RGBB News Spring 2010

FROM THE CHAIR

O

n 15 March the RGBB held its Annual General Meeting and I am honoured to have been re-appointed Chairman for a further year. Following the elections the Board members will be, for the year 2010/11, as follows: • • • • • • • Owain Raw-Rees Chairman

Luke Bowen – Magazine.

Laurie Callow – Special Briefings.

Marcus Cleverton – Deputy Chairman.

Ian Crawford – Events.

Ian Hay – Treasurer.

Nicola Quick – Special Interest Groups.

Gary Richardson – Sports.

I extend my congratulations to the Board on their election and thank them for their continued commitment to the RGBB. I would extend a particular welcome to Laurie Callow who is new to the Board and wish him every success.

At the AGM I submitted a review of the activities of the RGBB over the past 12 month the vast majority of which have been recorded in this and in previous issues of RGBB News. Suffice it to say that all aspects of the RGBB have been successful and all credit is due to the Board and the members of the RGBB, who now number in excess of 350, for their hard work.

One of the highlights of the year was the recent Golf Tournament. The whole day was a great success and I would make a special note of the hard work of Gary Richardson and his team. The event raised SR250,000 - an amazing amount - which the RGBB was delighted to present to Lady Patey, the Patron of International Children In Need Group (ICING).

From past experience I know that this money will be well spent and the support of the membership of the RGBB for such events is greatly appreciated. At the AGM I was especially pleased to present to Gary a presentation plaque in acknowledgement of his hard work.

Contents From the Chair ..........................1 BBA Notes.................................5 BBG Notes ................................7 SIG Update................................8 Healthcare SIG........................11 Aviation SIG ............................13 Ladies in Aviation ....................15 Special Briefing John Sfakianakis .....................16 Special Briefing Lord Mayor ..............................19 RGBB Sports...........................20 RGBB Open Photos ................22 Golf Ball Photos.......................24 ICING .....................................27 Members Hobbies John Lawton ............................28 Community News ....................30 Schools are schools are schools .............................32 International Award for Young People..........................35 UK Taxation of Expats.............36 UK Gossip ...............................38 Take your car to UK ................40 Sudoku ....................................41 Letters to the Edit ....................43 Welcome new members..........43 And Finally...............................44

Advertisers Our thanks to the following advertisers. Without their support we could not publish.

Please give them yours AASC.......................................12 Arabian Homes..........................6 AlKhozama Hotel.....................18 AMEX ......................................26 AXA ..........................................9 BA............................................42 BAE Systems ..........................38 BMI ....................................... IFC British School Riyadh ..............33 InterContinental Hotel............IBC SABB ..........Outside Back Cover SESE.......................................10 Sheraton Hotel ........................17 Spacemaker ..............................4 RGBB News 1

Another presentation made earlier during the week was a pair of binoculars to our Ambassador Sir William Patey to mark the end of his tour of duty here in Riyadh. I hope that the binoculars will be of use during his new appointment as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Afghanistan. Sir William and his team at the Embassy have been and are highly supportive of the RGBB and on behalf of the RGBB I was able to thank him for this support. The RGBB and the greater British community have all benefited from his and Lady Patey’s generous hospitality, especially in allowing their home and gardens to be continuously used for various events.

In addition to supporting ICING the RGBB has continued to engage with and support activities in the community - British International School – especially the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme Games; the Sheraton Charity Bike Ride; .the Embassy Haiti Disaster Appeal; the SANGCOM Fun Run (Help For Heroes) and also the English Society.

As noted the membership now stands at over 350 and the activities of the RGBB have all increased. These increases have had a substantial impact on the administration required to manage the RGBB. To address this issue a review is being conducted of the status of the RGBB and the way in which it is managed. The current online questionnaire is part of this process and will contribute to this review. Key factors to bear in mind when considering the activities of the RGBB are the limitations of space, time and resources. However, and notwithstanding such limitations I am sure that, looking forward, with the active commitment of the Board and the engagement of membership the RGBB will have continued success and benefit British business by business and social means.

The new RGBB Board with Secretary Jane Brierley and Embassy representative Paul Williams

RGBB News 2

BBA

Notes from the Eastern Chair

F

irst let me wish you all a belated Happy New Year and hope it brings good fortune to all. I must say, 2010 is passing us by very quickly with temperatures now starting to ramp up towards the summer months and before long we will be planning for the festive season again! I don’t know where the time goes.

On the business front we have continued with our successful series of monthly dinners. In November, it was a pleasure to host Mutlaq Al-Morished, CFO, Sabic who presented a very interesting overview of Sabic’s forward thinking. This was followed in February with a review of the development of the mining industry in Saudi Arabia with specific reference to Ma’aden. This was presented by Dr Abdullah Al-Dabbagh, President and CEO of Ma’aden Geoff Fennah MBE who has been involved with the development of the mining industry since its inception and as Chairman, British Business Association a result was able to provide a good insight into what is a relatively new industrial sector in the Eastern Province Saudi Arabian economy.

As we move into March we are looking forward to supporting British Trade Office (BTO) with their annual British Week which looks like being another excellent event with a number of trade missions participating from UK. BBA will be making a contribution to the proceedings by arranging a celebrity dinner with guest speaker Tommy Docherty (ex Manchester United,

Chelsea, Porto and Scotland) as part of the activities.

On the social scene we held the joint BBA / BBBF Poppy Ball at the Crowne Plaza, Bahrain on 12 November 09 and it was a pleasure to host both His Excellency HMA to Saudi Arabia, Sir William Patey and His Excellency HMA to Bahrain, Jamie Bowden as well as three Chelsea Pensioners. Over 250 attended the event and a great time was had by all. It was especially pleasing to be able to raise and donate BD4,963 (SR50,000) to the nominated charities in UK. In February, we again joined forces with BBBF to try a new venture and held a very successful Golf Day at the Royal Golf Club Riffa, Bahrain.

The event was enjoyed by all who participated so the plan is to now make this an annual event on the social calendar.

I would like to also remind everyone about the reciprocal arrangement that has been established between the Gulf British business groups and cordially invite any visiting members from other groups to join us at any of our functions. If you need to contact us then feel free to call me directly, send an e-mail to our Secretary (Pamela) at bbaalkhobar@atheer.net.sa or via the website www.bbaep.com Geoff Fennah Chairman, EPBBA

RGBB News 5

BBG

Notes from the BBG in Jeddah

Brian Hawley Chairman 2008-9, British Business Group Jeddah

Dear friends, I am sad to say this will be my last Chairman’s Message for the RGBB News. As I am sure most of you will have heard, I am standing down this year.

It has been both an honour and a pleasure to have chaired the BBG over the last few years, and a great privilege to have worked with such a distinguished and effective committee, as well as with our friends at the British Consulate-General and British Embassy. One thing I have learned on the BBG committee is that it is not as easy as it may seem at first glance. Being an effective committee member requires a significant time-commitment and a considerable amount of hard work. Another thing I have learned is that idealistic and noble aims are sometimes a lot easier to talk about that they are to actually achieve. We have hit many of our targets, but there is always more work to be done, more unexpected obstacles and too little time.

As we approach our AGM with two incumbents standing down and ten candidates, we are going to have at least two new committee members and perhaps as many as four. I wish the very best of luck to you all and hope you will enjoy serving the community as I have.

We have been very fortunate in having a most professional committee during my tenure and I do hope this will be continued. Committee members have not always seen eye-to-eye with each other, indeed some topics have been very hotly and comprehensively debated, but this has always been in a professional and respectful manner, with all committee

members supporting the eventual outcome, even if they voted against it. This in my opinion is the key to any effective team: You are not always going to get your own way (even if you are chairman!) and you must be prepared to support the consensus, even if you do not agree with it personally.

I was very sorry to have missed the hustings event (pressure of work again) but I was most interested to hear how it went. Once thing I think is of particular significance is that we ask in every copy of the newsletter for members to contact the committee with any suggestions or concerns they may have, but hardly anyone ever does so. Yet at the hustings there were a number of questions as to why the committee had not pursued certain actions the questioner thought desirable. Why this long silence, then a burst of questions? Perhaps what we need to do is have open meetings from time-to-time for members to communicate directly with the committee, rather than waiting until the AGM each year? But that will be for the next committee to decide.

I will conclude by offering my sincere thanks to all committee members, the various secretaries during my tenure, the staff at the ConsulateGeneral and the Embassy with whom we have worked, and to Arabian Homes for very kindly providing us with office space and other support. It has been fantastic working with you all. And thanks to the committee-members’ spouses, my own wife Sandie most of all, for supporting us and tolerating the many unpaid hours we have all given to the organisation.

Brian Hawley BBG - Chairman 2008-9

The BBG 2010-2011 Committee

The BBG Secretary, Anita Wright can be contacted on bbg.office@bbg-jed.org

Edward Ogilvie

Chris Barsby

John Lockhart

John White

David Wheen

Helen Mack

Angela Brazier

Sam Thanvi

Chairman 2010-2011

Sports & IT

Treasurer

Hon. Sec.

Events

Business Liaison

Communications

Membership

RGBB News 7

SIG Update Nicola Quick RGBB Board Member Special Interest Groups Since my election to the RGBB Board last year I have been tasked with the Special Interest Groups.

There have been some considerable developments regarding the SIGs, which I thought I would share with you as we start a new year:Aviation SIG Please see the separate articles in this edition by Paul Dugan, OBE, FRAeS, Chairman of the Aviation Special Interest Group.

Education & Training SIG The first Meeting of this revived Special Interest Group will take place on Sunday, 28 March 2010.

Information Technology SIG The first Meeting of this revived Special Interest Group will take place in April. The date, location and host are to be confirmed.

Financial Services SIG

Sebastien Long SIG Chairman, Financial Services Our industry has found it hard to avoid public scrutiny this past decade: Bernie Madoff and accounting scandals, bankers and their bonuses, the rise of sovereign wealth funds and the fall from grace of Dubai World, the credit crunch and nationalised banks... But Saudi Arabia and the region provide more than a warm, safe refuge for exiled bankers. We’re at the centre of a growing market with a window on fascinating innovations in Islamic finance and new sectors such as insurance opening up - so there are certainly a lot of positive headlines to be made as we start this new decade...

The Financial Services Special Interest Group became active in 2009 with meetings in July and December, and the first meeting of 2010 in late February. The SIG provides RGBB members in the industry both a professional and social networking platform. Our informal meetings traditionally hosted in a member’s home over drinks and food provide a casual environment in RGBB News 8

which to talk shop, share best practice and discuss local, regional and international issues. In between meetings, articles of interest are circulated between members to keep us informed and the dialogue going.

