British journalist Sathnam Sanghera may not be very welcome in Dubai, going by his recent column in the The Times newspaper. But then, he obviously doesn’t want to go either. In a column for the newspaper he explained his reasons for: ‘Why I’d rather die than visit Dubai’.

That editorial sparked off a furious response in the Dubai press, with one resident alerting AIM Magaine to a column in The National newspaper, taking Sanghera to task.

AIM magazine previously profiled Sathnam Sanghera and then interviewed him earlier this year during the publication of his book, If You Don’t Know Me By Now.

So what sparked it all off? Sathnam wrote about Dubai: “Essentially it is Las Vegas without the sex and gambling, which is Las Vegas without a point.”

In the article, he says:

I know it is popular – it has set itself the target of achieving 15 million tourists by 2015. But whenever residents and tourists start banging on about the great shopping it offers, I can’t help thinking that you can also shop very well in Birmingham; when they rave about the climate, I can’t help thinking that 48C is too hot; and when they gush about all the plush restaurants to dine out at, I can’t help thinking that London has quite a few of those, too.
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So last week I spent an entire day reading newspaper articles and travel guides about Dubai and am now much better informed. And whereas before I would have suggested that people who went there on holiday had absolutely no imagination, and Britons who emigrated there did so because they had essentially failed in their home country, I would now say that British tourists and emigrants to Dubai also:

1. Have no taste.
2. Are deeply uncultured
3. Are unethical.
4. Are deluding themselves about the city’s tolerance.

Responding in The National last week, Rupert Wright wrote, “Criticise Dubai if you must – but try visiting first.”

He goes on to say in the article:

Dubai can be hard to like, even if you bother to visit. It’s a place for guaranteed winter sun, a gentle warm sea and some tacky amusements. It is Blackpool with sunshine, but what is wrong with that? A few weekends ago I took my children to the Atlantis hotel on the Palm. Absurd and garish, but they loved it. If you’re looking for old buildings, go to Cairo; if you want culture, visit Abu Dhabi.

Even if your idea of a good time is not found in a shopping mall, it would take a curmudgeonly visitor not to be impressed by the industry that has taken place in Dubai. Mr Sanghera condemns most of this industry as having been been “propped up by imported labourers who work six or six and a half days a week on 12-hour shifts, toiling in the desert sun for a daily wage that often amounts to no more than the cost of a pint of beer”. Not quite. They earn, depending on their skills, about 1,500 dirhams a month. That is nearly £280 net, with no living costs. Because they are mostly Muslim, they don’t drink beer: but if they did they could buy many pints of beer a day, particularly in their countries of origin, where they send most of their money. It might also surprise him to learn that these labourers are there of their own volition: they are not helots enslaved by the mighty Spartans.

May the commentator battles continue!