It’s been more than 4 years since I last asked this question:
Dubai. Why would you go there?
It used to be that westerners were under the impression that the UAE was a liberal westernised place, rather than the Islamic state it actually is. The UAE did a good job of fostering this impression itself, but from time to time, the mask slipped, and people who did things considered perfectly normal and legal in Europe fell into the black hole of a middle-eastern legal system.
Well, what I’ve been saying for years now is such a chronic problem that the British Consulate in the UAE is actually tweeting warnings to this effect.
So I’m still left wondering. Just why would you put your life in the hands of a country with such capricious application of draconian – nay medieval – laws?
AJ
Al Jahom's Final Word 
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It was with grave misgivings that I elected to stop in Dubai on a recent long-haul flight. It was a nine-hour layover, and I could have taken a hotel room free of charge. But I don’t have sufficient confidence in my ability to wake up after a fourteen hour flight so I stayed in the airport.
The Emirates business lounge is heaven on earth. I sat in the cigar bar, chain-smoked and got through a couple of bottles of bubbly.
The electronics in the duty free shops are overpriced but their whisky selection is superb.
I have only just learned that e-cigs are banned there, so it’s just as well that I didn’t opt for the hotel.