In 2010 we look forward to meeting new members - our SIG welcomes both veterans of the industry and novices, career expats and first-timers.

Security SIG

Jim Mann SIG Chairman Security I am the Chairman of the RGBB Security SIG and have served thus for about five years now, after being duped unsuspectingly into the role one dark night by that scoundrel Charlie WINK - late of the Royal Hong Kong Police. Our SIG operates a call chain system for the real time transmission of security related information across its members and stakeholders throughout KSA and beyond.

We also operate a ‘mail out’ to our members on an almost daily basis whereby articles ‘of interest’ are disseminated.

From time-to-time we hold a membership ‘get together’ at a suitable venue and often ‘press gang’ a guest speaker into attending. These events usually involve a networking dinner and suitable refreshment. Our most recent success on this front was the much lauded event held in the Riyadh Diplomatic Quarter during January 2010.

Upwards of forty five ‘players’ showed up to listen to an expert orate on the unfolding events in Yemen and the prognosis, as far as KSA is concerned, viz AQAP who are now very much ensconced therein.

I hope 2010 will see more ‘real life’ meetings and networking sessions en masse as well as the continuance of our virtual information exchange efforts. Most of our stalwart members meet up independently regularly anyway for a chat and ‘catch up’. This happens throughout the course of their operational tasking across KSA and indeed the region. We are now closely linked to our colleagues in Bahrain who operate a similar SIG system within their business group. Additionally, many of us ‘cross pollinate’ (in the nicest sense of the phrase) into, and out of, the US State Departments Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) which broadens, even further, our ‘open source’ information assimilation capabilities”.

Finally, for any RGBB Members that are not part of any Special Interest Group - please let me know if you would like to make a contribution in order to exchange ideas and interact with a few more like-minded Members, in order to augment your Membership Benefits.

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

Healthcare Services SIG

A

few days ago I received a phone call from Nicky Quick, asking me if I would write an article related to health for the RGBB magazine, so, glancing down at my post-holiday pot belly and scratching my head for inspiration, I noticed my sparse hair growth I began Philip Taylor to wonder “Weight Loss” SIG Chairman, Healthcare Services or “Male Pattern Baldness”.

Both seemed suitably academic for our prestigious Magazine and may meet the needs of our gentlemen readers, but what about the ladies in our elite membership?

What are the health care issues for them? The excitement of “Swine Flu” is over.

I’ve been to RGBB meetings. Do I consider that our Readers are moderate in their consumption of fatty foods and unhealthy liquid refreshments, and what about exercise on a regular basis? Hmmmm?????

As a well seasoned Head Nurse of too many years experience, working at the KFSH&RC with responsibility for the health care of 27,000 employees and dependents, there must be something I can think of.

So the following are attempts to meet a few of the diverse medical needs of the RGBB Clan.

The following Health related links might be useful www.cdc.gov/ This is the Home Page for Center for Disease Control.

Fully searchable very useful. see also www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/ For information on H1N1. www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/asthma/ For information on Asthma. wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/ CDC link on Travelers health good guide for business leave and vacation. www.bmj.com/ The British Medical Journal good source of information. www.recipezaar.com/Whiskey-Cough-Cure-136537 Cure for the common cough. http://healthandwellness.com/healthandwellness Interesting articles and links on health. http://men.webmd.com/frequently-asked-questions-aboutmens-health A few articles on Mens Health. www.womenshealthmag.com/ A few articles on Women’s Health. http://childshealthjournal.com/ A few articles on Children’s Health. www.merck.com/mmpe/index.html The Merk Manual, good articles and Pod Cast Links.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness: For all our Members.

As a believer in this motto I thought that recent evidence about the safety of showers may be of interest. In this case one is not talking about slipping on the bar of soap. Nor do I want to warn you off the pleasures of sharing the shower with a friend. I need to warn you all about the danger of bugs in your shower - nasty horrible bugs: millions of them!

One in particular has exotic name “Mycobacterium Avium.” Not the most dangerous of bugs, unless you have a weakened immune system or are pregnant, but it may cause tiredness, persistent dry cough or shortness of breath. Plastic shower heads “load up” with bacterial biofilms, so my suggestion is to use metal. Shower heads have also been associated with Legionnaires disease, a form of Pneumonia caused by the not-so-friendly “Pseudomonas Aerugionsa”. Hot tubs and spa pools carry similar infection risks. Keep your shower heads clean by running for a short while at the hottest possible temperature (before you get in, of course!), and de-scaling them on a regular basis.

Pot Belly: For the Gentlemen Do I have a pot belly? There is a proven relationship between that friendly “Pot Belly”, which you have been so proudly and diligently cultivating over a number of years, and the increased possibility of a serious medical condition.

So now the wise consider their Waist-to-Hip-Ratio [WHR] along with their Body Mass Index (BMI) Please “Google” for more information!

In summary, health and wellness are an important part of life. You cannot simply buy a copy of Fitness Magazine or sign up for a gym membership, nor can you ask the house boy to exercise for you.

The bad news is that you have to take part in you wellness management and make the effort. However, before pulling on the Nikes and running round the compound FIRST make an appointment with your Physician for a check-up and then PLAN your return to wellness in a progressive and sensible manner. Join a gym with good personal trainers. The result should be remarkable.

Make the change now and avoid a guest appearance in the Obituary Column.

Do you remember the British comedian Spike Milligan? He chose the epitaph for his headstone. “I told you I was ill”.

The Medical Special Interest Group has a diverse and knowledgeable group of Members. If you have a particular request for an article, then please email me.

“Wishing you all Good Health & Wellness for 2010” RGBB News 11

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

Aviation SIG

A

meeting of the Aviation SIG took place at Arizona Compound on Monday 09 November 2009. It was attended by 28 participants; mainly from the RGBB Aviation SIG group, but also with Members from the Riyadh Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS).

Martin O’Carroll brought along his Paramotor to the Meeting, in order to provide a demonstration and talk on this aviation subject.

A Paramotor is a generic name given for the propulsive portion of a powered paraglider (“PPG”). It consists of a frame that combines a motor, propeller, harness (with integrated seat) and cage.

It provides two attachment points for the risers of a paraglider wing that allows for powered flight. Pilots who fly these engage in paramotoring, also known as ‘powered paragliding’. Engines used are most exclusively small two-stroke types, between 80cc and 350cc that burn mixed gasoline and oil.

These engines are favoured for their high output power

and light weight. The pilot controls thrust via a handheld throttle and steers using the paraglider’s brake toggles similar to sport parachutists.

The size of engine and wing are dependent upon the pilot’s weight - the bigger you are, the bigger the engine and wing. The unit demonstrated by Martin was a 120cc HE Paramotor with a Paramania Revolution 28 sq mtr wing.

Martin flies on a regular basis with the Land & Space Aviation Club at Thumamah Airfield which is 25km West of Riyadh on the Gassim Road. The Club offer Paramotor training, Trike Paramotor training (these are much larger machines), equipment sale, rental and maintenance. In addition to this, the Club is hoping to offer Microlight training in the near future.

Martin was born in Glasgow in 1954 and has always had a keen interest in flying.

Joining the Air Training Corps at the age of 12, he had his first flight in a De Haviland Chipmunk over the Firth of Forth, an experience he still relishes to this day. He was able to get many more flights while in the ATC and was also able to obtain his glider pilots license. Joining the Royal Air Force at 18, he qualified as a Fighter Controller and through the years since then has continued with flying both powered aircraft and gliders obtaining his Private Pilots License in 1984.

Leaving the RAF in 1986, he has been working as an Air Defence Instructor in the UK and, for the past 20 years, here in Saudi Arabia.

“Through all my time in Saudi, I have been on the

lookout for some way of continuing flying. It was only two years ago that I was finally able to get into Paramotoring thanks to the help of a local Saudi who had qualified as a UK PPG instructor. Since then, I have obtained my PPG license and now fly as often as I can. I must say a big thank you to my instructor and to all the staff and members at Thumamah for their outstanding support and hospitality; they really are an excellent group of people.”

Further information on this group can be found at www.insas.com Combining the two Organisations of likeminded people will encourage Aviation interests both in business and social activities; giving momentum and recognition for two UK aviation-focused organizations with global membership.

This unique arrangement is the first time under the stewardship of the RGBB Board Member for SIGs that such an activity has been possible.

Dr. David Surah of the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) and I have both worked and will continue to work diligently to establish the agreements between both groups and produce future activities of mutual interest. We are delighted to add, already, recognition by senior members of the Saudi Aviation groups in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE and the Royal Aeronautical Society, which will encourage us to maintain the growth of aviation activities and interest for the future.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and I look forward to taking to the skies in one of Martin’s flying machines in the very near future.

Nicola Quick

RGBB News 13

Aviation SIG

by Paul Dugan

N

icola Quick as the RGBB Board Member for SIGs including Aviation has produced a unique relationship between the RGBB Aviation SIG and the prestigious Royal Aeronautical Engineering Society based in the United Kingdom. Looking for initiatives to expand aviation interest, Nicola recognised the momentum for furthering aviation interest both commercially and recreationally could be enhanced by focusing the two groups and moving towards delivering activities with a common interest.

Our thanks go to Nicola and Dr David Surah of the RAEs Riyadh Branch for the interest and cooperation in the joint venture and in the past few months several key activities have taken place.

These included a well attended presentation on Parasailing activities operated at the weekends at Thama Park which is located close to Janadiriya.

The presentation at the Arizona Compound included demonstrations and fitting of equipment with member’s being “cinched” into the harness and flight briefings by Martin O’Carroll. Our thanks go to Martin and Alan Hunt for organising and making the equipment available and Martin for the extremely interesting presentation. We look forward to the next stage and maybe some “airtime” for those brave RGBB members.

Another extremely interesting event was the visit by our members to the Royal Saudi Air Force Museum or Saqr Al-Jazira is located on the East Ring Road of Riyadh between exits 8 and 9. The Museum is easily recognisable by the Saudia Lockheed L-1011 Tri-Star that achieved an extremely short landing to serve as a Museum gate guard. Our hosts for the day were extremely hospitable and well informed and the visit was enjoyed by all. The Museum tells the story of the RSAF’s development and the display halls contain exhibits on the history of the RSAF, aircraft engines and weaponry, uniforms, insignia and decorations and contains personal items from the 1985 space mission undertaken by H.R.H. Prince Sultan bin Salman, the first Saudi in space who rode as a payload specialist on the Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-51-G. Also located on the ground floor are four ‘pods’, which contain video presentations. Throughout the Museum there are interactive video screens to allow visitors to explore the history for themselves. Future RGBB News 14

phases will contain a Mosque, Conference Room; Cultural Centre; three-dimensional monitors; Library and an Educational Complex.

