I live in Dubai, ask me anything

You spend months in the UK, you have an empty house in the UK, you really believe the Daily Mail nonsense about immigrants and benefits?

And then you state that you don't believe the coverage about the ME.

There's some epic rose tinted glasses going on there.

I remember living through the IRA bombings.

And then 9/11

There wasn't a whole huge amount of happy stories going on. You want to know why? Cos there was big shitty stories actually going on that needed reporting. You know like a massive elephant in the room called Iran.

I am guessing the 1970s and the fuel crisis and the very warm summer of 76s the news wasn't much of a barrel of laughs either. That's before I was born so I don't know, but I have my suspicions.

I am also guessing that 1939 - 45 weren't a particularly cheerful time in the news either. Damn the miserable journalists for not being more cherry.

Given that newspapers were a feature of the emergence of the French Republic and the Independence of the USA (technology change helped to cause social unrest amazingly enough) I'm fairly sure the whole history of the media and news has been based on fairly miserable reporting.

I'm a media studies graduate... This argument about cheerful media really isn't going to wash with me. This is about you wanting to bury your head in the sand and disconnect from the reality of the world around you. This is about not wanting to burst your bubble of the world you are in now being 'nice'. Not that the media has somehow got more miserable.

You don't want to see that it's not nice because if you do, you might be forced to process it.

That it’s dropped as immigration has increased? Yes, it probably is.
Here’s a source for you, and one key paragraph in case you don’t want to read a whole article (it looks paywalled, it’s not. Click the x in the pop up and it goes away)
Since 1995, violence has gone down by 78 per cent, burglary by 85 per cent and car theft by 86 per cent. In fact, nearly every type of crime, other than fraud, cybercrime and shoplifting, has decreased over the past three decades.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/crime-down-police-falling-rate-violence-uk-b3054285.html

Yes mate. Now you don’t live here you have a better understanding of what it’s like to live here than those of us who do live here do.

news is news. It reports the extremes. It doesn’t report that actually we’re all quite fine, thank you very much. Or would be if we could get the idiot reformers to shut up.

‘I was so badly pushed around I needed several men to protect me and didn’t dare catch the train a second time’ isn’t great evidence for how safe Dubai made you feel…

It's actually really funny isn't it?

OP, you haven't mentioned anything I asked about: your children, their schooling, anything to do with the challenges of reintegrating in 5/6 years, the economy, anything to do with mortgages, anything about the drones being shot down and closed airspace, censorship (which is absolutely known by all expats who live there), details about nanny/home help (again, you must be the only person living in Dubai without any househelp). Do you live in a compound or rent out a place?

Your answers are just so generic: the UK is shit and high in crime and taxation (even though you spend many months here per year) and Dubai is great (but you can't tell us more details about this).

Are you sure you are living in Dubai with your children?

You aren't scared enough yet given you are in bloody Dubai of all places!

And guess where many of the uk crime bosses and OCG drug lords run their businesses from….

This.

Given who is saying what and how.

Spot on redtoothbrush

Then why are you planning to come back? You sound like you despise the UK. Why not just stay in Dubai if it’s so great?
Good luck to you OP, I’m glad you are happy with your life.
You’ll probably tell me I’m jealous of your wealth, but honestly, I’m not. I’m apalled by your greed. You have a home in the UK that you can afford to just leave empty, yet you want more. It’s very sad. If I was as rich as you, I’d have no problem paying the tax. Just as I have no problem paying it now, as a poor person, who needs it far more.
Yes, slavery is a problem the world over, but you seem to use that as an excuse for Dubai to exploit people as much as they can, just because they can. Oh well! It happens everywhere so just turn a blind eye and give me the fucking cash.

Well it did!! The sheer volume of peak time commuters was overwhelming. I didn't realise how busy it would be.
I'm still grateful to those men though.

Wealthy tax dodgers blaming brown people crossing the channel on a flotie for the UK economic demise.

The gaslighting is real.

👏

Why do you feel able to overlook the inequalities in UAE but not the UK? In both societies there is vast differences between the haves and the have nots. In the UK, the people who have money, as you say you do, live a very nice life. Is it just the tax you object to?

What are the negatives about Dubai apart from the heat and being away from family and friends? I mean in the place and the society. Everywhere has negatives

It's the hidden nature of poverty versus the visible nature of poverty isn't it?

In a democracy poor people have rights. In an authoritarian state they can be locked up without proper trial, and even result in the death penalty. In a democracy poor people can voice their dissatisfaction in the press and there can be gloomy articles about the cost of living. In authoritarian states these people don't exist, are behind closed doors or just can be shipped back to where they came from no questions asked.

God forbid that poor people dare to exist and ruin the happy stories in the newspapers.

Not the BBC for ‘news’ 😂
Anyone suggesting that is truly captured.

I’ve traveled a fair bit in Europe, Africa and Asia. Not ME because just no, frankly. Couldn’t bring myself to give them my money. I’ve never been anywhere I’ve felt scared by the numbers of people or felt I needed men to protect me (however nice it is that they stepped in). You’ve described somewhere very unsafe, not safe! Someone protecting you doesn’t make a place safe, it means it’s dangerous in the first place!

I agree their main political commentators tend to give the right an easy ride, but in general they are ok. C4 and ITV are a bit braver.
But anyone using the word ‘captured’ in this context isn’t someone I’d listen t9 for accurate political or social commentary.

I think if you don't watch any news, it's a good place to start!

An awful lot of preconceived ideas, spite, envy and personal attacks on the OP on here, rather than people genuinelywanting to understand about life in Dubai.
Utterlyridiculous claims that she is homophobic and speculation re her husband being unfaithful..
Since when is it okay here to diss SAHM? Used to be the gold standard of motherhood on MN…