Vast fortunes are spent portraying the UAE as a caring, benevolent, modern society. Then something like last week’s draconian sentence handed out to PhD student Matthew Hedges for allegedly spying blows that public relations construct to smithereens.
This time last year I visited the UAE to speak at the enormous Sharjah Book Fair. Sharjah is one of the smallest and most conservative of the Emirates but the ruling family are very keen on the pursuit of literacy.
No alcohol can be drunk anywhere and the only beach where Emirati women can bathe in a swimsuit is overseen by a female lifeguard.
Alexandra Shulman visited the UAE to speak at the Sharjah Book Fair (pictured) last year
Up the road is the more lenient Dubai, where I met up with a group of young women in the Dubai Mall’s Armani cafe to discuss life in the UAE. They all arrived modestly dressed, in flowing gowns (abayas), trousers covering the ankle, headscarves – and wonderful eye make-up.
They were a sophisticated, highly educated and well-travelled group; fashion designers, journalists, a financier. But nonetheless I found them baffling.
When I asked about the traditional dress code they insisted that they weren’t under any pressure to dress this way and that it was entirely their choice not to be disrespectful to Emirati tradition. It marked them out from the masses of tourists and expats wandering around with their cut off denims and sleeveless dresses.
Indeed, they didn’t voice a word of complaint about a single aspect of the society they inhabit, unlike us Westerners for whom complaining about our lot is a way of life. Most striking of all was their total acceptance of – indeed praise for – the staggering degree of surveillance in the UAE where the state monitors their every movement.
When asked about the traditional dress code women insisted that they weren’t under any pressure to dress this way and that it was entirely their choice (stock picture)
Rather than finding the wall- to-wall CCTV cameras and the interception of their texts, WhatsApp and email a chilling invasion of their privacy, they lauded it as empowering.
Far from objecting to the scrutiny, they all agreed it made them feel safer to go about their work and lives. ‘I can walk home alone from my studio at five in the morning without any fear,’ one explained. ‘In fact, I don’t know what I’d have to do to be raped here.’ Not a sentiment that I imagine is shared by the thousands of female, migrant workers locked into abusive domestic employment in the region.
My dad’s tax tip: Just blow the lot
Once again there’s talk of reforming inheritance tax because the current system is too confusing. It’s a subject that generates a great deal of heat – despite the fact that, of the 570,000 people who die each year, only 30,000 leave large enough estates to qualify for it. Partly this is because inheritance tax tends to hit middle-class media commentators like me and partly because it’s distressing to have to deal with at a time of grief.
There is, however, one way to avoid it which is the method adopted by my father.
He felt that, in providing his offspring with a good education and comfortable childhood, he had fulfilled his financial obligations and there was no need for us to inherit anything.
So he cheerfully spent every penny he had. My sole takeaway after his death was a white Perspex 1960s cigarette box which I nabbed as a nostalgic memento from the rented flat where we all lived.
What’s the emoji for ‘I haven’t got a clue’?
Last month Apple introduced 70 more emojis to the iPhone, including grey hair and bald heads so that nobody feels left out.
But all those darling little symbols are wasted on me.
I don’t speak emoji and can never understand what’s being said. With my slightly dodgy eyesight I can’t work out the different nuances of expression and I can never judge whether the tears streaming down the little face are of laughter or misery.
These days it’s hard enough trying not to say the wrong thing to some constituency or other, without also having to worry whether you’ve posted an emoji that’s going to cause offence.
Misery of a saggy bottomed Christmas
More from Alexandra Shulman For The Mail On Sunday...
It’s official. This Christmas jumpsuits are neck and neck with party dresses as the festive wear of choice, according to the John Lewis womenswear team who know such things. ‘Dismal news’ was the verdict of one man I shared this information with, as he contemplated the party season ahead, peopled with wall-to-wall saggy bottomed unisex all-in-ones.
Why jumpsuits should have become quite so popular is unclear, since they are deeply inconvenient to get in and out of and most inefficient at parties where speedy trips to the loo are at a premium. Even stranger is the fact that the newest styles are essentially dresses in disguise – made in floral prints with girlish wrap waists, and legs so wide they look like skirts. But nobody ever said fashion made sense. That’s why we love it.
We’re commuters – not happy hippies
Something very odd is going on with the Tube in Central London. Zone One stations at rush-hour used to resemble nothing so much as the stampede towards the last ’copter out of Saigon. Now emollient voices over the Tannoy preach soothing instructions intended to minimise the every-man-for-himself mentality.
‘If we work together then no one will be disappointed,’ one suggested the other day, followed by the plain weird edict to ‘Get a nice even spread throughout the car’ as if there was any question of spreading even a finger as you squeeze on to a jam-packed carriage on the Piccadilly line.
'Trust me Meghan. Make the most of it. It doesn’t last,' says Shulman about Meghan and Harry's look of love
Sorry Meghan, that look of love won’t last
Every time I see pictures like this one of Prince Harry gazing with such admiration at his new wife, there’s a trace of something I vaguely recognise.
Years back, when I was first with my boyfriend, a mutual pal accused him of wimpishly wallowing in ‘cow-eyed devotion’. Trust me Meghan. Make the most of it. It doesn’t last.
Linkhienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/11/25/alexandra-shulmans-notebook-uae-the-nation-where-every-woman-is-spied-on/
Main photo article Vast fortunes are spent portraying the UAE as a caring, benevolent, modern society. Then something like last week’s draconian sentence handed out to PhD student Matthew Hedges for allegedly spying blows that public relations construct to smithereens.
This time last year I visited the UAE to s...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/11/25/01/6605022-6425641-image-a-21_1543107978703.jpg
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