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A New Leaf for the Looking Glass 2026/27

Dear all, Upon inheriting the Looking Glass from our predecessors, we identified a number of key issues. Firstly, there were simply not enough articles being published, due both to a lack of submissions from the school community and limited responsiveness from the previous Academic Team. Secondly, the Looking Glass had not been advertised or explained effectively enough to the wider school community. As a result, we plan to implement a more consistent and engaging stream of articles on the Looking Glass. As part of this initiative, we are looking to recruit a select group of keen writers from across the lower school who would be willing to produce one high-quality piece of writing, discussion, or media each month for publication on the Looking Glass. We believe this will be hugely beneficial both to the school community, which will gain access to a wider range of opinions and viewpoints, and to prospective writers, who will be able to reference their experience contributing to the Look...
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Melting of Black Gold



DHANUSH VYDYAM

The United Arab Emirates. Tall skyscrapers, fast cars and luxury lifestyle. But what led to it becoming one of the most sought after destinations to live in?

The single and most direct answer to that question would be petroleum. But it wasn’t all oil. Before the independence of the UAE from the British empire in 1966 and the unification in 1971, each emirate was responsible for its own state of the economy. The main income for those emirates was pearl diving, seafaring and fishing, until 1950, when oil was discovered. Since then they have nothing but capitalised on it, with H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (the then president of the UAE) using all the revenue from the oil exports to make necessary development to the country. Since then, oil has been the biggest income to the UAEs economy, accounting to almost 85% of the economy in 2009.

There’s no need to ask what the UAE government has done with the huge load of money they received from the exports of their oil wells, it’s pretty evident. With Dubai splashing billions into its infrastructure, its no mystery as to why it’s ranked among the best locations to invest in

Infrastructure. It is said that the UAE plans to spend AED 6 Billion (almost $2 billion USD) on infrastructure ahead of the World Expo 2020. That just shows the extent to which they go to make their economy stronger and more internationally competitive.

Additionally, the 45 free zones that Dubai boasts, increase investment from foreign investors, therefore leading to a rise in injection into the Emirati economy and also leading to an increase in aggregate demand, which further increases their real GDP per capita which currently stands at $40,698.85 USD, making it the 26th largest in the world. That along with the lack of income tax in the country provides the Emirati citizens with more disposable income to spend which keeps the consumer confidence and business confidence high and keeps the economy healthy.

However, the Arabs’ petroleum dream will end, after all, fossil fuels are renewable. So for a country that has built its foundation on petroleum and oil, what will their future hold once petroleum has run out?

One of the many answers to this looming problem is investment. UAE might be in the top fifty for the Foreign Direct Investment inflows (37th at $144 billion USD), but they are in the top twenty for the FDI outflows (20th at $18 billion USD). What do they invest in? During the 2008 housing crash, it was the Emiratis who bailed out some of the US banking firms. Abu Dhabi became the biggest shareholder in Citi Bank, investing around $7.5 billion USD. Not only banks but The United Arab Emirates also invest heavily into the sporting industry, having ownership of many huge football clubs such as Manchester City and Paris Saint Germain.

UAE, planning to become less dependent and reliant on the oil industry, are beginning to diversify their industries. The biggest industry after petroleum is Tourism. With Dubai boasting the world’s tallest building - The Burj Khalifa - and some of the most luxurious hotels in the world, it attracts tourists from around the world. Receiving almost 15.92 million tourists in 2018, tourism raised $58.4 billion USD in GDP to the Gulf Corporation Council and is estimated to rise to $120 billion USD in 2027. Apart from tourism, the UAE is also expanding its industries into IT and Finance, with Dubai developing into a major hub for both. Major firms such as Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, and sage software have now invested in the city, alongside huge banking firms such as Citi, and HSBC.




The Emiratis seem to have a plan, and it has the potential to work, and in the next few decades, there is a possibility that UAE will become a less typical Arab country and maybe even boast the biggest and most sought after economy in the world. 

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