Aircraft on display include: • BAC Lightning F53 • Bell UH-1 • Bell OH-58 • De Havilland Chipmunk Mk 10 • De Havilland Vampire FB Mk 52 • Douglas DC-3 The DC-3 has been outfitted to match the aircraft given by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to King Ibn Saud in 1945 • • • • • •

Hawker Hunter F Mk60 North American F-86 Sabre F model Northrop F-5E Tiger II T-6 Texan Temco T-35 Buckaroo A model Opening hours are 4pm-8pm Saturday-Thursday and is open to all

Our special thanks to the Museum Director and the Commander of the RSAF for allowing this very special visit for all to witness and for some relive aviation history. A further visit to the RSAF Museum will be planned during 2010.

Our “Group” mission is to assemble high profile speakers, companies and activities to embrace both groups and further the overall interests of British Aviation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

LADIES IN AVIATION

T Amelia Mary Earhart

by Chris Maybury

hroughout the history of Aviation there have been several ladies who have made their mark, notably Amelia Earhart from the USA and Amy Johnson from the UK.

In 1936, Beatrice Shilling joined the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, in the North East corner of Hampshire. She was soon recognised for her talents and experience and rapidly rose to become the leading specialist in aircraft carburettors.

Amelia was notable for many long distance flights and records, particularly for being the first woman to fly the Atlantic Ocean in 1928, albeit as a co-pilot. She was tragically lost in 1935 over the Pacific Ocean, during a Round-the-World flight attempt.

During the early war years, air combat conditions revealed certain shortcomings within the SU carburettors of the Rolls Royce Merlin engines. These engines were fitted to the famed Hurricane and Spitfire Fighters.

Amy was particularly noted for her flights to South Africa, Australia and Japan. One of her favourite planes, a used De Havilland Gypsy Moth, named “Jason” was photographed in many obscure parts of the world, including India.

Amy Johnson

The outbreak of hostilities during late 1939 necessitated a huge increase in aircraft production and revealed a severe shortage of pilots. To avoid using combat pilots for factory to service airfield ferry duties, the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was formed.

Amy Johnson and many other like-minded, talented girls signed up with the ATA in 1940 and made a huge contribution to the war effort.

Sadly, in January 1941 Amy Johnson was lost when she had to bail out during bad weather over the Thames Estuary.

In parallel with the “Women with Wings” there were several ladies working in aviation behind the scenes. A little known, outside the industry is the name of Beatrice Shilling.

Beatrice Shilling Born in Hampshire in 1909, Beatrice (Tilly) took an electrical apprenticeship in Devon. In 1929 she began a degree course in Electrical Engineering, graduated in 1932 and then went on to complete a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree in 1933. She worked part time as a research assistant on supercharged single cylinder engines. Beatrice had an affinity for motorcycles and applied her skills to tuning and racing Manx Nortons at the Brooklands circuit. She achieved fame by winning a Brooklands Gold Star for lapping at over 106mph during a race.

If the pilot needed to tip the nose down for a fast steep dive, the resulting negative “g” force would cause the petrol in the carburettor to surge upwards and starve the lower metering jets. This would introduce misfiring or cause a complete engine cut out. The enemy’s fighters of the time had fuel injection systems impervious to the effects of gravity.

The Allied fighter pilots of the day developed the technique of rolling the aircraft onto its back to initiate the dive but this had the detrimental effect of possibly losing sight of the target and causing a few seconds of delay.

Beatrice and her team worked tirelessly to develop a solution to the problem. This needed to be a fix that could be simply retro-fitted to the aircraft in service, wherever they were deployed and not interfere with the standard set up and tuning.

The solution that emerged was the addition of a simple small brass disc, with a carefully calibrated hole. When inserted in the carburettor float chamber it had the effect to minimise fuel surge yet allow normal fuel flow according to meet the highest demands of the supercharged engines.

The modification was highly successful and saved many fighter pilots lives and significantly improved the efficiency of the aircraft under air combat conditions. The eventual arrival of reliable fuel injection systems for aircraft superseded the carburettor fuelled engines and Beatrice went on to develop such innovations as water injection systems.

The successful modification devised by Beatrice became affectionally known as “Miss Shilling’s Orifice!”

Beatrice Shilling worked for the Royal Aircraft Establishment until her retirement in 1969 and passed out of our lives in 1990. In November 1990 Tilly was named as “Hampshire’s People’s Hero” by Hampshire residents, with a huge popular vote.

RGBB News 15

Saudi Arabia and Gulf Economies: the storm is over but clouds persist

F

ollowing a period of historic turbulence and instability as international market values reset in the wake of a global downturn, an updated briefing from one of Saudi Arabia’s most noted chief economists was met with some anticipation. A year since his last presentation, Dr John Sfakianakis’ characterful and engaging presentation of what is often viewed as ‘a rather dry subject’, always provides a demystified view of what is really going on!

Having recently moved from The Saudi British Bank (SABB) to Banque Saudi Fransi, Dr John warmed the audience with a light-hearted introduction, and explained that his role had now further developed from local to regional Chief Economist.

In response to possibly one of the most poignant concerns today, Dr John started by describing the impact of the slump in the UAE and in particular, Dubai. The second half of 2009 saw Gulf losses and overleveraged conglomerates impact markets the world over. Further recent news of certain companies in Dubai letting go of their ratings agencies was the latest in a series of shockwaves to expose vulnerabilities many had thought could never strike here.

Notwithstanding Dubai’s significant

PR capabilities, these stories led to a swathe of negative reputational testimony that would take some time to heal, in particular with reference to bailouts and the role of sovereigns. In fact, in many instances economists worldwide were having to rethink their models.

Many had perhaps naively viewed the Gulf as ‘decoupled’ from other economies; it never was, but some Gulf states had long deserved greater recognition. This was now a time for the more robust Gulf economies incorrectly seen as an offshoot of the UAE (Saudi and Qatar in particular) to be re-evaluated. After all, there was a quantitative and qualitative difference between them and Dubai, which actually only represented 2.8% of total GCC output.

One of the main concerns in the Gulf was the “mine is bigger syndrome” or Duplication Predicament. Too many regional states were vying for the same achievements at the same time - financial centres, towers, low cost air carriers, artificial islands, F1 - not everyone could become the “the regional hub”. With characteristic flourish, Dr John took the audience through an insightful ‘weather report’, showing the macro economic health of countries in the Middle East.

by Alex MacDonald-Vitalie

Under “Fine”, stood Qatar which continued to outperform with Gas driven growth and Egypt which had shown resilience. The same too for Jordan, although 2010 might present some challenges. Stronger than expected, Lebanon continued to defy economics models, and Syria, well it still wasn’t connected to real world so could truly claim decoupled status.

A “Partly Sunny” outlook persisted over much of the Gulf - in Kuwait, parliamentary politics crippled progress, and a slowdown in Bahrain continued alongside a period of recovery from name lending fallout.

The same went for Saudi, although 2010 would be better if still a little slow while Banks remained cautious.

Unsurprisingly, “Cloudy” remained over Iraq with persistent security vulnerabilities, and the UAE as Dubai exerted downward pressure on whole of its economic performance.

Oman was still slow, but the Yemen, between regional instability, corruption and de-development definitely maintained a “Snowy” outlook!

In the West, some analysts had begun to talk of ‘green shoots’ and an upturn, but Dr John explained that for now, we could not expect a V-shaped recovery. The economic slowdown was likely to continue while private sector demand remained subdued, and while US consumers refrained from spending, the continuing impact would likely be felt until the

RGBB News 16

SPECIAL BRIEFING end of 2010 at least. From an EU perspective, the outlook was still grim - weaker states like Spain, Greece and Ireland would continue to suffer, and other member states could follow. Global equities were also likely to take a hit, as they were now overvalued, so investors should prepare for an adjustment of around 10-15%.

Deteriorating currency exchanges, of particular value to the expatriate community, would most likely improve by 2011 as the global recovery spread, but until then we should expect some weakness in the Euro, and further decline in Sterling values. The Yen would not recover until overheated inflation, bringing with it the risk of deflation, was stemmed. The dollar on the other hand, was likely to fair well on the back of other “sick currencies”, and of course the continuing peg was good news for the Gulf. On the issue of a single regional currency, punters should not be misled - even if it did actually materialise, it was unlikely to bring significant change in the short term.

Dr John looked a little further afield, and highlighted that as old traditionally dominant economies continued to recalibrate, new jobs and opportunities from Asia were on the rise. In Saudi this was most clearly evidenced by the recent surge in Chinese labourers and contractors (25-30,000) to have won positions in the massive infrastructure development projects that were now well underway in various parts of the Kingdom. As many influential leaders were saying, the balance of Power was likely to continue shifting in favour of the East as the pioneering nations of the 20th century succumbed to crippling debt burdens - our greatest liability - while Saudi Arabia, with a national debt to GDP ratio at an alltime low of 12%, would continue to grow and develop.

Back in the Kingdom, there were some areas of concern – a growing and very young population, in many cases inadequately trained to meet the needs of this country’s rate of expansion, and a job market insufficiently evolved to wean off expatriate support and offer educated

skilled Saudis with placement prospects. Saudi Arabia also needed to look more closely at non-oil sector development. Other administrative issues including fund management and inflation also needed close watch, and international scrutiny called for greater transparency.

However, sector spending was not lacking, and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) continued to encourage banks and other institutions to lend and support burgeoning sectors including SME, education et al. Saudi Arabia had not fallen into recession, and had no credit exposure or real estate bubble to worry about. Due to lack of quarterly indicators and statistics, Saudi macro economic performance was difficult to forecast, but with strong oil prices and the current rate of development, the Kingdom continue to remain a safe haven and centre of opportunity for the foreseeable future.

Dr John concluded by praising UK companies for their success in terms of local market penetration. Through commitment, persistence and offering consistent, high level products and services, they were winning market share from our cousins!

RGBB News 17

SPECIAL BRIEFING

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lderman Nick Anstee, the 682nd Lord Mayor of the City of London was the speaker at an extraordinary Special Briefing in February.

The evening event was sponsored by SABB and after opening remarks from Marcus Cleverton, SABB Takaful CEO, Philip Head addressed the assembly before handing over the floor to the Lord Mayor.

