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Lifestyle

The Fastest Growing Thing in Nightlife Is a Room Where Your Phone Is Locked Away

Phone-free events have grown by 567 per cent globally since 2024 and by 913 per cent in the United States. The interesting part is not the abstinence. It is that people are paying for enforcement.

Aug 17, 2026/3 min read

People talking together in a warmly lit cafe in the evening

Lifestyle

The City Fills Back Up, and Nobody Warns You It Will Be Loud

For ten weeks the Gulf empties. In the last fortnight of August it refills, all at once, and the version of the city you got used to disappears in about four days.

Aug 16, 2026/3 min read

A quiet city street in the Gulf during the summer heat

Lifestyle

Two Weeks to Rebuild a School Morning From Scratch

UAE schools reopen on 31 August. The families who find September easy are not the organised ones, they are the ones who started moving bedtimes while it was still August.

Aug 16, 2026/3 min read

School bags and shoes lined up by a front door in morning light

Lifestyle

Earthquake Safety, Compared: What the Gulf, the US and Europe Actually Tell You to Do

Drop, Cover, Hold On is the near-universal instruction, and the exceptions matter. Here is the official guidance from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the United States and Europe, and where it diverges.

Aug 12, 2026/5 min read

A household emergency kit laid out with water, torch, first aid supplies and a power bank

Lifestyle

Desk Setup: The Four Things That Matter and the Ones That Do Not

Most ergonomic advice is either equipment marketing or a diagram nobody follows. Screen height, elbow angle, foot support and how often you move account for almost all of it, and three are free.

Aug 11, 2026/3 min read

A tidy home desk with a raised monitor and separate keyboard

Lifestyle

Micro-Retirement: Taking the Break Before You Are Too Tired to Enjoy It

Deliberate career breaks of a few months, taken repeatedly across a working life rather than saved until the end. The idea is sound, the finances are unforgiving, and the visa questions are the ones nobody checks first.

Aug 8, 2026/4 min read

An open packed suitcase with a passport on a bed

Lifestyle

The Quiet Disappearance of Places to Sit Without Buying Something

Home is first, work is second, and the third place is everywhere else you can exist without a transaction. In fast-built cities that category has been squeezed hardest, and people feel it before they can name it.

Aug 8, 2026/4 min read

Outdoor cafe tables on a quiet pavement in the evening

Lifestyle

Making Friends as an Adult, in a City Where Everyone Is Leaving

Adult friendship needs repetition, proximity and unplanned time, and expatriate cities systematically remove all three. Knowing which ingredient is missing makes the problem solvable.

Aug 7, 2026/4 min read

A long outdoor table set for a shared meal under string lights

Lifestyle

Saudi Women Are Expanding the Meaning of Economic Transformation

Women’s growing participation is reshaping workplaces, entrepreneurship and the range of role models visible to the next Saudi generation.

Jul 28, 2026/2 min read

Saudi women collaborating in a modern workplace

Lifestyle

The Home Library Is Returning Without the Grand Room

Readers are building small, visible book zones into hallways, bedrooms and dining rooms, proving a home library is a habit before it is architecture.

Jul 28, 2026/2 min read

Lifestyle

Third Places Matter More in a Work-From-Anywhere City

Libraries, cafés, parks and community rooms give remote workers something home offices cannot: low-pressure contact, local rhythm and shared belonging.

Jul 28, 2026/2 min read