lullabelle

Good old Dubai bashing here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...?newsfeed=true

"Human beings acting as wallpaper" is a very good line, I think. Very apt.

NorthernLad

"Dubai does not impose income tax, so the tourists are joined by an international convention of laughing parasites – all refugees from tax. I used to hate them, until I realised that any British people who want to live in Dubai, we can probably afford to lose."

She has hurt my feelings.

Edit: Just read the first page of readers comments and given up. I never read The Guardian, but had the impression that it's readers were educated. That misconception has just been blown away.

soukie

Interesting article! There is some truth in what she says though

lullabelle

It's bad form to tar the whole western expat workforce with that shitty stick. Granted there are some people he who act like complete tools - cock of the walk and all that. Bit of dosh in their pockets, unfair sense of superiority due to the racist hierarchy etc. But my guess is they'd act like that anywhere in the world if they could get away with it. But there are so many genuinely lovely people. I guess we all know that though.

I just wish the people who wrote these things had actually lived here... I doubt I could credibly slag off any city after a mere visit.

Ethos83

I've had to defend Dubai to people who think it's full of uptight, racist, snobby middle class people.

I've had to defend Dubai to people who think it's full of working class chavs.

Can't win one way or another.

Ethos83

*snorts*

co durham boy

There's a lot of truths in the article , i don't know why people feel the need to defend Dubai and other places where they live in this region. What's right is right and what's wrong is wrong .

If it works for the individual then great , alot of people struggle with their own conscience here and sometimes feel the need to justilfy their own presence by defending their lifestyle and host country .

I've seen some horrific things in this part of the world but i've also seen some fantastic things as well .

Keep on taking the money

soukie

kittycat1

So she isn't a fan of Dubia is she?

littlejimmy

There are a lot of generalisations in there, but a lot of it is fairly accurate too.

norsk

some of the reader comments are hugely amusing! all from a bunch of morons upholding the moral standards of the world from their sofa while they secretly wish they could afford to go on holiday to dubai - or anywhere at all outside of the UK.

these are probably the same people who are closet-readers of the sun and who collect the vouchers to get cheap/nearly free trips to a caravan park in Poole!

the journalist is obviously correct about some of her claims, but she is exaggerating wildly and implying that some of the stuff that happens here doesn't happen elsewhere. this is bollocks and she knows it, but i'm sure the editor gave her a gold star...

anyway the guardian has less than 300K readers (and has been consistently dropping over the last 10 years) so they are probably trying to get new readers with some sensationalist articles.. (source link)

Norm_uk

The Guardian is no better than the Daily Mail...read (and definitely written) by mostly self-assured leftists who are convinced of their own intullectual and moral superiority over the breast-obssessed Daily Wail types.

Both just as bad as each other and both with an agenda ...anyway I live in Abu Dhabi so all these comments don't really bother me. After seven years there I'm fully aware of it's highs and lows.

N.