The Lord Mayor is elected for one year and lives in the Mansion House for the mayoral year - the position is unpaid and apolitical. The Lord Mayor’s other roles include Chief Magistrate of the City of London, Admiral of the Port of London, Chancellor of City University and Trustee of St Paul’s Cathedral.

In general, “financial services is in good shape”…”city of London, The Square Mile, generates considerable revenue for the Exchequer…..money generated is equivalent to a large proportion of the UK Governments annual Education budget”.

London has been voted the No.1 financial centre in the World with 19% of global banking transactions taking place in London.

Lord Mayor considers the run-up to the UK Election is “disturbing normal operations of the City”…..as to the date of the election, the 6th May is the most likely date.

The root cause of the current financial crisis is unclear – the Banks, the Government, Regulators, e.g. FSA, the Press and Consumers have all played a role, clearly many lessons have been learnt leading to a coordinated approach from the world leading economic powers to restore confidence and push the global economy out of recession.

During his address, the Lord Mayor clearly felt that the British Press had not been overly helpful in their portrayal of the financial crisis and role of the City – why attack and jeopardise one of the UK’s best assets?

Of course, a balanced perspective is required. During good times, few people attribute the strength of the economy to the success of the City and the financial institutions that generate wealth for the wider economy – but when we have a downturn, the City is the primary target and is held accountable by both ordinary and institutional investors.

by Marcus Cleverton

There is a general sentiment held that the City and wider financial community need to engage more openly with the general public – try to explain why the financial crisis has arisen and what is being done to resolve the crisis.

With regard to bonus payments for bankers that have received much exposure in the press, the Lord Mayor has no issues with paying bonuses based on performance. In essence, “we cannot afford to lose the banking industry”.

A particular favourite quote of the Mayor is that “we must put capitalism back into the heart of capitalism”.

Large bonuses have dominated the headlines and it is very difficult for the ordinary person on the street to comprehend why some bankers can command a bonus of SAR5m. In isolation, such reward would seem excessive and out-of-step with reality, especially during recent times when so many people have lost their jobs, both in the UK and globally.

So why do companies pay such bonuses? The answer is linked to open competition and fact that most of the people receiving these bonus payments generate earnings for their respective companies that are far in excess of their individual payments. As our own HMA succinctly said at the briefing, “if you are able to compete with the best investment bankers, then go for it – this is a free market”.

Are banks to big to fail? The Mayor reiterated the importance of the financial sector as a major contributor to the performance of the UK economy.

The Mayor conceded that better regulation is required – optimally we should work towards a level paying field where all key stakeholders in the City (banks, regulators, government, press, investors) are governed by a framework that promotes transparency and fairness in all operations of the City.

There is no question, that with the on-going financial instability and looming UK election, the Mayor is going to have a very interesting and challenging year in office.

However, members that attended the Briefing left with a better understanding of the workings of the City and role it plays on the wider economy, albeit, further work will certainly be required to convey these key messages to average man on the street.

RGBB News 19

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he busy sports programme for 2009/10 was completed when the RGBB competed against the American Business Group (ABGR) in their annual Ryder Cup challenge, which took place at Dirab Golf and Country Club on 25th February.

A record 72 players took part in this event, with both teams fielding 18 pairs in a texas scramble format. As usual the RGBB Captain Gary Richardson insisted on professional pre-match preparations, these included; • Not going to bed before 3am the night before the game.

• Having a large curry, kebab or swarma the night before.

• Banning all players from eating more than 2 of their “5-a-day” in terms of fruit and vegetables within 24 hours of the event.

With the same light hearted approach adopted by the American team the entire event was guaranteed to be played in a friendly and some what boisterous atmosphere.

Each team competed against their counterparts in the quest of 1 point for a win or 1⁄2 point for a drawn match.

As the Americans held the cup after their comprehensive win last time out the RGBB team needed a minimum of 9 1⁄2 points to win the trophy back and draw the overall score at 2-2 for the four years that this event has been played.

After an extremely tight match the total score was RGBB 9 1⁄2 v ABGR 8 1⁄2. Both captains generously donated numerous items so that many other prizes could be awarded, they were;

RGBB News 20

RGBB Retains the Ryder Cup as the Americans do the loser dance Nearest to the pin on hole 4 - David Treadgold Nearest to the pin on hole 7 – Rob Stacey Nearest to the pin on hole 11 – Bob Barnden Nearest to the pin on hole 16 – Marty Cowal Ladies longest drive – Madalay Burger Men’s longest drive – Werner Van Ravensteyn Longest putt – Scott Cummings and Bob Mordan Over the tasty after-match meal provided by French Corner the friendly atmosphere continued, especially when the entire American team did the “loser dance” led

by Captain Waters.

After this RGBB Captain Gary presented his entire team with a towel bag that had generously been donated by Bouchaib Al Jaidani, the manager of Dirab Golf and Country Club.

On receiving the huge new trophy Gary said “I would like to thank every one for participating today, I have had numerous people already tell me how much fun they had today and that they had made lots of new friends.”

He went on to thank Sheikh Khalid, Bouchaib and all of the team at Dirab Golf and Country Club for the use of their facilities as well as congratulating them on the amazing condition of the course. He also thanked the team from French Corner for staying late and providing the food for all of the players. He also thanked Tommy and the ABGR team as well as his team who he congratulated on their winning performance.

RGBB SPORTS

Open Championship shines in the sandstorm

by Gary Richardson

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ne hundred and forty golfers braved the testing weather conditions to compete in the second RGBB Open championship staged at Dirab golf course on February 4th.

The event which took the form of a four ball Texas scramble saw 35 teams fight for the coveted claret jugs on offer. The early morning starters began their rounds in perfect conditions that were much warmer than expected for early February. However Mother Nature decided that there were too many birdies being scored and responded with a sandstorm that appeared out of nowhere. This halted the early progress that many teams were making and really made recording a low round tough.

The conditions became so testing that some people had trouble standing up. In spite of the conditions there was some incredible golf played on the day which resulted in a really tight finish to the event. Only 1 shot separated the top 5 teams with mathematical equations that would have even confused the tax man required to separate the winners from the rest.

In fact the three teams that finished in sixth, seventh and eighth recorded the same scores the as the third, fourth and fifth placed teams and were only denied a trophy on the count back system.

When all of the sums had been completed and double checked, the team of Ronny Lidman, Talal Sarieddine, Michael Tannenbaum and Theresa Wade had won by the narrowest of margins.

In second place on the same score as the winners were Spence Hawthorne, Tom Merkel, Paul Papanicolaou and Lady Vanessa Patey, after both squads tied on 57.

Lidman and Co. had a gross score of 67 and a combined handicap of 10, while Hawthorne and teammates had 68 and 11.

Blatch, Richard Davies and Ray Martin. In fourth position were Marty Latimer Cowall, Attila Soki, Rob Stacey and Alison Rogers, while Rajput Surinder, Ed Bulkeley, Sile McIlroy and Matt Martin took the fifth spot.

The prizes for the longest drive for men’s and ladies division went to Mark Campbell and Ruby Klawikowski, the closest to pin to Tom Merkel on No. 4 and Iain Blacklaw on No. 11, and longest putt to Ian Morrison.

The evening part of the event was hosted once more by Sir William Patey and Lady Vanessa. Sir William was clearly delighted that he had been beaten by his wife and held no grudge at all that she won a beautiful cut glass Saudi sword trophy, while he remained empty handed.

Allegations that organisor Gary Richardson had hand picked Lady Vanessa’s team so that she could win a trophy were strongly disputed.

In her speech at the ball Lady Vanessa informed the audience that Sir William had actually instructed the organizers to “put me in a strong team that will win. Just put Vanessa in a team that isn’t that bothered”.

As well as a fun golf event and evening function the day had a serious side to it. All proceeds from the event were earmarked for the ICING children’s charity. After raising SR 110,000 in 2009 Lady Patey admitted that she would have been very happy with a similar amount for the charity to which she is patron.

However after all of the money raised by sponsorship, entry fees, raffles and auctions was added up by RGBB treasurer Marcus Cleverton, Gary was able to present a clearly stunned Lady Patey with a cheque for SR 240,000, this was then topped up to SR 250,000 by Mohammed Subedar and Alistair Mcilroy when the Ambassador agreed to hold their “Sheraton dining experience” prize in the residence at the Embassy.

He also presented Sir William with a token cheque for the Embassies Haiti fund of SR 10,000.

This huge sum of money seemed surreal and a clearly delighted Sir William and Lady Vanessa gave their heartfelt thanks to everyone in the garden.

The evening then concluded with dancing to the tunes of DJ Matt Wobble until it was time to draw the line under another successful event.

The tournament which was organized by Gary Richardson and his team was hosted for the second straight year by Dirab Golf & Country Club had two shotgun starts, 7 am and 12 noon, to accommodate the large number of players that entered the event.

The RGBB and ICING would like to thank everyone who was involved in making the event another huge success.

We would particularly like to thank our generous sponsors without whom this event could not have taken place, these sponsors are:

Underscoring the tight battle for honors the next three places in the top five were all decided after the count back with all three teams tying on 58. They all scored a gross 68 and each had a combined handicap of 10.

Third place went to the foursome of Peter Donkin, Casey

SABB, BMI, Olayan, Amex, Crane, Al Saif, Sheraton Riyadh Hotel & Towers, Hotel Al Khozama, Royal Air Maroc, Pepsi Al Jomaih, Arabian Food Supplies, Almarai Co., Trophy World, Axa, Price Waterhouse Cooper, Arabian Shield and Dirab Golf & Country Club.

RGBB News 21

RGBB News 22

RGBB News 24

ICING

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he incredible donation of SR250,000 from the RGBB, raised from the recent Golf Day, brings the total raised and distributed

by ICING to SR3million. Rather more than was ever envisaged when we started back in 2004.

Although there have been some significant personal donations, the bulk of the funds have been raised at individual events or initiatives ranging from a collection made at the Children’s Nativity Play, to the multiple sales of the Manchester United shirt.

Most recently, bmi’s donations of seats at Twickenham have generated a lot of interest amongst sporting fans and the trip to the FIFA World Cup Final in Cape Town in July donated by SABB and Visa will, I’m sure, add significantly to the funds raised during 2010.

Donations from the various events in Riyadh’s best garden have kept the cash flowing as have contributions from other groups whose events have been held elsewhere.

