[TV] Inside Dubai - anyone watched ?

[southstandandy]

A very shallow place, just like pretty much everyone living there.

 

[Springal]

Did you miss the references to being deported or arrested if you say the wrong thing? That was the lady "from Jersey" (tax haven) who had three unread books written by the king, all of which she loved and recommended and shared with the camera, none of which she'd read.

Not sure those Philippino staff would say anything other than they love working there.

Do you think they have a better life in Dubai or the Philippines? It is sad - but clear that without doing this kind of work overseas then her family would be living a worse life and children not benefiting from the education they get.

Personally not for me - but I work with Expats out there and have some friends out there and they all seem very happy with the quality of life compared to being back home. Also good opportunities for kids at schools there particularly with aims of scholarships or similar into Sports etc.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Top of my list of places that I have no desire whatsoever to visit.

Not quite top of my list - probably beaten, just, by Saudi Arabia and North Korea.

 

[dazzer6666]

Been there loads of times with work, and once on holiday with the family. Most of the positives and negatives already posted are true to some extent IMO. Not somewhere I would want to live, and not overly likely I’d go there on holiday again other than to visit several friends I have there or possibly a bit of winter sun. The people I know who live there all have live-in domestics, and treat them very well (my former regional head took her Filipino helper with her when she relocated from Singapore, she’s almost one of the family) - this isn’t always the case though - from what I’ve been told some of the Middle Eastern families in particular treat their staff ‘differently’. Life is also very different for groups like construction workers who often live and work in awful conditions.

Someone posted ‘soulless’ above….that’s a pretty good word to sum it up for me. Everything is just a bit ‘false’ - a kind of adult, manufactured theme park in the desert. Heavy-drinking, gobby expats fill the bars, everyone seems to have a flash car and a nice house or apartment with their kids at expensive international schools and weekends are spent at ‘bottomless brunches’ in the big hotels or the shopping mall (the weather in summer is unbearable, ruling out doing much outdoors for most). Certainly a lot of the people I worked with at least put up with it, many for several years, partly because they get locked into the whole existence in part due to the very high tax free salaries (and having domestics) - never been convinced that many of them really enjoy it though.

I guess it’s got popular with footballers in particular because it’s ostensibly a flash place, you’ll get waited on hand and foot and it’s the kind of place flaunting your wealth is almost expected.

 

[southstandandy]

Do you think they have a better life in Dubai or the Philippines? It is sad - but clear that without doing this kind of work overseas then her family would be living a worse life and children not benefiting from the education they get.

Personally not for me - but I work with Expats out there and have some friends out there and they all seem very happy with the quality of life compared to being back home. Also good opportunities for kids at schools there particularly with aims of scholarships or similar into Sports etc.

Not sure I totally agree. Ultimately you can argue they earn more than they wold at home but they are being cruelly taken advantage of in their low wages compared to the avergae wage paid in Dubai. It's like the situation in Qatar, building the World Cup stadiums. Yes, loads of employment for poor people from abroad who are ultimately deemed 'expendable' with over 6500 having died during the ground's construction process. Could you imagine if 6500 people died here in the UK building grounds for a future World Cup? There would be uproar.

Sadly they are just taken advantage of by the wealthy elite in such places. With all those millionaires, could they not afford to pay £100 a day to their staff rather than £20? They wouldn't miss it and then they might get more respect from us outsiders looking in.

 

[Springal]

Sadly they are just taken advantage of by the wealthy elite in such places. With all those millionaires, could they not afford to pay £100 a day to their staff rather than £20? They wouldn't miss it and then they might get more respect from us outsiders looking in.

Is it right that Tony Bloom paid Jurgen Locadia £2M a year while paying the shop staff / kiosk staff a living wage? (£9.18/£9.50 per hour)

 

[dazzer6666]

Not sure I totally agree. Ultimately you can argue they earn more than they wold at home but they are being cruelly taken advantage of in their low wages compared to the avergae wage paid in Dubai. It's like the situation in Qatar, building the World Cup stadiums. Yes, loads of employment for poor people from abroad who are ultimately deemed 'expendable' with over 6500 having died during the ground's construction process. Could you imagine if 6500 people died here in the UK building grounds for a future World Cup? There would be uproar.

Sadly they are just taken advantage of by the wealthy elite in such places. With all those millionaires, could they not afford to pay £100 a day to their staff rather than £20? They wouldn't miss it and then they might get more respect from us outsiders looking in.

It’s the same with construction in Dubai…..hundreds of (almost all Asian) workers bussed in every morning from big camps out of town to work long hours in awful conditions for very low wages with little time off. They get to stop work when the temperature officially goes above 50 degrees….it’s a bit of a standing joke locally that it’s quite often officially 49.5 degrees……..

 

[highflyer]

Massive tax haven. Built on oil, exploitation and oppression. Run for the benefit of a few ultra rich individuals.

Across the world countries and cities have festivals of culture, music, sport, art, food. In Dubai they have 'the festival of shopping'. Which tells you al you need to know about the place and the people that go there.

I have spent time there. But only professionally. Given the choice of extraordinary, diverse and fascinating places in the world, why anyone would go to Dubai on holiday, let alone choose to live there, escapes me. Souless place for souless people.

