It's in Arabian Business, not some sensationalist tabloid, so I tend to believe it.
I've checked the date and it isn't April 1st.
The report says:
Citibank’s UAE subsidiary has launched a marketing campaign offering residents a free one-way flight out of the country if they sign on for a personal bank loan.
Borrow up to Dh64,000 and they'll give you a one-way ticket out of here.
I need to go away and think about this one...
See what you think of the story, which is here.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Dubai 1977
I've been fossicking around at the bottom of boxes and the back of drawers looking for more photos that I took in Dubai when I arrived the first time in 1977.
I found some 35mm slides, processed by a lab I'd completely forgotten about, United Colour Film Co of Ajman.
My first apartment was in a new building in Deira, just behind what is now Al Ghurair City (which hadn't been started when I moved here). There's a photo of it on an earlier 'old Dubai' post, here.
Anyway, in the heart of Deira I took this shot from my sixth-floor apartment:
Plenty of people still kept their livestock like this, a few hundred metres from the Inter.Continental hotel on the Creek.
Across in Bur Dubai, there wasn't a lot of development around Dubai Museum either:
We had some interesting retail options in those days ( I love the brand name on the box by the way, click on the pic to enlarge it):
And last but not least, my very favourite of all my old Dubai photographs:
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Why, du? Why?
In my post of yesterday, which included some photographs I took in Dubai back in the early eighties, I finished with this:
(You'll find many more shots of Dubai back in the seventies and eighties if you hit my 'Old Dubai' label).
Then readers told me this:
Post a Comment On: Life in Dubai
Shalini said...
Great photos and so interesting to see the changes.
By the way, your "old Dubai" label comes up as a blocked page by Du.
March 22, 2011 6:16 PM
Dubai Photo Story said...
The old Dubai label is indeed blocked by du!!!!!
March 22, 2011 9:08 PM
They don't want you to see photos of Dubai in the old days? Why not?
(You'll find many more shots of Dubai back in the seventies and eighties if you hit my 'Old Dubai' label).
Then readers told me this:
Post a Comment On: Life in Dubai
Shalini said...
Great photos and so interesting to see the changes.
By the way, your "old Dubai" label comes up as a blocked page by Du.
March 22, 2011 6:16 PM
Dubai Photo Story said...
The old Dubai label is indeed blocked by du!!!!!
March 22, 2011 9:08 PM
They don't want you to see photos of Dubai in the old days? Why not?
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Times they are a'changin'
Rostamani Tower, that's the one at the far left which I've arrowed, on Sheikh Zayed Road:
From my apartment at the back of the building I took this photograph:
Of course, that was back in 1981 when it was Abu Dhabi Road and it looked like this:
Photo: Torri Higgins
That's Rostamani Tower in the far top left, and that's how it was when I took the photo.
To get across the road to drive into Dubai we simply bumped across the sand between the two lanes and off we went. There were crashes of course but not like the ones we get now, by far the biggest problem then was speeding cars hitting wandering camels.
In the foreground is the Trade Centre, then Dubai's tallest building and I took a series of shots at a royal wedding celebrated in its shadow:
I found these photos when I was rummaging around in a cupboard back home in Oz last month. When I've posted old photos in the past they've been received well so I thought I'd share these with you too.
I came across some more of the Dubai Highland Games from the same early-eighties period too. Here's one of them, one of the several Arab Scottish Bagpipe Bands which performed at the Games.
The black & white photo by Torri Higgins I found on Len Chapman's wonderful website Dubai As It Used To Be.
(You'll find many more shots of Dubai back in the seventies and eighties if you hit my 'Old Dubai' label).
Monday, March 21, 2011
More on the law
If you haven't read yesterday's post, please do so before reading this one.
I think that sometimes the problem is the way the law is administered rather than the law itself.
In his comment on my last posting, Alexander called it 'a system that runs on rails to an insane degree', which pretty well sums it up.
But there are other examples where it is the law itself that's the problem and there's an example of what I consider to be a bad law reported in this morning's Gulf News.
A tragedy that happens world-wide is that little children are run down in their own driveways by their parents, especially when they're reversing large 4x4s.
I can't even begin to imagine the sickening horror the parents experience.
In the UAE, more horror is piled on top of that horror.
An Australian father has been charged with accidentally and unintentionally causing the death of his son after reversing his car and running over the toddler at the entrance to his house in Umm Suqeim.
The prosecutors are all showing sympathy and asking that he should be dealt with leniently.
...the law must be applied with a humane touch," said Salah Bu Farousha, Chief Traffic Prosecutor, while arguing for a compassionate and sympathetic view of the case, and asked the court to consider the emotional state of the father and the exceptional circumstances of the case to pass a light punishment...Upon the directives of Dubai's Attorney General Essam Eisa Al Humaidan, prosecutors ask a judge to be sympathetic...In such cases, we frequently ask the court to implement Articles 83 and 84 of the law, which stipulate that a fine or an imprisonment against suspects convicted in such cases could be suspended for three years.
There's been a death in a traffic accident so it's fair enough that there's a police investigation. If dangerous or reckless driving is involved then a case should be brought against the driver.