High on the list of supported causes has been DSCA, the Down Syndrome Children’s Association who we have been pleased to help for several years. Open Skies, the

Darfur Children ‘On Brink Of Starvation’

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arfur is on the brink of a new human catastrophe, with children increasingly at risk of starvation because of drought and neglect. The children, many of whom have known nothing but war, are uncared for and the situation is getting worse, Kids For Kids charity founder Patricia Parker said.

“I am struggling to come to terms with what I saw in the hospital in El Fasher, the regional capital of North Darfur,” she told reporters. “Small babies, their sunken eyes too big for their little faces, legs and arms stick thin, gazed solemnly at me, too weak to cry. “They come from the villages and no one seems to want to know about them.

The world is weary of Darfur.”

Mrs Parker says aid agencies should have a bigger presence in the region - there was a major withdrawal at the height of the violence because of safety fears.

However, she says having been there only last week, the region showed far fewer signs of violence than in the past.

“The international community knows exactly what the situation is but it’s just not doing anything about it. Why not? Why does no one care?”

Despite its frustration at the apparent desertion of the

therapeutic horse riding facility has also had more funds allocated from our recent donations.

In Saudi Arabia as well, we’ve been pleased to support the National Family Safety Council, the Saudi Autistic Society and the Insan Orphans charity.

Outside of the Kingdom donations have been made to Friends of the Hadramaut in the Yemen, two organisations looking after children in Darfur in Sudan as well as smaller amounts for specific purpose in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine & Sierra Leone. Most recently we’ve been pleased to be able to offer support to Future Hope, a charity helping street children in Kolkata.

In the UK, contributions were made last year to four Children’s Hospices.

When selecting a cause to support, we’ve attempted to ensure that as much of our donation as possible is spent on real items of need and not swallowed up in administration fees. Indeed it’s ICING’s proudest boast that we make no deductions for administration ourselves with all the cash raised being turned around and given away. We’ve taken care to ensure that any minor costs we have incurred have been covered by specific donations from individuals and companies for that very purpose. children of Darfur, the charity has brought some sense of hope, building a midwives’ training school in El Fasher last year and seeing it produce 40 new graduates.

The midwives are key because many mothers do not know how to look after their children, often giving them starch to eat when they are too young and then seeing them subsequently fall ill with diarrhoea and vomiting.

The lucky graduates are now travelling back to their villages with a new donkey, leather sandals, a medical kit and, for the first time, a mobile phone and phone card so the donkey ambulance can be summoned in an emergency.

“These may appear small things,” Mrs Parker says, “But, in Darfur villages, they are the difference between life and death.”

In February Kids for Kids commissioned repairs to 30 water handpumps and the installation of 10 new pumps.

They will do more. They are providing water carts to enable people to collect water from long distances and are giving donkeys to the poorest families so children do not have to walk miles for water. Crucially the goat loans are providing milk and a small income. By enabling people to help themselves Kids for Kids are giving people the means to survive.

Mrs Parker founded the charity after a visit to the western region of Sudan in 2001, ICING has been supporting Kids for Kids since 2007 and will make another donation in 2010.

RGBB News 27

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es, confesses, RGBB Member John Lawton, I do like doing Sudoku but when I’ve finished a puzzle I kook at it and wonder what have I achieved? The little grey cells have had some exercise but what really is there to show for the effort?

John’s other hobby takes a little more time and leaves rather more in the way of evidence of his efforts.

As a young boy he made, as did most lads of his era, models of planes, boats and cars from kits, but those bore no resemblance to the degree of difficulty in building his current project.

Twenty-five years ago, a friend who’d bought a rather intricate model of the SS Danmark, a steamship of the Thingvalla LIne, decided it was too difficult and gave it to John to “have a go”.

The box lay unattended in a cupboard until ten years ago when John decided he wanted to do something in his spare time in Saudi rather than watch the television.

RGBB News 28

There’s a whole story in how he had almost finished making it when he discovered that the kit was incomplete. We could say that extensive research led him to the one supplier who had the parts to help him finish the job, but the truth is that he was very lucky in being able to find the parts and even luckier in getting the finished article packed up and shipped home without being damaged. But lessons had been learnt and he’d been re-bitten by the model making bug.

John’s “current” project was started in 2003, and is a 1:67 scale model of HMS Victory. At the time of her launching in 1765, HMS Victory had cost £63,176 about the equivalent of what an aircraft carrier might cost today. If you were to cost

MEMBER’S HOBBIES John’s time, I’d bet that his model has probably cost almost as much.

The original Victory was constructed from about 6000 trees, 90% of which were Oak and was one of the fastest first rate ships of her time. In general wind conditions and sail configuration she could reach a maximum speed of 8-9 knots (10 miles per hour). Her maximum recorded speed was 10-11 knots, approximately 12 miles per hour.

Most certainly the model uses a good deal less timber but this is not a case of fitting together ready made parts. Much of the model has to be hand made using no more than a scalpel and an archimedes drill.

The detail is nothing short of incredible, take the hull for example.

Wikipedia tells me that in March 1780 the bottom of the ship below the waterline was sheathed with 3,923 sheets of copper to protect her hull against the ship worm (teredo navalis). Each copper sheathing plate measured 4 ft x 14 ins (1.22 m x 35.6 cm). John has hand carved every scaled plate to fit the curvature required.

And the guns... During Victory’s active service life many changes were made to her armament, the 42 pounders originally fitted were removed and replaced with 32 pounders only to be replaced again by the 42 pounderswhich were again removed when they became obsolete.

You might think that this amount of work requires a dedicated workshop, but no, the entire job has been done on an average size desk in the corner of one room.

“The Kit” says John “ is rather basic in parts and I’ve had to look at the original more than once to determine how to finish a particular section.”

So what’s left to do?

“I’m almost ready for the rigging” says John and that sounds like an even greater Labour of Love.

Over twenty-six miles of cordage wre used to rig the original ship. 768 wooden blocks were used to secure the rigging alone. Even to scale thats about 2 kilometres of thread.

So is it an obsession?

“There are days, sometimes weeks and the occasional month when I do nothing to it. There are other occasions when I can’t wait for the day’s work to be finished so I can get stuck in. But why do I do it? ... Well I suppose I take pleasure in looking at what’s required and then doing it better” HMS Victory is now berthed at No 2 Dry Dock at Portsmouth’s Royal Naval Dockyard and is open almost every day from 10am.

If you’d like us to feature your hobby in a future edition, please contact the Editor: Andrew Mead on andrew@sbtd.co.uk or rgbbnews@rgbb.org RGBB News 29

The Dartington Ensemble

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hree hundred music lovers wrapped up warm in the residence garden in February to listen to an unusual mix of classical music graciously sponsored by AXA, BAE, & bmi.

The trio of John Brydon, Julia Munn and Oliver Butterworth Performed music from a range of composers including Malcolm Arnold, Abdalla El Masri, Iyad Mohammad, Amr Okba, Timothy Ewers, Edward Elgar and Darius Milhaud.

With their usual skills, Jan Patrick, Owain.Raw-Rees and Ian Crawford had once again managed to bring a cultural evening with-a-difference to a community hungry for an alternative night out in the capital city.

John Bryden was born in Edinburgh and gave his first BBC broadcast recital at the age of fourteen. At 16 he was awarded the Greenwood Music Exhibition to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. While at Cambridge he studied with Peter Katin, later gaining a Martin Scholarship and studying in Master Classes in Siena with Guido Agosti where he was awarded a Diploma of Merit. From the age of ten John Bryden has played the organ regularly officiating in that capacity in Exeter Cathedral and Buckfast Abbey.

Julia Munn studied at the University of Surrey, specialising in performance of twentieth century solo and chamber music for clarinet. As well as a performer, Julia is committed to music teaching. She is an instrumental adviser for Tower Hamlet’s Arts and Music Education Service in London, regularly coaches wind chamber music for Benslow Music Trust, and also teaches clarinet at Kingston University.

Oliver Butterworth won the Sterndale-Bennett scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in 1965, studying with Manoug Parikian, and later continued his studies in Prague with Jaroslav Pekelsky. Oliver performs the Vivaldi Four Seasons on screen in the Dennis Potter film Casanova (DVD), and has also recorded Vivaldi’s Four Violin Concerto for video. He was awarded an Honorary ARAM from the Royal Academy of Music in 2002.

RGBB News 30

COMMUNITY NEWS

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agpipes with attitude.

Drums with a Scottish accent.

A blazing rock band and a show so hot it carries its own health warning. The Red Hot Chilli Pipers have been rocking the world from New York to Beijing with musicianship of the highest order and a passion for pipes that will leave you breathless ... and YES this was in Riyadh.

Winners of BBC one primetime show ‘When Will I be Famous’ and voted ‘Live Act of the Year 2007’ at the Scots Trad Music Awards. The ‘Chillis’ are one of the hottest tickets in entertainment today.

From top corporate and A-list celebrity clients to headlining huge festivals and concerts all over the world, the Chillis have been playing to packed houses and standing ovations night after night and they certainly did their stuff in Riyadh in February.

Introduced by the British Ambassador, who confessed he wanted to go down in the history books as the first Ambassador to host “Rock in Riyadh” , The Chillis spiced up proceedings with music that had more than just the odd foot tapping.

The Caledonian Society of Riyadh along with a generous slab of assistance from bmi brought ten of the group’-s musicians and roadies to the Saudi capital where they performed two fantastic concerts at venues packed with appreciative crowds.

I understand that it’s not just the Scots who would like to get them back for a second time at some point, so here’s a recommendation... if you missed it before don’t miss it again!

RGBB News 31

“Schools are schools are schools.”

by Donald Wilkinson ... But are they?

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ne of the experiences that virtually every adult shares is attendance at school. In the same way that many of us who have once kicked a football become instant experts as spectators on the finer points of the game, very many people think they know what needs to be done to produce excellent schools.

At one level it is, of course, very simple. Just as if we were all blessed with the skills of a Rooney or a Kaka, we would all be wonderful players, so if each school had super-bright, constantly well-motivated and academically-dedicated students, we’d all have marvellous schools.

The reality is somewhat different. And the reality in international schools is perhaps even more different. That is the challenge, and the pleasure.

I know of no school that does not want the best for all its students. However, if we leave “I” out of it for now, each of the nouns in the previous sentence probably raises more questions than it answers, particularly in the context of an international school.

And context, as some may put it, “is all”. At the British International School, Riyadh, we have students from almost fifty different nationalities RGBB News 32

and staff from twenty. If one stops for a moment and considers the cultural diversity that this involves, the range of the challenges will flash through everyone’s minds. Cultural diversity, by definition, implies different sets of assumptions about how the world operates.