 

[B-right-on]

Not sure I totally agree. Ultimately you can argue they earn more than they wold at home but they are being cruelly taken advantage of in their low wages compared to the avergae wage paid in Dubai. It's like the situation in Qatar, building the World Cup stadiums. Yes, loads of employment for poor people from abroad who are ultimately deemed 'expendable' with over 6500 having died during the ground's construction process. Could you imagine if 6500 people died here in the UK building grounds for a future World Cup? There would be uproar.

Sadly they are just taken advantage of by the wealthy elite in such places. With all those millionaires, could they not afford to pay £100 a day to their staff rather than £20? They wouldn't miss it and then they might get more respect from us outsiders looking in.

There haven't been 6500 deaths building the stadiums. That's just media twisting facts in the headlines

There have been 37 deaths among workers directly linked to construction of World Cup stadiums, of which 34 are classified as “non-work related” by the event’s organising committee.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-...grant-worker-deaths-qatar-fifa-world-cup-2022

3/34/37 is still bad and the overall estimate of 6500 is just mind boggling. I don't know how Blatter and Co can sleep at night with all their blood money.

 

[portlock seagull]

Been there loads of times with work, and once on holiday with the family. Most of the positives and negatives already posted are true to some extent IMO. Not somewhere I would want to live, and not overly likely I’d go there on holiday again other than to visit several friends I have there or possibly a bit of winter sun. The people I know who live there all have live-in domestics, and treat them very well (my former regional head took her Filipino helper with her when she relocated from Singapore, she’s almost one of the family) - this isn’t always the case though - from what I’ve been told some of the Middle Eastern families in particular treat their staff ‘differently’. Life is also very different for groups like construction workers who often live and work in awful conditions.

Someone posted ‘soulless’ above….that’s a pretty good word to sum it up for me. Everything is just a bit ‘false’ - a kind of adult, manufactured theme park in the desert. Heavy-drinking, gobby expats fill the bars, everyone seems to have a flash car and a nice house or apartment with their kids at expensive international schools and weekends are spent at ‘bottomless brunches’ in the big hotels or the shopping mall (the weather in summer is unbearable, ruling out doing much outdoors for most). Certainly a lot of the people I worked with at least put up with it, many for several years, partly because they get locked into the whole existence in part due to the very high tax free salaries (and having domestics) - never been convinced that many of them really enjoy it though.

I guess it’s got popular with footballers in particular because it’s ostensibly a flash place, you’ll get waited on hand and foot and it’s the kind of place flaunting your wealth is almost expected.

Your experience matches my perception (without really knowing) so I guess perception is reality. Certainly my 1hr in transit visit was enough, I’d rather holiday in Slough frankly. Have you been to Legoland…

 

[Questions]

or a tunnel contractor.

Well it was well drilled.

 

[Live by the sea]

Been there loads of times with work, and once on holiday with the family. Most of the positives and negatives already posted are true to some extent IMO. Not somewhere I would want to live, and not overly likely I’d go there on holiday again other than to visit several friends I have there or possibly a bit of winter sun. The people I know who live there all have live-in domestics, and treat them very well (my former regional head took her Filipino helper with her when she relocated from Singapore, she’s almost one of the family) - this isn’t always the case though - from what I’ve been told some of the Middle Eastern families in particular treat their staff ‘differently’. Life is also very different for groups like construction workers who often live and work in awful conditions.

Someone posted ‘soulless’ above….that’s a pretty good word to sum it up for me. Everything is just a bit ‘false’ - a kind of adult, manufactured theme park in the desert. Heavy-drinking, gobby expats fill the bars, everyone seems to have a flash car and a nice house or apartment with their kids at expensive international schools and weekends are spent at ‘bottomless brunches’ in the big hotels or the shopping mall (the weather in summer is unbearable, ruling out doing much outdoors for most). Certainly a lot of the people I worked with at least put up with it, many for several years, partly because they get locked into the whole existence in part due to the very high tax free salaries (and having domestics) - never been convinced that many of them really enjoy it though.

I guess it’s got popular with footballers in particular because it’s ostensibly a flash place, you’ll get waited on hand and foot and it’s the kind of place flaunting your wealth is almost expected.

I’ve just shown your post to a friend of mine whose been there twice and she said that is probably the perfect summary of Dubai !

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

All that oil and money, all those glitzy hotels, restaurants and shopping malls and they still can't polish a turd

 

[Swansman]

Rather go to Portslade.

 

[dwayne]

Did someone say above that the beaches are good. Gotta disagree on that one !! They're all fake. The beach is painfully boring there.

On the flip side not a terrible place to get some sun, do a bit of shopping and have some nice meals. You can stay in a really nice hotel for little money and there's plenty for kiddies to do there.

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[trueblue]

I guess it’s got popular with footballers in particular because it’s ostensibly a flash place, you’ll get waited on hand and foot and it’s the kind of place flaunting your wealth is almost expected.

Possibly true but it's also popular with footballers for ticking other boxes when their opportunities for breaks are very limited during the winter. Not too far away and reliable sunshine.

 

[Jesus Gul]

Rather go to Portslade.

You'll have a more authentic arabic experience walking down Boundary Road (excellent grocers) than the Sheikh Zayed Road...not that you'd ever consider walking anywhere in Dubai

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Never been tempted by Dubai tbh. Much more interesting places in the world to go I reckon.

 

[Live by the sea]

I agree , lots of interesting places where you are able to speak freely as well ..

 

[South west gull]

Rather go to Portslade.

Come and join us in sunny portslade you will love it

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