DubaiShire – Is Dubai becoming a British county?

London Heathrow now serves Dubai 12x a day of which Emirates Airlines ferries passengers and British expats on 5 of their Airbus A380 Super Jumbo’s. That’s almost as many flights as between Heathrow and Edinburgh. On board an Emirates flight, one quickly feels at home despite Arabic writing and air hostesses (wearing a discreet veil to welcome passengers). The announcements are made in a pre-recorded Oxford British accent. The in-flight shopping Magazine is called “The Emirates High Street” and the 900+ channels of in-flight entertainment are clearly programmed by Brits for an international audience but include many channels devoted to British culture, soap operas, sports and even feature your favourite British cooking chefs. 

The British influence in Dubai dates back to the 1820’s when the British created the Trucial States between the neighbouring Sheikhdom’s as a Maritime treaty to bring peace and increase trade (and serve the Brits interest in the region until the UAE gained independence in 1971). The British expat population in those days was tiny compared to over 100,000 British expats who live in Dubai today. This makes Dubai roughly the same size, as Cheltenham but the true number of Brits living in Dubai is probably closer to that of Cambridge as most expats are not registered with the British Embassy.

Britishness is everywhere in Dubai! A one hour drive around town makes this apparent. First tune in to the radio where there are several radio stations run by and aimed at the British expaits including  92FM with a popular morning breakfast show hosted by two northeners: “Catboy and Geordiebird”. This chat show makes Brits feel at home with celebrity gossip, songs and other news from the rainy island.

You will probably drive past countless British schools which curriculums adhered to GCSE’s and A-Levels so your children can easily fit back in to the UK education system. On the weekends parents take their children to: rugby, cricket, golf and polo grounds which have formal clubs where you are more likely to meet a couple from Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire than a UAE citizen.

 Hotels although mostly Arabian in appearance and décor, are often managed by Brits and cater to British Expats and tourists alike. They serve Saturday roasts (Sunday being the start of the week) served with Yorkshire pudding and Worcestershire sauce. Most big hotels have their own British pubs where you can watch the latest Darts competition on Satellite TV whilst sipping on a Brown Ale and starring at British memorabilia hung up on the wall. You could almost be in Lancashire!

A stop by one of the giant malls such as the Mall of Emirates will also reveal that many of the stores including the flagship store Harvey Nichols were imported straight from a UK High Street.

Even this Christmas period, a quintessentially British tradition: the Pantomine is on show in a theatre complete with Benny Hill and other British type gags and farces.  This last example shows that the Brits are here to stay in Dubai and no longer view Dubai as a 2-3 year international experience to boost their careers or make a bit of extra money. The population of Dubai is made up of 90% of expatriates (see this article for further info) many of whom view Dubai as a short-term move . But the Brits are increasingly joining the Indians, Pakistanis and Iranians who try and stay in Dubai and renew their residency visas for as long as they can do so as it is still impossible to have permanent residency or gain citizenship.

Alas, there are also some negative aspects imported by the Brits which include binge drinking and people being arrested in compromising situations. Some Brits also feel that they are superior to other nationalities/expats behave with a British Colonialist attitude. 

Dubai has been growing rapidly since the mid-1990’s and despite the Emirate nearly going bankrupt in 2009, it has rebounded in part thanks to the trouble elsewhere in the region caused by the Arab Spring. The demand for specialised skills and talent from Construction, Engineering to Banking has attracted many Brits. They have been welcomed by open arms by the UAE which maintains a good relationship with the UK since the Trucial State times.

Good times lie ahead for DubaiShire and if you are a Brit it will feel increasingly feel like a home from home.

The Ramadan experience, fasting for a day.

I have always been curious about people fasting during Ramadan, especially since moving to the Middle East (see my other blog post: The other side of Ramadan). On the last day of the holy month I decided as a non-Muslim to join the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims who will be fasting today.