Indeed, greater minds than mine believe that “culture” is the single most difficult word in the whole of the language to define.

Thus, seemingly straightforward terms, like “school”, “the best” and “students” take on a complexity which, at first sight, seems not to be there. Without going into detail about each term – space does not allow it – questions pour out. Is a “school” just a physical reality, or an idea? Is it an agency of social control or for ideological questioning? Is “school” the same for 3 year olds as it is for 18 year olds? Is “the best” academic results above everything else, or should the concept of the wellrounded personality prevail?

Are “students” who are learning to read and write the same as “students” who are hoping to apply to Oxford or Cambridge, or an Ivy League university?

You might say that at a day-to-day level, none of this matters. Teachers have bodies in classes in front of them and they try to inculcate elements of the disciplines they work in into their

students’ minds. And they do. But if we all perceive reality differently, which, up to a point we do, this is no easy task. Our ingrained, perhaps inherent, cultural perceptions will govern teachers’ stimuli and students’ responses, and vice versa.

So this means that while schools share certain common ostensible characteristics, they are all very different in their own ways. This is why I believe that international schools in particular, but probably all schools, ought to be explicit in working out and defining their own cultures. This is not a simple, onceand-for-all task because schools are constantly changing institutions, especially those which have high levels of student transience, as many international schools do.

It is this quest to define culture which makes schools such fascinating places and which, I trust, makes a school leader’s job as interesting now as it was when that person started however many years ago.

BAE advert

RGBB SPONSORSHIP

International Award by for Young People David Whitfield

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hanks to the on-going sponsorship provided by the RGBB, the International Award for Young People continues to thrive at the British International School, Riyadh. Last year a total of 42 students were able to gain an award, 30 at Bronze level and 12 at Silver (this was the first year that students participated at Silver level).

In the three years since its introduction to BISR, the International Award for Young People – more commonly known as the D of E (or Duke of Edinburgh’s Award) in the UK – has proved to be an extremely popular addition to the academic, sporting and extra curricular programme offered to our students. In a country where the options available to teen-aged children are somewhat limited, the award has provided a welcome opportunity for our students to develop various individual skills, undertake voluntary work and participate in a range of activities that would not otherwise be available In particular, the students have revelled in the opportunity to undertake ever-more challenging expeditions in Saudi Arabia, the Oman and Cyprus. The RGBB’s sponsorship, which has amongst other things been used to purchase essential equipment, is critical to the successful completion of these activities.

This year we have embarked on an even more ambitious annual programme with some 72 students registering for the award, including our first-ever Gold participants.

Following an extremely modest introduction to the expedition phase (an overnight camp at school with minitrek on the outskirts of Riyadh in early December), all the students undertook two weekend expeditions in the Thumamah area to the North of the city which culminated in the Bronze levels students completing their assessment in late February. Plans are now well underway for the Gold students to take part in an extended visit to Nepal where they will undertake residential voluntary service in an orphanage before embarking on a Himalayan trek, while the Silver students will head off once again to the Akamas Mountains in Cyprus for their final assessment.

In addition to these projects, our students are participating

in an extensive programme of activities both in and outside of school, including further treks, volunteer work and skills training.

Our familiarisation weekend at school in December concentrated on basic skills and team building. Amongst other things students learnt to pitch camp (on the astro turf soccer pitch), cook on a camping stove (not on the astro turf!) and work as part of a team. The biggest challenge, however, was probably getting up before 5.00 am on a Thursday morning to deploy on a mini trek. Striking camp and stowing kit at that time of day was both a novelty and a valuable lesson in personal administration.

The first of our two-day Thumamah expeditions took place in January and provided an opportunity for students to improve their endurance and navigational skills when the various groups completed between 20 -35 km trekking over arduous terrain. Notwithstanding the numerous blisters and tired limbs they all coped extremely well.

One of the disadvantages of undertaking the IAYP in Saudi is the lack of anything like the Ordinance Survey maps which are an essential element of the expedition phase in the UK and elsewhere. No such aid is available in Kingdom thus the students have always been limited in what they can do. This year, however, thanks to a donation from the RGBB, we have been able to acquire a hand-held GPS system which has allowed us, with the aid of Google Earth and appropriate software, to produce our own ‘maps’.

These were used for the first time during the Bronze level assessment in February and while somewhat embryonic did prove very useful. A combination of our home-made maps and skilled compass work ensured that the students were able to navigate around the area without too much difficulty despite the general lack of distinctive features which are such an essential aid to navigation in the UK. In place of church spires, post offices and footpaths, we had to create such markers as camel bones, oil drums and various natural features described as Jaguar Rock, Rhino Rock, etc. It has to be said that the staff should be congratulated on their ingenuity in creating these markers and the students their perseverance in finding them!

As one of those charged with delivering the award, I cannot be other than impressed by the commitment and enthusiasm of the participants. Having been involved since the original cohort took its first tentative steps on the Bawayb Escarpment at Thumamah some three years ago it has been extremely rewarding to witness the development of these young people. For some the IAYP weekends are probably the first time in their young lives that they had been without a maid and driver readily at hand, certainly the first time that they had been away from home and family for 48 hours. To witness their increasing maturity and sense of independence, while at the same time developing an awareness of others, has, for me, reinforced the value of the International Award for Young People.

The RGBB should be proud of the contribution it makes to enriching the lives of these young people.

RGBB News 35

UK Taxation of Expatriates

by Gurpal Atwal

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nless you’ve been seconded to Saudi Arabia under a contract that provides for tax equalisation, the recent press coverage of HMRC’s attempts to subject the earnings of UK expatriates to UK taxation is unlikely to have gone unnoticed.

This brief article attempts to shed light on the previous and current UK taxation position for expatriates working in Saudi Arabia. It assumes that you are a UK domiciled person (a general law concept affected by where your permanent home is and is normally determined by where your father was domiciled when you were born).

Furthermore, the article is intended to provide general guidance only and should not be relied upon without taking specific tax advice on your personal circumstances.

Background In broad terms, the UK charges tax on: • • •

Income arising in the UK, regardless of whether the person to whom it belongs is UK resident; Income of UK residents arising outside the UK (subject to certain reliefs for taxpayers claiming the remittance basis) to people resident in the UK; and Capital gains accruing on the disposal of assets anywhere in the world by a person resident or ordinarily resident in the UK.

Clearly, therefore, the meaning of UK tax residence is of prime importance. However, residence is not a term that has a comprehensive statutory definition. The Courts have considered what constitutes UK tax residence in various cases, many of the leading ones being decided at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries when the concept of working abroad was not as commonplace as it is nowadays.

To bring the various legislative and case law provisions together, the Inland Revenue (as HMRC was then), in 1973, issued the first version of the IR20 booklet, with which many of us may be familiar. That booklet was designed to provide “general guidance” in relation to residence and ordinary residence of individuals.

Following a major reform of the remittance basis and amendments to the residence rules in the 2008 Finance Act and various case law decisions, HMRC formally withdrew IR20 and all existing guidance on residency with effect from 6 April 2009. The replacement guidance issued to date is mainly contained in HMRC 6, which is stated to be aimed at unrepresented taxpayers, rather than tax professionals, although more comprehensive guidance has been promised. It has aspects that are contradictory, and RGBB News 36

despite representations to HMRC about it, remains subject to ongoing review and rewrite as of today.

HMRC has consistently refused to be drawn on when final guidance may be made available, which is unfortunate, as many of the tests of residency typically applied, although they derive from case law, exist only in that form in HMRC’s guidance.

The concept of residence and ordinary residence Tax year Before looking at residence, I should clarify that the UK tax year for individuals runs from 6th April to 5th April.

Residence To be regarded as resident, you must normally be physically present in the UK at some stage in the tax year. If you are present for 183 days in any tax year, then you will always be resident for that tax year. You will also remain UK resident if you have been ordinarily resident in the UK and leave only for occasional residence abroad (leaving for employment is generally regarded as leaving for something more than occasional residence abroad).

Ordinary residence If you are treated as not resident in the UK, you may still be “ordinarily resident” in the UK. You will be ordinarily resident if you are resident in the UK year after year. If you have been ordinarily resident in the UK, but leave for occasional residence abroad, you could become non-resident for a tax year by not setting foot in the UK all year (again leaving for employment is generally regarded as leaving for something more than occasional residence abroad). However, you are likely to remain ordinarily resident (and so within the scope of Capital Gains Tax, for example) in this case.

Leaving or returning to the UK part way through a year Although a tax year cannot be split i.e. you are either resident or not resident for the whole of the tax year, by a long standing concession, and providing the relevant conditions are met, which include leaving the UK for fulltime employment abroad that will encompass a complete UK tax year, you will be considered not resident for income tax from the day after you leave the UK and resident from the day that you return back to the UK.

Working abroad – IR 20 guidance Under the guidance in IR20, if you left the UK to work abroad on a full-time basis under a contract of employment, you should be treated as not resident and not ordinarily resident if you meet all the following conditions:

FEATURE ARTICLE • •

Your absence from the UK and the employment both span at least a complete UK whole tax year; During your absence, any visits made to the UK: o Total less than 183 days in any tax year; o Average less than 91 days a tax year (taken over the period of absence up to a maximum of 4 years – periods spent in the UK due to circumstances beyond your control are normally excluded)

This treatment also applied to those here to work in a trade, profession or vocation on a full-time basis for a period encompassing at least a complete UK tax year. By concession, if the terms above were met, an accompanying spouse may also be treated as not resident.

Full-time employment was described in IR20 as being determined on the particular facts of each case, although where the employment involved a standard pattern of working hours it would be regarded as full time if the hours worked clearly compared with those of a typical UK working week.

to review it is difficult to know how far taxpayers now leaving the UK could rely on it. Hence, for those of us who left the UK on or after 6 April 2009, the position is certainly not free from doubt, particularly where you retain links with the UK which might prevent you from being regarded as non-resident in law, or where you have ongoing UK duties that might cast doubt on the full-time nature of your employment abroad.

Summary of main considerations As a quick guide, I think it would be useful to list the main considerations that should point to non-residence and hence to legitimately avoiding a liability to UK taxation on your income earned from your Saudi Arabian employment: 1. Are you working here full-time with the duties of employment being substantially carried on outside the UK? 2. Has your employment abroad encompassed at least a complete UK tax year? Both your time abroad and your employment must cover this period at a minimum. There is also a test of spending less than 183 days in the UK although you are unlikely to reach this limit if you are working full-time employment.

