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magpie Weekly issue 7.18 / 12 Feb 2026

This week’s editorial musings from magpie’s nest The quote: From such crooked timber as humankind is made of nothing entirely straight can be made Immanuel Kant … No worries Not in the Gulf, anyway. That’s according to a Gallup survey which asked people in [ … ]
Performance

A people’s opera

The UAE may be something of a laboratory for change, a still-young country building nationhood and reputation at speed with all the resources it can deploy without the baggage of a complicated past and a complex set of competing ideologies [ … ]
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magpie Weekly issue 7.17 / 5 Feb 2026

This week’s editorial musings from magpie’s nest The quote: Playful doesn’t mean trivial any more than solemn means serious Stephen Sondheim … Louvre legacy Manuel Rabaté is leaving Louvre Abu Dhabi, where since 2016 he has been its first and so far [ … ]
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magpie Weekly issue 7.16 / 29 Jan 2026

This week’s editorial musings from magpie’s nest The quote: Just remember: what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening Donald Trump … What’s a Tamaas Festival? It’s happening this evening in NYUAD’s East Plaza, it features three terrific acts (Yasmeen [ … ]
Festival

Tamaas times

It’s part of the job of a new arts centre to create new traditions – regular, loyalty-building events that deliver something understandable and familiar while exemplifying what the organisation stands for. In its 11 years of operation, NYUAD’s Arts Center [ … ]
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magpie Weekly issue 7.15 / 22 Jan 2026

This week’s editorial musings from magpie’s nest The quote: You only go around once, but if you play your cards right, once is enough Frank Sinatra … Festival time (contd) The Sikka Art and DesignFestival (Al Shindagha, to 1 Feb) is one you can [ … ]
Festival

Ten-minute showdown

Just how many short play festivals does one town need? The answer may become clearer during April and May, when Short+Sweet Dubai goes head to head with X Fest DXB. The backstory is that The Junction in Alserkal Avenue, which [ … ]