It is 5:00am, my iPhone alarm rings, I wake up reluctantly for the Suhoor meal. I feel like I have an early flight to catch somewhere and I am not at all hungry. I check today’s Ramadan timings on a local newspaper’s website, the sun rises at 5:54am. It took me some time to get out of bed and I now have under 25 minutes left to eat and drink enough to last me the next 13 hours until sunset.

I am just about finished eating, it is starting to get lighter outside and my aim is now to drink enough fluids. This is what I am the most nervous about especially as the temperatures peak to 45c during this period in the Gulf. I remember a tip from Yashar, an Iranian colleague who gave me some insight on fasting. He said that I should aim to drink at least four glasses of water before sunrise. I have already had one glass of orange juice and I am feeling bloated but I will force myself to three glasses of water.

A few minutes later, I hear the Muezzin (the call for prayer) from a nearby mosque, I feel nervous as this marks the start of the fast. I follow Yashar’s advice to go to bed after eating as most Muslims will do until it is time to get up for the day.

The long day ahead

It is 7:00am, my alarm rings again. I thought I would feel thirsty when I got up, but I was fine. It is business as usual and I have to head to the office as I have a presentation today and a management meeting.

It is midday, I am starting to feel a bit tired and I am also making small mistakes occasionally. Other than that, I am not hungry and only a little bit thirsty. My international company abides by the local laws which prohibits eating and drinking in public during Ramadan (though we do have a room where non-Muslim staff can eat and drink behind closed doors). We also have air conditioning in the office which helps. I am starting to feel confident that I will be able to last the remaining 7 hours.

It is mid-afternoon, I am feeling a lot more tired and am low on energy. Everything is a bit more of a struggle, I am trying to speak less as I am thirsty, though not necessarily hungry.

I am finally leaving work at 4pm (working hours are reduced during Ramadan to enable staff to cope and rest). I am dreading the 5 minute walk to my car in the heat and high humidity. I also know that it will take at least another 10 minutes for my car to be fully cooled down as it is parked in the sunshine! My only goal now is to reach home safely and to have a siesta until the sunset.

Sunset and Iftar

It is 6:30pm, I wake up and I feel tired, low on energy and extremely thirsty (when I look back, the final 30 minutes were the most painful). I make my way to a local restaurant where an Iftar buffet is awaiting. As I am seated, the restaurant manager tunes in to a local radio station which is playing a series of prayers as a type of ‘countdown’ to the sunset at 6:56pm. I look at my watch, 5 minutes. The waiters quickly go around each table to pour glasses of water, special Ramadan fruit juices and they hand out dates so that everyone is ready once we can break the fast. 

I follow the advice of Fehroz, an Indian Muslim colleague who told me to be very careful not to drink and eat too much initially. He advises to drink a glass of water and a eat few dates which will help the body rebalance its sugar levels. I start to feel better just as I am handed a delicious lentil soup to further rehydrate me. I then head to the buffet (which can be accessed on both sides as people are hungry, quite a sight) to eat local specialities which mainly consist of lamb, rice, peas, tabouleh and Arabic bread. I start to feel bloated and I follow Yashar’s advise to go for a long walk after the Iftar dinner.

During my walk, I reflect at the day and how it was to fast. It was not a impossible challenge but it did take a lot of discipline. I feel content and more knowledgeable at what it is like to fast. I have even more respect for those who fast especially as they have been doing this continuously for the last month and for those living in countries with longer daylight (read: BBC article on people fasting in Finland), this must be even hard, something I don’t think I would have been able to do.

Emirates Arlines starts using 'Santa shortcut' over North Pole

Emirates airlines continues to push the boundaries by launching a non-stop flight from Dubai to Seattle which goes over the North Pole. Previously travellers who wanted to fly between the Middle East and the Pacific Northwest either had to do a stopover in Europe or Asia which meant a total travel time of 21-24 hours. Emirates airlines was quick to exploit a new flight path over the North Pole which slashes the travel time to 14 hours. The plane flies the shortest possible route. It heads north for Russia, over the top of the World and heads down past Alaska, British Colombia and it finally descends to Seattle (route map here).

