The Times They Are A-Changin

The newspapers in the UAE are, almost without exception, bland and asinine. The two main broadsheets, the Gulf News and the Khaleej Times contain lots of coverage of local events but essentially nothing by the way of real news. In their defence, it can't be an easy place to be a journalist. There are strict restrictions on what can and can't be stated in public. Any critisicm of the Royal Family, for example, is strictly taboo. The internet is also heavily censored and any number of sites are blocked for "contravening the political, religious, moral, social and economic values of the United Arab Emirates". Much to most expats annoyance, these sites include Skype and any form of cheap internet telephony. The cost of international phone calls here is ruinous.

British newspapers are widely available in Dubai, but always a day after the event and at a prohibitive price. The Sunday Times, for example, is a fiver. I can access the websites but it really isn't the same as sitting down with the printed version. So, I was really pleased to discover that The Times has now launched a locally printed version for a more reasonable pound a day. Unfortunately, it doesn't include the second section but I can manage to live without the TV schedules and reviews of opera in London. More importantly, it has sudoku and the crossword for my more cerebral wife. I was able yesterday to scoff with the rest of the UK at the new 'Marmite' logo for the 2012 Olympics, read the obituaries of minor judges and a review of Gordon Brown's new biographical book by Matthew Parris. Whilst Matthew Parris was dismissive of what he called 'clumsy thinking', all I could wonder was where the Prime Minister in waiting finds time to write books between running the economy, all that New(ish) Labour politicking and his young family? I barely seem to be managing a blog a month.