effects of the Covid lockdown, but actors and staff have plenty of horror stories from beforehand. And those who might put these down to class or the ‘lowbrow’ world of musicals should consider incidents such as the 12-year-old soprano Malakai M Bayoh being booed in a production of Alcina at the Royal Opera House last year.
Returning to phones, this seems an area of particular concern. Last week, Happy Valley star actor James Norton had naked photos taken at his performance in the new stage production of A Little Life by Hanya Yanaghira published in the Daily Mail. Staff had issued stickers to cover phone lenses and stressed no filming but to no avail. Now many in the theatre world are predicting that theatres will demand phones are locked away during performances.
And that’s it for this week. I hope you found something of interest that you might want to delve into further. If so, please get in touch at cwilkins@audleyadvisors.com.
For now, that’s The Weekend Box officially closed.