[News] Nigel Farage and Reform

[Weststander]

Dubai's tax gets mentioned on social media posts regularly and it's the home of a couple of prominent Reform fans. I was there a few weeks ago and there are a few other things about it that could be relevant to this thread.

First and foremost, the vast majority of people there are immigrants, around 80%. And there's a very broad mix of people and cultures. Westerners can drink and go to the beach - within reason. But it is baseline Islamic. Immigration workers at the airport don't wear a uniform as such and hand you a sim card for the duration of your stay. From then on the whole immigration system works on face recognition and you don't need to see a human. But, of course, that's not the result of liberal democracy. It's a federal authoritarian monarchy with a terrible record on human rights. Basically Singapore in the Middle East. And the facial recognition, while convenient, is also Orwellian.

When I was going @hart's shirt was good enough to provide me with extensive and excellent visitor info, which was immensely kind and I really liked the place. I like particularly how people rub along no matter where they're from. But I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of the government.

My suspicion is, with Reform, that they quite fancy the authoritarian control and tax position but I think achieving it by having 80% of the population as immigrants would give most of their voters a coronary.

There are two entirely differing worlds for foreigners settling there.

"I Already Bought You"

This 79-page report documents how the UAE’s visa sponsorship system, known as kafala, and the lack of labor law protections leave migrant domestic workers exposed to abuse. Domestic workers, most from Asia and Africa, cannot move to a new job before their contracts end without the employer’s...

www.hrw.org