But to have 'accidentally and unintentionally' as a crime is another thing all together. And in this instance there is no suggestion that it was anything other than a tragic accident.
Prosecutor Salah Bu Farousha said the law must be applied with a humane touch. But they shouldn't have to ask the court for leniency, it should never reach court. A true humane touch would be for such a terrible accident not to be treated as a criminal act.
The story is in Gulf News here.
I think that sometimes the problem is the way the law is administered rather than the law itself.
In his comment on my last posting, Alexander called it 'a system that runs on rails to an insane degree', which pretty well sums it up.
But there are other examples where it is the law itself that's the problem and there's an example of what I consider to be a bad law reported in this morning's Gulf News.
A tragedy that happens world-wide is that little children are run down in their own driveways by their parents, especially when they're reversing large 4x4s.
I can't even begin to imagine the sickening horror the parents experience.
In the UAE, more horror is piled on top of that horror.
An Australian father has been charged with accidentally and unintentionally causing the death of his son after reversing his car and running over the toddler at the entrance to his house in Umm Suqeim.
The prosecutors are all showing sympathy and asking that he should be dealt with leniently.
...the law must be applied with a humane touch," said Salah Bu Farousha, Chief Traffic Prosecutor, while arguing for a compassionate and sympathetic view of the case, and asked the court to consider the emotional state of the father and the exceptional circumstances of the case to pass a light punishment...Upon the directives of Dubai's Attorney General Essam Eisa Al Humaidan, prosecutors ask a judge to be sympathetic...In such cases, we frequently ask the court to implement Articles 83 and 84 of the law, which stipulate that a fine or an imprisonment against suspects convicted in such cases could be suspended for three years.
There's been a death in a traffic accident so it's fair enough that there's a police investigation. If dangerous or reckless driving is involved then a case should be brought against the driver.
But to have 'accidentally and unintentionally' as a crime is another thing all together. And in this instance there is no suggestion that it was anything other than a tragic accident.
Prosecutor Salah Bu Farousha said the law must be applied with a humane touch. But they shouldn't have to ask the court for leniency, it should never reach court. A true humane touch would be for such a terrible accident not to be treated as a criminal act.
The story is in Gulf News here.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Report a crime, go to jail
There's a disturbing example of the way the legal system can be administered, reported by Gulf News yesterday.
If the story is correct, not for the first time the victim reporting a crime has spent time in Al Slammer.
In summary, when meeting friends at a hotel a young German woman was offered sweets. She felt dizzy and uncomfortable immediately after she ate a sweet and blood tests confirmed she'd been given a drug.
She reported the incident to police, who set up a sting operation which resulted in a man being punished and deported.
All witnesses and law enforcement officers confirmed that she was the one who reported the matter to the police. Forensic doctors confirmed that the drugs which appeared in her blood could have resulted from the sweet she ate.
On Thursday she appeared in court after five months in jail.
After five months in jail.
You have to ask why she was in jail in the first place and why it took five months to get the case to court.
There've been similar cases in the past which have attracted scathing criticism in international media, and rightly so.
On every level it's absolutely the wrong thing to do.
On a moral level it's indefensible to lock up a victim.
It can't be right to keep someone in jail for five months before bringing them to court.
It's counter-productive in the fight against crime. People won't report crime for fear they'll be jailed themselves.
It further harms Dubai's reputation, already under sustained attack by sections of the western media.
And still she's not free. The woman was released on bail, had to surrender her passport and, as the report says, the trial continues.
Gulf News has the full court report here.
If the story is correct, not for the first time the victim reporting a crime has spent time in Al Slammer.
In summary, when meeting friends at a hotel a young German woman was offered sweets. She felt dizzy and uncomfortable immediately after she ate a sweet and blood tests confirmed she'd been given a drug.
She reported the incident to police, who set up a sting operation which resulted in a man being punished and deported.
All witnesses and law enforcement officers confirmed that she was the one who reported the matter to the police. Forensic doctors confirmed that the drugs which appeared in her blood could have resulted from the sweet she ate.
On Thursday she appeared in court after five months in jail.
After five months in jail.
You have to ask why she was in jail in the first place and why it took five months to get the case to court.
There've been similar cases in the past which have attracted scathing criticism in international media, and rightly so.
On every level it's absolutely the wrong thing to do.
On a moral level it's indefensible to lock up a victim.
It can't be right to keep someone in jail for five months before bringing them to court.
It's counter-productive in the fight against crime. People won't report crime for fear they'll be jailed themselves.
It further harms Dubai's reputation, already under sustained attack by sections of the western media.
And still she's not free. The woman was released on bail, had to surrender her passport and, as the report says, the trial continues.
Gulf News has the full court report here.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Helping a friend
I've noted many times how all living creatures are equally affected by natural disasters. Bush fires, floods, eathquakes - we're all in it together.
Here's another example.
Days after the Japanese earthquake a dog was still watching over an injured dog. When it saw an approaching TV crew it went to them and led them to its injured friend.
Here's another example.
Days after the Japanese earthquake a dog was still watching over an injured dog. When it saw an approaching TV crew it went to them and led them to its injured friend.
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