3. Will you average less than 91 days a year in the UK over the period of your absence, or 4 years if longer? From 6 April 2009 a day will count as a day of UK presence for this purpose if you are in the UK at the end of the day.

4. Did you leave before 6 April 2009?

I should also mention that there are complex “temporary non-resident” rules for UK capital gains tax that can apply where any period of residence does not encompass at least 5 complete UK tax years.

So what’s changed?

The Court of Appeal has recently decided in a Judicial Review case that, despite HMRC’s assertions to the contrary, IR20 was guidance on which the general public should be able to rely and therefore HMRC was bound to apply that guidance to taxpayers, even if that guidance made it easier for taxpayers to break residence than it would have been for them to do so under statute and case law alone. Therefore, provided that we met the terms of IR20, those of us who left the UK before 6 April 2009 (the point at which IR20 was withdrawn) should be able to rely on the IR20 provisions.

The case also highlighted an important distinction in the IR20 guidance in terms of how it applied to taxpayers leaving the UK for full-time employment abroad. For those leaving for full-time employment abroad the only test was that the terms of the concession mentioned above were met exactly, and so retaining ongoing links with the UK would not prevent you from becoming non-resident in the same way as it would do for other taxpayers. By contrast, taxpayers leaving the UK either permanently or indefinitely were required to sever ties with the UK, such as disposing of any UK accommodation, to show they had really left the UK, if they wished to show they were non-resident.

Although HMRC 6 retains similar guidance to that noted above in relation to becoming non resident, it contains several statements to the effect that the document is general guidance only and cannot be relied upon by taxpayers, so it is doubtful if the Courts would regard it as binding on HMRC as they have with IR20. The commentary on what constitutes full-time working abroad has also evolved, and while the guidance remains subject

Where you are able to answer the above positively, you should be regarded as not resident.

However, where you left the UK on or after 6 April 2009 the position is much less clear and you may wish to take professional advice.

Finally, there has been a double tax treaty in force between the UK and Saudi Arabia since 1 January 2010. The terms of that treaty deal with the position where you are resident in Saudi Arabia as a consequence of local rules and also where you remain tax resident in the UK. To determine the country of which you are tax resident, the treaty will look at the factors below in the order shown until there is clarity: • • • • •

Where you have a permanent home; Where your personal and economic interests are closer; Where you have your habitual abode; The country of which you are a national; Failing any of the above being conclusive, the competent authorities of each country shall agree between themselves where you are regarded as treaty resident.

So even if you remain UK resident under UK domestic rules you may be a treaty resident of Saudi Arabia and be able to use the double tax treaty to limit your exposure to UK tax.

Gurpal Atwal can be reached on 0569 233 700 and is a Senior Manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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T

hanks to the ever watchful Private Eye for pointing me in this direction but the L’Oreal advertising team seemed to have experienced some interesting timing in recent weeks. Shortly after the National Press were revealing that husband Ashley had been caught out playing away with five separate women, prompting her decision to split from him, L’Oreal adverts were still running, featuring a cheerful looking Cheryl with the slogan “5 problems, 1 solution”.

Pals of the singer are reportedly encouraging her not to stay single for long and The Sun insists that she wants to revert to her maiden name of Tweedy as soon as possible having already asked her record company to recall albums set for America & Europe so the sleeves can be reprinted. Quite how easy it will be to change the “Mrs C” tattoo on her neck remains to be seen.

That other style icon, “Mrs B” was apparently seen leaving Old Trafford in “an absolute rage” on Tuesday the 9th March according to “The Spoof” online magazine. A group of Man U fans had reportedly approached Mrs B and tried to explain that the booing was just a joke and intended as a compliment following the standing ovation David received from the crowd when he took to the field of play.

In other press stories, Victoria has also been vocal in her support for Cheryl. Mrs Beckham, who became friendly with Mrs Cole during the World Cup in Germany in 2006, said she believed the Girls Aloud singer would emerge from the split stronger than ever. In other news the multi-talented Victoria, who launched her own couture collection in 2008 revealed that she’d love to dress First Lady Michelle Obama. Michelle meanwhile, has been in the press herself after sharing ‘girlish-giggles’ with Hilary Clinton at the International Women of Courage awards in Washington.

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But as with beauty, fashion is not all about women. Forty-two year old John Barrowman has revealed that he regularly uses hair dye to maintain his good looks confessing that he’d be completely white without it. The actor and singer who has recently released a new album had previously owned up to using Botox to keep his wrinkle-free complexion. He’s in the news this week though having told the press that he and his partner Scott had discussed adopting a child.

You may have noticed that Bafta Award winning British actor Colin Firth was in the news after winning for his portrayal of a gay academic in Tom Ford’s A Single Man, but did you know that at the start of the ceremonies, Prince William was announced as the new president of Bafta succeeding Lord Attenborough as the Academy’s fifth president? In his first formal act as President, Prince William presented the actor Vanessa Redgrave with a British Academy Fellowship.

UK GOSSIP Brother Harry, according to the Daily Mail has revealed that he thinks his hair is too ginger in the newly unveiled royal portrait of him and his brother. In the painting by artist Nicky Philipps, the pair are ‘imagined’ in royal chatting to each other in Clarence House before attending the Trooping The Colour ceremony in 2008.

and wages received during the tour will go to Help for Heroes. By the start of the year, Bethan had already raised over £11,000.

Another lass in the news with her charity efforts is The One Show host Christine Bleakley.

“Adrian Chiles is nothing more than a big brother and rumours that we have had a relationship are false” the TV presenter has stated in a recent interview. While people are constantly questioning whether there is anything going on between the pair, The One Show host has insisted that they are very much just friends.

The pretty Northern Irish presenter told Glamour magazine that people either seem to believe that they hate each other or having an affair, when both views are far from the truth. She also reveals secrets on her real relationship with the Chelsea and England footballer Frank Lampard.

Staying with the troops for a moment, Gail Kasper’s sexy bikini poster has apparently become one of the most sought after pin-ups in Iraq, after she posed for it at a charity drive for her local military base. 45 year old Gail is an in-demand US television personality and the reigning Ms. Continental America. Ms Kasper doesn’t appear in the Pinup for Heroes calendar though.

The Calendar idea was simple; create a 2010 calendar recreating the style of the 1940’s and 50’s with all the proceeds going straight to Help for Heroes. So far sales have resulted in more than £5500 being raised for the charity.

The charity itself was in the news in March when 220 runners out of the 15000 participating in the annual Bath Half Marathon were running to support the charity.

Not quite hitting the headlines but most certainly worth a mention is Bethan Myfanwy Hughes. Nicknamed the ‘Angel of the Battlefield’ Bethan is currently showing her support for the Help for Heroes charity with a UK Harp tour finishing in August 2010. All donations, proceeds

Although she is enjoying her time with Frank, she told the publication that she does not consider herself to be a WAG and is not particularly interested in football.

As this page was being prepared, Christine had just completed a Sports Relief challenge to water ski across the English Channel.

A complete novice, Christine stayed on her skis for more than an hour as she made the 22-mile journey, facing the wake created by the sea traffic of the world’s busiest shipping channel raising £400,000 in the process.

Also hot off the press today was the news that John Cleese had struck up a new romance with jewellery designer Jennifer Wade. 70 year old Cleese, whose divorce from Alyce Eichelberger reportedly cost him £12 million was seen in Bath with Jennifer, who is said to be in her 30’s.

Having opened with a credit to Private Eye, I’d better close with one too, although how they get away with some of their stuff I’ll never know.

“Soon to be seen all over the country,” says The Eye, “young hopefuls are desperate to become the next footballers bit on the side. But who has got what it takes to triumph as a world famous slapper? Join judge Ashley as he auditions the young wannabees who are determined to live the dream, go on a journey and sell their story to Max Clifford.”

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T

hinking of taking your car back to the UK or possibly buying a car in Saudi to take back to the UK, then here are some of my experiences. First of all I need to make a small admission. My ultimate objective was to take a car to Spain, since we have a villa there, and as my wife retired mid way through 2009, she now spends much more time in Spain and needed some wheels to get around. However after consulting some English car import agents in Spain, they fervently recommended taking the car through the UK before taking it to Spain. Their view was that the English importation system was much easier to comprehend and less bureaucratic than the Spanish equivalent, especially when the car was coming from Saudi.

So I began by researching the import requirements for the UK trawling through all the UK Customs and DVLI web sites to understand what I needed to do, what documents were required and how to go about taking a LHD car into the UK. Now I can hear you ask why would I even want to take a car bought in KSA in the first place. Quite simple really, it was considerably cheaper to do so, even after all the import and transport costs were included.

It helped that VAG were giving substantial discounts in KSA on the car my wife wanted and the exchange rate at the end of 2008 meant further savings were to be had as well. It was also impossible to buy a LHD car in the UK, so the only alternative was to try in Germany, where the car was manufactured or Spain where new car prices are extortionate.

So having completed the research I then made certain when buying the car I obtained the relevant type approval certificate from the dealer in KSA, stating the car was to European type approval specifications, since this is what I understood was the magic ingredient to get the car into the UK without having it subjected to type approval testing.

So in January 2009 I purchased the car and drove it sparingly for six months. Well it’s difficult when you are a two car family with only one driver and the car was really RGBB News 40

for my wife. Imagine if some hooligan had decided to put a dent in it, then whose fault would that have been! Why six months? Because that is the time the UK customs require the car to be owned to be eligible for import free of UK taxes.

by Martin Dickinson

Six months later I contacted Four Winds and delivered the car to them to ship to the UK. It went into a container and a couple of weeks later turned up in Tilbury. Four Winds took care of all the KSA export requirements and car de-registration as well as customs clearance in the UK. Having got the car there, it was then the problems started. The requirements described in the web sites 6 months earlier had all changed, and what we thought was a simple matter of completing the paperwork to tax and insure the car for the UK had turned into something more complex.

I discovered that the car now had to go through UK type approval before it could be taxed & registered and the magic type approval certificate was a total waste of space.

So now I was left with a car on the docks which couldn’t be registered in the UK, and we were due to fly there in three weeks to pick it up. Neither Four Winds nor their UK import agents were of any use, nor were their suggestions.

So it was back to the internet to see who could help sort out the mess.