The in-flight map from showing the plane literally over the North Pole. The second picture show the view on a flat map of the World.

This not only represents a considerable time saving for passengers, but also a significant reduction on fuel and carbon emissions. Emirates airlines has met the conditions of the latest  ETOPS regulations (December 2011), which means that two-engine planes such as the Boeing 777-200LR (which stands for Longer Range) or their popular 777-300ER (Extended Range) are allowed to fly up to 330min from the nearest airport instead of 180min as per previous ETOPS rules.

I was lucky enough to fly on this newly scheduled route which features the award winning Emirates airlines service, comfort and in-flight entertainment. Due to the long flight, the airline has added extra cabin crew and two additional pilots in the cockpit. They also had to reduce the number of toilets to accommodate additional storage areas for catering. Solenne, a French flight attendant, was also going to Seattle for the first time. She explained how the crew works in shifts on this flight and have a dedicated crew rest area room which is located above the cockpit and includes small beds for resting. She didn't seem too concerned about flying over the North Pole or the long flight which she pointed out was not the longest flown by Emirates (they fly non-stop from Dubai to far flung places such as Brazil in 16 hours).

One can expect to see more airlines make use of the North Pole shortcut especially as airlines face higher fuel bills. The time saving alone allows the airlines to ultimately keep some of their planes flying more per year which will result in leaner running costs and hopefully more stable fares for customers. Boeing, who's main factory is also in Seattle, has not faced (or made public) any operational issues with flying this route. But, several articles have raised concerns about flying over the North Pole which has higher levels of radiation, although this likely to be more of a concern for pilots, cabin crew and frequent travellers on this type of route.

From rags to riches: The UAE celebrates it's 40th anniversary

I happen to be in the UAE in the week leading up to this nation's milestone birthday. So much has changed here in the last couple of years but this is nothing in comparison to the amazing changes the nation went through since becoming independent a mere generation ago. There is a buzz in the air and a sense of excitement and pride from locals who have lavishly decorated their homes and cars as part of the celebration.



Prior to December 2, 1971, there was no country but a series of Sheikdoms/Emirates which were separated from each other by deserts, their own currencies, rulers and armies. They was even rivalry between some of them notably Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The British were still occupying the region at the time and offered each of the Sheikdom's protection. The Trutial states as they were known would come to an end on that historic date. A visionary Sheikh Zayed, the ruler of the Abu Dhabi Emirate (biggest and wealthiest Emirate) got together with the other 6 neighbouring Sheikhs and convinced them that creating a union and seeking independence from the UK was the way forward. A constitution was drafted and the Sheikhs met again to merge each of their Emirates into the United Arab Emirates.

Life then was still a struggle in many of the Emirates, Abu Dhabi was modestly getting richer due to the exploitation of oil fields in the 1960's. But the rest of this new country including Dubai were still sleepy towns living in a very simple way (no modern comforts of the day, telephones, a/c, decent roads). Dubai soon discovered oil after and so did several of the other Emirates. This brought in dramatic changes which helped fuel Sheikh Zayed's ambitions and vision for the new country. Infrastructure was desperately needed but the UAE went the extra mile and built a network of impressive 1st world standard motorways, ports, airports, desalination plants and power stations. This resulted in growth, increased investment in education, better cooperation and integration between the union and opening up the country to international investors and the expansion of non-oil based industries.

The country continued to develop itself and set the standard in the wider region where infrastructure was poorer, women had practically no rights and certain countries were very inward looking and weary of other nations/parts of the world. A sovereign wealth fund was set up based on the success in Norway and Singapore to invest the current riches into projects and funds that would help the country as oils runs out in the future.

The biggest change no doubt occurred between the late 1980's and 2008. The UAE and especially places like Dubai punched over their weight and saw extremely rapid development, population growth and increased wealth. Gargantuous projects normally seen in places like New York, Tokyo or Paris literally rose out of the sand to create World recognisable landmarks: Palm Jumeirah island, Burj Al Arab hotel, Jebel Ali port, Sheikh Zayed grand mosque and the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower.

