I Went to Dubai and All I Wrote Was a Lousy Article

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/eea3210e-9854-11dc-8ca7-0000779fd2ac.html

A little old, but roughly in order, thoughts as follows:

International journo flew to Dubai and judged it on…. Trader Vics?

Well absolutely, in the same way that the Hard Rock Café perfectly encapsulates all of the subtlety and complex variation of modern Britain

Why didn’t he just order a Tikabukabuka like everyone else?

As if the MacKinsey guys here drink! I work with those guys and they are all Algerian, religious, get three hours sleep a night because of their work schedule and spend their lives pimped out to Saudi to work on implementation of year long contracts. Wave a proper drink around at the other end of the room and they’d all slump face down on the floor, overcome by exhaustion and the distant, marginally alcoholic tikabukabuka fumes

Dubai remains economically dependent on oil despite diversification programmes? Well all hail the mighty revelation… thank seven pound three ounce baby Jesus for this article because otherwise we might actually have deluded ourselves that this is a diversified economy

‘Despite over-dependence on hydrocarbons, Dubai remains a liberal economic paradise.’

……Ok people, just nod and smile at the crazy journalist, because he might be dangerous. Note to Mr FT - Try and set up an office here; try talking with monopolistic state companies such as Etisalat and Du: try to hire staff working for the competition who incur a ban if they try to shift companies, or even try to work out which laws control those contracts you’re so girlishly negotiating, and THEN hit us with your economic prelapsarianism

‘Mix a cocktail and they will come.’ Quick! Someone tell Saudi Arabia!

I wonder who paid to fly this guy in for another Dubai! Dubai! Type article? MacKinsey? Or the notoriously well-funded Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing?