Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"
 

Sakhalin? That's where my all-time favourite Biggles story was set ('Biggles Buries The Hatchet').

Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"
 

That's the problem though.

You think you're a better expat because you've been dragge to shitholes around the world.

I just pity you.

Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"
 

I don't think being dragged round shitholes makes you a better expat, but it does make you more appreciative when you end up in one of the better berths!:)

Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"
 

As a nipper, I started in Lagos. Life has been on the up ever since, though the belly laughs and family yore have decreased.

Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"
 

To clarify, when I refered to American settlers I was talking about those heading west away from the Eastern seaboard. That culture was fairly well dominated by early english settlers and expats from England. Heading west the only people they encountered for the most part were the occaisional French outpost and Native Americans. Neither did much to change the American/colonial structure. Assimilation, for immigrants was for the most part the norm in the US until recent times.

Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"
 

I am wondering what being a 'better expat' entails. I hadn't realised there was a scale of expatness.

Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"
 

I don't disagree but my experience is that different groups in the US often mix far less than in places like the UK.

Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"
 

I think some expats who have been to hardship postings think they deserve more respect than those who have been somewhere fairly tame like Dubai.

These same expats often forget the world has moved on and that a lot of places have developed...I for one would rather be living with running water, bogs that flush and a/c. If some see that as being soft, so be it.

Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"
 

As minority groups become larger and more culturally threatening to the dominant group their ability and desire to mix becomes less. As their numbers grow they can form sustainable societies (i.e. shops, religious groups, sports, cultural events etc) built around their 'home' cultural without the need to find substitutes within the cultural of other groups. In the US as 'non-white' populations have grown (isn't the population or at least birth rate not now higher among 'non-whites' than 'whites') there has been less interaction, whereas in the UK, generally, the immigrant populations haven't grown to such as scale and in such densities (with some exceptions), hence segregation has been less.

Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"
 

I'm soft as shit then.

Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"
 

**** off - where did I say I was "better"? And **** off with the pity as well Mr-oooh-I-would-send-someone-to-Yemen-for-my-own-financial-gain.

Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"
 

Quite :D

Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"
 

That's not being soft. But being all "expatwoman" oooh the maid doesnt dust properly, pork is soooo expensive, customer service is shite, oh the driving is terrible darling.... is.

Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"
 

I worked in Uttoxeter once. Now that is a shithole and makes Doha look like a thriving metropolis.

Re: "Are Dubai's British expats too soft?"
 

Hell's bells! Who'd you piss off?:D