The UAE has done tremendously well these last 40 years and has been peaceful amidst an unstable region and has survived many challenges and crises including the recent Arab spring and the credit crunch (albeit at a slower growth rate). The UAE is now seen as the most stable, liberal and open minded country in the Middle East. The late Sheikh Zayed would be proud of the transformation of the nation and it's trajectory into the future. There are challenges though which are to continue to develop the non-oil sectors and reduce the dependency on oil, over reliance of foreign workers (including improving human rights) and creating a knowledge based economy for the  local population that would see the country successfully survive once the last remaining drops of oil are extracted.

Two quotes from Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan (1914-2004):

"We must not rely on oil alone as the main source of our national income. We have to diversify the sources of our revenue and construct economic projects that will ensure a free, stable and dignified life for the people"

"The real asset of any advanced nation is its people, especially the educated ones, and the prosperity and success of the people are measured by the standard of their education."

The other side of Ramadan

I'm sitting in the middle of a bustling food court enjoying my last lunch in public before the holy month of Ramadan begins tomorrow. In less than 24 hours time, this food court and others like it in the Middle East will be closed during the daytime. 


This may sound like a month of doom and gloom for non-Muslims and Westerners like me living in the Middle East. But, it's not all negative, far from it. Ramadan is often misinterpreted when viewed from abroad. Urban myths and tales of drastic restrictions give it a skewed image. Many people would be surprised that it's actually a festive and truly different month for people whether Muslim or not. 

The first noticeable difference is that everyone's schedule changes. Work hours are reduced so that employees can leave home several hours earlier in order to rest, spend time with their family and attend or Iftar (dinner served after sunset when the daily fast ends - delayed by 2 min for Burj Khalifa skyscraper residents). 
Iftar's are big business these days. Most companies, social clubs, groups of friends and neighbours will regularly organise Iftar dinners. Hotels and restaurants make up for the loss of business during daylight hours by hosting Iftars and decorating their venues for the occasion and creating special festive menus. Certain people even hire air-conditioned tents to put in their gardens/streets (see picture) to host large lavish Iftar parties. Iftars are a bit like a work Christmas party where the mood is joyous; people are more relaxed, friendly and caring. 

Shops and shopping malls also benefit from Ramadan. They are eerily quiet during the daytime with certain shops closed, no music being played and rarely a person in sight. But after sunset, they are bursting to the seams with activity and often close at 1-2am. These retail outlets make the most of the festive period by decorating their stores with hanging stars and lanterns (for the Eid break) and offering special Ramadan promotions ranging from food platters to party supplies and more recently large flat screen TVís and Apple Ipadís.


The media also sees a surge in audience with newspapers facing their highest month of readership in countries such as Saudi Arabia. TV viewing figures also peak dramatically in countries like: Qatar, the UAE, Egypt and Lebanon. Famous Arabic soap operas will broadcast episodes specifically written for Ramadan which are even more dramatic, passionate and addictive than during the rest of the year. Many other businesses and industries do very well during Ramadan.


One would think many Muslims would find Ramadan hard especially fasting, but many I spoke to actually enjoy the challenge and rewards. I remember speaking to a former colleague who was so excited when Ramadan was officially announced that he immediately sent an email to the office congratulating and wishing everyone 'Ramadan Kareem' (Happy Ramadan). Another colleague I spoke to, told me she was happy to change her daily routine, fast and to spend more time enjoying life than the usual rat race. She did say that fasting will be tougher this year as the outside temperatures average 45c in most parts of the Gulf during the day and that the daylight hours are longer at the start of this yearís Ramadan. The trend will continue as Ramadan starts 10 days earlier every year, inching ever closer to the summer solstice. 






