From the Editors: Granting law-enforcement powers to inspectors will improve service quality

GRANTING LAW-ENFORCEMENT POWERS TO INSPECTORS WILL IMPROVE SERVICE QUALITY: On Thursday, the UAE announced granting of law-enforcement powers to 91 inspectors in seven government departments. The announcement came in the form of a decree issued by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Judicial Department. This is an extremely pragmatic step that will help streamline the entire process of launching an enquiry into any complaint of violation of law or dereliction of duty on the part of any official associated with these key government departments. In the long run, this is bound to contribute towards improving institutional efficiency and quality of services in these crucial sectors. [COMMENT BY: Sanjib Kumar Das, Assistant Editor]

GO EASY ON FREE SHIPPING EXPECTATIONS: Every other survey of UAE shoppers’ online needs will invariably have a place for ‘free shipping’. And it’s a fact that this provision if offered by the e-retailer or food delivery portal will sway consumers’ choices on what they want to order. Free shipping and easy returns/refunds was needed when consumers were getting used to the whole idea of buying online. But now, they will need to rework their expectations, because no longer can delivery service providers keep offering the carrot of ‘free shipping’. Not with fuel costs at current levels. Businesses need all the help they can get they can get – if consumers expect less of free shipping from their online delivery providers, it would do its part. [COMMENT BY: Manoj Nair, Business Editor]

SALAH WINS PFA PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD: After another excellent season Liverpool’s Mo Salah has been awarded the PFA Player of the Year award. The Liverpool striker also won the Golden Boot award after scoring 24 Premier League goals, the same as Tottenham’s Son Heung-min, and he collected two domestic titles with the Anfield club, the FA Cup and League Cup. However, the Reds missed out on the two titles they really wanted – that being the Premier League title and the Champions League. Still, the Egyptian ace becomes the sixth player to win two PFA player of the year awards – the other five are Mark Hughes, Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry, Gareth Bale and last year’s winner Kevin de Bruyne. Manchester City’s Phil Foden was awarded the young player of the year award for the second consecutive season while Chelsea’s Sam Kerr won the and women’s Player of the Year.[COMMENT BY: Imran Malik, Assistant Sports Editor]

YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD: Acclaimed actress Julie Andrews has been honoured at a glitzy Hollywood gala, where she received American Film Institute’s life achievement award. The 86-year-old ‘Sound of Music’ star has been keeping herself busy over the years — her latest voice acting work being on the popular Netflix series ‘Bridgerton’. In India, veteran actor Boman Irani is gearing up for his streaming debut in ‘Masoom’, the Indian remake of Irish show ‘Blood’. With age comes stereotypes of what people look like or what they should be doing. However, people all over the world defy those stereotypes and succeed at a variety of things — that’s what’s most important. [COMMENT BY: Jennifer Barretto, Assistant Editor – Features]