After several calls, even more emails and several quotations I opted for a local company, Specialised Shipping Services (SSS) based in Woking who offered a good price as well as an itemised breakdown, and appeared to have good credentials. Their web site also provided a wealth of information all in one place. In addition they could take care of absolutely everything necessary to have the car on the road and ready to drive away. They advised

FEATURE ARTICLE that yes I would need to submit the car for type approval and they would both prepare it for the test and arrange to complete it with the test centre, although having it all completed for our arrival, including registration and taxing the car, was going to be a tall order. So the car was put on a trailer from the dock and delivered to their premises.

SSS had the car ready and prepared for the type approval very quickly but could not apply for the test until customs sent their clearance form. SSS made changes to the lighting and had a new instrument display produced, since it had to display mph and the current one only had kph.

This was substantially cheaper than a completely new instrument cluster and was beautifully crafted using laser etching and cutting and was undoubtedly equal in quality if not better than the original.

SSS certainly knew what they were doing and how to help reduce conversion costs without either risking type approval failure or taking the easy route of simply replacing parts wholesale. But then the company was run by an ex-McClaren employee who took pride in the quality of their work and coming up with valuable cost saving alternatives.

After a week of waiting the customs clearance form had not turned up, so it was back to the import agent to find out where it was. After numerous phone calls to them and Customs it was discovered that the ‘paperwork had been mislaid’ and the import agent would have to re-submit the papers a second time.

absence of our own being ready. SSS now had to book a type approval test which can take many weeks to arrange, but their personal touch with the test centre allowed them to take advantage of a cancellation and arrange the test much sooner.

With a successful test out of the way, there was another wait for more papers to be sent so that registration and taxation could finally be completed and yet more time while the papers were produced, submitted and processed. Also it wasn’t helped by the post office deciding on a succession of mail strikes at the time. So finally after another couple of weeks the car was ready for the road, the only unfortunate part being that we had, in the meantime, returned to Saudi.

SSS were most accommodating and arranged to keep the car until we returned several months later, when finally we were able to drive it away straight from the airport.

If I was going to do this again then I would go straight to SSS (www.specialised-shipping.co.uk) since they can provide an end to end service and have the detailed knowledge and expertise to understand all the nuances of the British car import requirements.

The second point is to allow more time than you think it will take to complete all the formalities. It’s not as fast as you might think. I did exactly the same 26 years ago, and back then it took 30 minutes to complete the customs clearance form and drive the car into the UK. So it’s nice to know that going forwards does not always mean making progress!

SuDoku Fill the grid so that every column, every row and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 to 9.

Answer on page 44

Time was passing and another two weeks would elapse before the clearance papers were finally received from customs and could be taken to SSS, by which time we had flown back to the UK and been forced to rent a car in the

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The recent membership survey generated an encouraging response from many readers who said they’d write in to a letters section if one was introduced. To stimulate further discussion I’ve invented a few missives covering some of the topics mentioned in the responses to the survey. If you’d like to comment please address your letters c/o The RGBB Secretary at the British Embassy P.O.Box 94351, Riyadh 11693 or email rgbbnews@rgbb.org Linked-In Dear Ed. Would you consider starting a Linked-In Group for RGBB members both past and present to be able to stay in touch after they’ve left the Kingdom?

MC Dear MC As far as I’m aware anyone can start their own group on just about any subject on Linked-In. Quite how successful you will be in getting in touch with people you have lost contact with I don’t know. As a member of several Linked-In Groups I confess to being somewhat disillusioned with the system which seems to generate enormous amounts of traffic to my inbox that I really don’t have time for. If you really think it’s something that would work why not start it yourself.

Ed. Other Social Groups Dear Ed. Grateful if you could publish a list of all the other social groups in Riyadh that would be open to expats to join.

JHE Dear JHE Indeed a subject of interest to many, we used to have such a list but a decision was taken some years ago for ‘security’ reasons not to publish contact details for anyone without their permission. We have recently asked a couple of groups to submit

articles about what they do and how others could contact them if they were interested to join in but have been specifically requested NOT to ... once again for ‘security’ reasons. If you have a particular interest why not come along to one of our events and just ‘ask around’, I’m sure you’ll find other members only to happy to pass on contacts by ‘word-of-mouth’.

Ed. More Functions Dear Ed This is more a letter to the RGBB Board rather than the Editor but I would like to see more group activities arranged. For example: family days out; social dining on different compounds; a greater variety of sporting challenges; car boot sales etc.

JRP Dear JRP With all things RGBB, we must keep in mind that the Board consists of volunteers who already give a lot of their time to the existing level of activity. Whilst I’m sure if you went to the Board with a specific idea for a specific event you’d get a fair hearing I think you’d get a better one if you actually volunteered to do the organising.

Ed. Print is Dead Dear Ed Why do you persist in producing a printed magazine, surely everyone would prefer to get an electronic version.

DAC Dear DAC Responses from the membership indicate that the majority of readers prefer hard copy, as do the advertisers who cover the costs of preparing it. If you’d prefer to see an electronic version please visit the RGBB website where you can download a pdf file of the recent editions from the newsletter archive.

Ed.

Welcome to new members Mark Allen............. DNJ Stephen Arthur ....... UPS (Eirad (Trading & Contracting Co Ltd) Julia Benammar ..... BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL Jane Blackledge ..... MULTINATIONAL SCHOOL Paul Carty.............. SAUDI BUSINESS MACHINES Anne Chappell....... Obeikan Stephen Clayton..... SAUDI HOLLANDI BANK Tina Cleverton ....... BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL David Corbett ........ ALMARAI COMPANY LTD Matthew Cox ......... NATIONAL CHEMICAL CARRIERS Ian Currie .............. YOUSSEF HARROUN CONTRACTING Sarah Jane Day...... KING FAHAD MEDICAL CITY Umo Ema .............. EXXONMOBIL SAUDI ARABIA INC. James Evans .......... BAE SYSTEMS Paula Fielding ........ KING FAISAL SPECIALIST HOSPITAL Mark Filshie ........... KPMG Jason Foord........... AL KHORAYEF INDUSTRIES Nugent Garrett ...... BURO HAPPOLD Rob Harrison.......... FOSTER & PARTNERS Philip Head............ SABB TAKAFUL Kath Huxley ........... ISC Ltd Ryan Jones............. Stables of King Abdullah Aziz & Sons

Zulfi Khan.................... GULF BANKERS Oonagh Kilpatrick ........ SABB TAKAFUL John Kirwan................. Riyad Bank Philiip Lobo.................. Integrated Telecom Alex MacDonald-Vitale . SABB Ann McGinty................ Aramco-Riyadh Andrew McKechnie....... RIYADH BANK Carolyn McKenzie ........ KING FAISAL SPECIALIST HOSPITAL Lawrence McMichael .... SAUDI BUSINESS MACHINES Richard Moody............. GPT SPM Ltd Daryl Nonas ................ BAE SYSTEMS Marcus Parry ................ NOKIA SIEMENS NETWORKS Robin Poole ................. Saudi Ericsson Communications Ltd George Robertson ........ BT AL-SAUDIA Ian Scott ...................... SCOTTISH WIDOWS Tom Seymour-Taylor ...... PRICE WATERHOUSE COOPERS Keith Sharkey ............... ERICSSON KSA John Sim .................... SABB Colin Spence ............... BAE SYSTEMS Donald Wilkinson ......... BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL Jonathan Wood ........... BAE SYSTEMS RGBB News 43

AND FINALLY

Alas, poor Shakespeare, we knew him well

W

ikipedia, my current source for most information tells me that Modern English is the form of the English Language spoken since the ‘Great Vowel Shift’ in England in roughly 1550. It also tells me that the ‘Queen’s English’ is the accent of Standard English in England and that the Queen herself has changed her pronunciation over the past 50 years.

How far this change has gone, Wikipedia doesn’t say but I doubt if she’s quite ready to adopt the latest version of ‘Shakespeare Speak’ which has just been updated by British satirist Martin Baum in his book, “To Be Or Not To Be, Innit.”

He apparently told reporters that his aim was to update “the important sexist, duplicitous, crossdressing and violent moments that made William Shakespeare well wicked.”

Martin Bauam’s updated version of Hamlet reveals: “Dere was somefing minging in de State of Denmark.”

The Danish Prince, who is re-named ‘Amlet, asks: “To be or not to be, innit?”, while Romeo pines for his “fit bitch Jools”.

Mr Baum’s version of Romeo and Juliet sets the scene for the star-crossed lovers with: “Verona was de turf of de feuding Montagues and de Capulet families.

SuDoku

Answer on to puzzle on page 41

“And coz they was always brawling and stuff, de prince of Verona told them to cool it or else they was gonna get well mashed if they carried on larging it with each other.”

Mr Baum’s other titles include Macbeff, Much Ado About Sod All, De ‘Appy Bitches of Windsor, De Taming of de Bitch, Two Geezas Of Verona and All’s Sweet That Ends Sweet, Innit.

In an extract from the latter we learn that: “Helena was de orphaned bitch of de well famous quack doctor who, with de geeza called Bertram and his Countess muvva, had been living in de Rossillion turf forever. Although they had been well full of respect for each other, over de years, Helena had been falling for Bertram big time and wanted to get all jiggy jiggy with him. Bertram, though, being de all macho geeza, didn’t really care coz he fought she was well minging. But his muvva, on de other hand, quite liked de idea of Helena becoming her son’s bitch.

But true lurv was dealt de cruel blow when de King of France geeza was taken all deathly ill in Froggyland and without de moment of hesitation, Bertram decided to go to de King in de Paris ghetto leaving Helena all Billy No Mates. However, coz she was de daughta of dis well famous but dead quack doctor, she fought she could do somefing to help.

So unknown to Bertram, Helena followed him finking that she might be able to come up with de special cure for de King geeza - which amazingly she does! And all coz she was de daughta of de well famous but dead quack doctor, innit.

Well, as de King geeza is well chuffed with de bitch for saving his life, and as de sign of his respect for coming up with de cure for not being all dead, he gives her some well cool bling for her finger and tells de bitch that she could get all jiggy jiggy with one of de palace posse.

Dis was brilliant for Helena. Coz as Bertram was dere in de palace, she went all girl power and picked him ahead of all de others who was all ready, waiting and gagging for it. Bertram, on de other hand, was not. Alright, so Helena saved de King from being all stiff but even so, he still fought she was de first class minger who was stalking de crap out of him, innit.”

If the Bard was living today, Mr Baum writes on his website, he would “still be writing in the Globe turf, getting loads of respect from the Stratford-upon-Avon massive and producing works of pure genius.”

If you can’t find a copy in your local bookshop, you can download a pdf file for only £2.95 from www.authorsonline.co.uk

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