Many Gulf nationals, take their holidays before Ramadan and return often from a month-long break in cooler places like London or the Swiss Alps just in time for the start of Ramadan. 'I canít miss all the social events, seeing old colleagues, friends and family and relaxing' my bank manager told me. One can also witness a sense of community and a temporary breakdown of class/race as people are more respectful towards each other in these normally class/race divided countries. The majority of Mosques hoist tents in their car parks which will serve free Iftar and Suhoor (prior to sunrise) meals often to south Asian labourers. Many public places will have donation boxes and stands to encourage people to donate money to good causes. 

The holy month will end when the Eid holiday is announced which coincides when the new moon appears 30 days or so after the start of Ramadan. This is another festive occasion a bit like Christmas day where people exchange gifts and other celebrations occur before life goes back to normal for another 11 months until the next Ramadan begins. 

Soon we will be outnumbered!

I've often read and heard this phrase whilst living in Europe. The theme resonates to the same tune: if we continue to let in more immigrants and foreign workers we will lose our culture, identity and our jobs.

This is usually touted by nationalist newspapers, certain political parties and often by the man sitting at the bar in your local pub. Although I don't agree with all the elements and the portrayed dangers of immigration, I have witnessed aspects of these which have already taken place in  several Middle East Gulf countries. 

If we take a quick look at the demographics of Gulf countries one would be surprised at the statistics. In certain countries, foreign workers outnumber the natives by disproportionate ratios (UAE: 4:1, Qatar 3:1, Kuwait 3:1). 

How did this  happen? These gulf countries have seen rapid economic development fuelled by successive oil booms which has led to double digit growth rates. There was an initial need for skilled and unskilled foreign workers to help set up and run oil & gas projects as well as execute the government funded infrastructure visions. This set a precedent and an increasing number of foreign workers were relied on for cheap labour and often for jobs that would service the growing non-native population. 

To keep up with the high growth rates, the local governments further opened the borders in order to diversify its markets into service, business and tourism sectors. The lack of native skills (or willingness to work in certain sectors) has led to more people relocating to these countries to work. Virtually zero taxes, wide use of English and an 'american' lifestyle (large affordable villas, big cars, shopping malls, open market for entrepreuneurs) has encouraged many skilled workers to come to Doha, Dubai, Manama and Al Khobar. 

The changes and rapid development have been phenomenal. Places like Dubai and Doha were fairly quiet port towns less than 20 years ago but have now become world-class cities with outstanding infrastructure and a quality of life (for most people) comparable to the world's top 10 countries. Alas, all this has come at a cost for the native Arab population. There's increasing anger vented by young Saudis, Emiratis and Qataris that they can't find work outside the generous government paid public sector. In certain countries up to 50% of them are unemployed! 

Saudi Arabia is not spared by this and several times a year publishes statistics to show the negative effect of the over reliance on foreign workers. On weekends in Riyadh, most foreigners will stop by a bank or remittance branch such as Western Union to send a significant portion of their income to their home countries. This doesn't necessarily concern workers from the third world or emerging countries, but also your American engineer or Swedish project manager will also regularly send most of their earnings out of Saudi Arabia. According to an article in the English daily Arab News, more than $16 Billion (government supplied figure) was sent out of Saudi Arabia in 2008 making it the second ranked remittance contributor in the world. The government and media try to draw attention to how much money is 'lost' and ultimately not re-invested into the Saudi economy. 

There are other concerns in the UAE, which is smaller than Saudi Arabia and proportionally wealthier per capita. Unemployment is also relatively high among the young natives, but the talk in the media these last few years has focused on the loss of culture, identity and language rather than the loss of money or jobs. Only 18% of the population are native and the majority group are Indian expatriates. A common joke to visitors says it is more useful to learn how to speak Hindi in Abu Dhabi or Dubai than Arabic. On a recent well publicised visit to Qatar, the Dubai police commander said on a tv show that Gulf nationals could soon be marginalised and could become like native Indians in America who were the original inhabitants but have lost their culture and language to others. Here is the article

Qatar has received a lot of media coverage in the last few years and more recently after being awarded the right to host the 2022 world cup (despite the recent FIFA scandal). After visiting Doha for a day, one can clearly see the erosion of national culture and identity as everyone speaks English, everything is written in English (albeit certain translated Arabic signs), practically all customer facing jobs are held by expatriates and as a result it is very rare to interact with locals. I've noticed on several occasions young local children who are perhaps no older than 5 who used english to address a waiter in a restaurant or a shop clerk rather than speaking in their native Arabic.

