It certainly is a strange response, isn't it - he essentially finds fault with the journalist for not being an activist and organising a campaign. It is not a j

It certainly is a strange response, isn't it - he essentially finds fault with the journalist for not being an activist and organising a campaign. It is not a journalists's role to oragnise campaigns; it is to inform the public. If the public is then roused to a campaign, so much the better. I also find the account of the waiting lists for whatever fashionable bar rather distasteful given the context. Look, I haven't been to Dubai. I don't know whether the Independent piece was a valid description of the society or not. But the kind of rebuttals I have seen are unconvincing. What kind of rebuttal would I find convincing? Some of the Westerners that live there saying "I have a maid. She holds her own passport. She is paid a living wage. Her working conditions are hard but not inhumane". Or: "I am a contractor working in Dubai. All my workers hold their own passports. We have these and these arrangements to ensure they are not asked to work in 50 degree heat". There is no reason to make this into a religious issue; the article was far more critical (in my eyes) of the Westerners that flock to Dubai than of the local population. Having read that piece I assure you I would much rather be stuck in an elevator with a UAE native rather than any of those shallow, vapid Brits that were described.