You seem to have made a fair assessment. Most articles on him only go in one direction.

I never personally understood why he got so much hate. For two reasons. Firstly, as ‘intelligent’ human beings, surely we can come up with our own conclusions and not get so worked up about the headlines one man is writing. And secondly, Umair comes across to me more as a realist than anything else. To some, he may be preaching ‘catastrophe’ but ask anyone from the ‘third world’ and they’ll tell you a lot of what he’s been saying of late is bang on.

All things aside, I think he’s an incredibly gifted writer. Reading his articles is like getting on a bullet train that you have no control over – a train that only stops when he wants it to stop. That’s a gift that not many on this platform can boast to possess – maybe even none.

I thoroughly enjoyed your article – it’s always good to read a balanced account rather than one that heavily skews in one direction or the other.