A rather amusing article depicts this and is the narrative of an American businessman who goes to Doha for 48 hours for a business trip. He took a Qatar Airways flight from the US and was served by Chinese cabin crew. When he got to Doha, the taxi driver was Pakistani. At the hotel, the receptionist was Indian. He then went for dinner in the centre of Doha and was served by a Filipino waitress. He decided to go for a drink in a bar which was staffed by Bangladeshi waiters and all his business meetings were with non-Qataris. He ended the article by saying that he had not come into contact with a single Qatari except for the customs officials at the airport. 

The government and natives of these countries are increasingly trying to address the above issues via several schemes. In the UAE, Zayed University set up a programme whereby flags and other national symbols are distributed in public places to nationals and non-nationals. The theme is My Flag My Identity (see picture). In Qatar, an initiative was launched by a large private company to promote entrepreneurship amongst the young by the means of organising a contest to generate business ideas and creativity. The aim was to encourage young locals to think outside the box and to take part in a fair where they would sell their products and services for a day. Saudi Arabia just last week, announced a traffic light coloured rating system for the private sector where companies will be audited and labelled with a colour to show how many Saudi nationals they employ and whether they have a programme in place to create more jobs for Saudis. 

The surge of Dubai's underground rivers!

Driving down Dubai's iconic Sheikh Zayed Road, one can admire the high-rise buildings, luxurious cars and the desert scenery in the near distance.  Most visitors may not have noticed that this majestic street is lined with impeccably green "Hyde Park" lawns.  And little do they know that hidden beneath this greenery there could be underwater rivers, flushed daily by desalinated water.

In a city where it rains on average 10 days a year and where the the temperature peaks up to 50c in the summer months, one would be shocked to learn that most streets are lined grass and non-native flowers and plants. If we discount the dozen or so 18-hole golf courses in and around the city, the following will raise a few eyebrows:  

Experts have noticed a disturbing surge in large underwater pockets of water. In certain areas this is causing underground rivers to appear where there were previously no natural underwater wells. After speaking to a specialised dewatering company based in Dubai, they also noticed this trend is on the up and is starting to cause a nuisance for new constructions projects as well as impacting the soil around existing constructed areas. This has led to an increase in dewatering, which is a method used to dig holes and extract excessive water from the soil in order to reinforce the soil prior to construction. 

The blame can be put on the city's rise from a sleepy modest dusty town 25 years ago, to a city of over 1 million today. Local government and property developers have unnecessarily added kilometres of lawns, shrubbery and flower beds (in certain cases to the image of the local ruler). One could quickly mistake Dubai for a North American leafy suburb town or a Swiss Alpine alpine village surrounded by greenery and beautified streets. 

As it practically never rains, the water used for the lawns and plants is sourced from desalinated water which is converted into potable water in one of the countries 50 desalination plants. Making this water drinkable, requires a huge amount of energy which the country so far is able to produce due to it's abundant oil and gas reserves but the tide is turning.  As electricity usage and water consumption which is estimated at 420 litres per person/day (4x as much as in Europe) is dramatically rising, the country is forced to go down the nuclear route and will build it's first nuclear power plant in 2017. 

The problem with all the excessive watering of green areas is that the local soil is not used to this much water and doesn't absorb it as it's mostly sand and rock which has led to the underground water pockets and rivers being created. This water isn't captured and re-used so the cycle repeats itself as sprinklers are turned on several times a day to add more desalinated water to the grass and soil. 

There are signs for hope though. The government recently made calls for indigenous grass to the region to be planted instead of 'golf course' grass. There are also campaigns in the press and in schools to educate on reducing water usage. But the biggest challenge, would be for the city and it's property developments to go back to a traditional desert-like natural environment.