To not get why people hate Dubai so much?

[Cutitup]

What is there to hate?

I think it's a great place to have a holiday. Great restaurants, great service, fab shopping and spa treatments.

I do understand the problems of domestic and construction staff being exploited but this is not a problem unique to Dubai. I just don't get the vitriol, the 'it has no culture' etc.. I say get out of the bitter farm and play with the hay!

please name another country where the tourist industry and ex pat life has been built on the reliance of desperate migrant workers, relies on migrant workers that are treated so appallingly

of course there are many problems worldwide

dubai is an extreme country a country of contradiction, such vast amount of wealth, an outwardly strict islamic country yet such awful treatment of people who are seen as lesser humans

it made me feel ill seeing the wealth that so many (including myself) enjoy when over the road men are working and living in such a degrading way

My SIL loves Dubai.

Says everything you need to know about her and the place.

Nouveau, tacky vileness.

Principles are principles and many people take steps to maintain their principles even when they are poor by, for example buying clothes second hand so you are not directly funding it etc

Buying clothes second hand? and where were those clothes made? or does that not matter if they are second hand?

It is a bit hypocritical to play the poor card just so you can slag off other people and feel superior

Im not 'playing the poor card' I am explaining why I don't have the option of buying ethically sourced clothing.

I can't actually believe you are saying that it is fine to treat people in a manner which you find unacceptable if it results in you being able to buy clothes you can afford

I didn't say that. I am saying that when you are poor your choices are limited, so too are the oportunities to exercise any principles you hold.

Amber, you say you are poor - if you or your husband got offered a job in Dubai with private schooling for the kids, private health, a chance to pay off your mortgage and have savings etc - would you not be tempted? Also don't think it's fair to stereotype all the expats that live there - that's just ridiculous

1. I don't have a husband, I am a single parent [how would that go down in dubai?]. 2. I don't have a mortgage, I am a social housing tenant. 3. I don't currently work as I have a disabled child whos care needs prevent me from working.

If I was offered a job in dubai with all of the benefits you mention, no I wouldn't take it. My answer would be no without any hesitation. Even if I did have a mortgage etc my answer would still be no.

Other countries are POOR. Sadly global economics mean that in some countries people get low wages. But at least they GET wages. "Ethically" refusing to buy what they make means they then starve? Helpful, non?

Dubai is RICH. Astoundlingly so. It offers a luxurious and tax free lifestyle to Emiratis and Expats - and treats its labourers like shit, when IT DOESNT HAVE TO.

It could afford to have decent labour laws and protection for employees. It could provide proper medical care, resaonable wages and suitable accommodation for all workers. It could ensure that they don't have to work for free for years to repay the recruitment costs. BUT THEY DON'T GIVE A SHIT. It doesnt have to be like it is.

If you are happy to sit in your ivory tower built by slave labour, then fine. I would not be.

Dubai is a bling-besprinkled turd.

Otherwise it's OK.

Oh grovel that is the greatest description of anything bad, EVER.

Please may I steal it for future use? Please say yes!

Dubai is singled out for slating because it promotes itself aggressively as the perfect luxury tourist destination, blame-free bling shopping and spas, Sex and the City meets on-trend a la carte Islam-lite.

Bangladesh does not do this.

And I am not an 'armchair warrior'. I used to live in Dubai.

It is well known that buying clothes second hand at least means that the disposable clothes are reused by less fat greedy bastards. I love this thread, full of hypocrisy and middle aged armchair activists who barely travel further than the next street to buy their Guardians.
Armchair wankers.

And by the way, my husband has recruited many single parent teachers in Qatar the only faff is obtaining family court reports to say that the biological other parent has given their full consent to their child being taken out of the UK.

Well the thread did ask why folk dont want to go to dubai. If spending that kind of money then you choose where you want to go- I dont want to go to Blackpool orm magaluf either If I have a choice.

Such are the lengths that people will go to justify their greed, that you have resorted to telling me how I should dress my children, calling me a fat greedy bastard and middle aged [the cheek!] when what we are talking about here is greedy people of a whole other level, not people who can't afford expensive clothing.

No clothing I buy is 'disposable' I don't view buying clothes in primark as buying disposable fashion items, I buy clothes for my ever growing children. They also get passed on to anyone who wants them, be that via friends or charity shops.

I don't buy or even read the guardian BTW.

And by the way, my husband has recruited many single parent teachers in Qatar the only faff is obtaining family court reports to say that the biological other parent has given their full consent to their child being taken out of the UK

Thats nice, but I'm not qualified to teach, I'm unskilled.

Consent from my childrens father would definitely be a problem though, he is descended from slaves, so he'd have a problem with his children living somewhere that was built on slavery as much as I would.

I love that you think I am greedy. I don't live abroad for money, I live abroad because I think the UK is a festering fuckpit with third world healthcare and useless education amongst the many other things. Some British expats may be unsightly or poorly behaved but having lived in Poole for a short while, the inpats are pretty shit as well. We barely got paid in Bangladesh or Africa and had to use savings to live.
And yes, generally teachers do have educational qualifications, even us thicko greedy expat types like my husband.

I love that you think I'm fat, greedy and middle aged!

I'm happy with the education and healthcare systems here. They have looked after me and mine well enough.

You have lived in africa and bangladesh and you are calling Britains healthcare and education system third world? ok.

Yes I am. Even those places had better and faster access to healthcare. What about all the other countries you have experienced? What were they like?
MNers love to give it out and randomly slag people and places off but can't take it back.
Still a number 2.

Don't flatter yourself, you haven't given anything for me to take back.

I wouldn't want to live anywhere other than Britain for many reasons. I've experienced other countries and this one is where I'm happy to be.

Still a 3.

Good, you stay there and enjoy your life, it sounds ace and I will stay here and enjoy mine.

Sorry amber but I can't get over the irony of, as you said, an unskilled parent of multiple children living in social housing who's principles only extend to their front door, lecturing others on their choice of holiday destination.

It is and without a smudge on my conscience I will.

Carry on, and the delightful irony that my tax free job does not mean I am subsidising it.

Bearbehind, sorry?

Multiple children? you make it sound like I have 7. say what you mean please.

Yes I live in social housing...and?

What is ironic about that?

I don't know how many children you have but, as you refer to them in plural, I have referred to multiple.

If you don't see the irony, I'm not pointing it out.

No please do, if you are going to go down that route, please be transparent and don't back out now eh.

You are trying to lecture people who do things you don't agree with when your principles extend no further than the end of your noses when push comes to shove.

If you have no skills which could enable you to work in Dubai then it is very easy for you to dismiss it but, if you were in a position to do so, I do wonder if your principles might take a back seat once again, ie it would be a better life for my children etc, as you seem to be using similar excuses for purchasing goods made in factories with poor conditions.

As I have said before on this thread, if you chose to live a life where you only consume products from or travel to countries with exemplary human rights records then fair play to you but you cannot pick and chose your principles and, most insultingly, lecture others, when they make other choices.

There is a difference between letting your principles slide out of neccesity ie being skint and letting them slip [or not having them in the first place] because you want nice things/higher standard of living.

FTR I am not lecturing anyone, I am expressing my opinion, there is a difference.

I am not skint because one of my principles is to take full responsibility for myself and my family. I would not expect taxpayers to feed, clothe and house me. I have always made provision for the future and always, always worked to ensure it.