I’m sure we have all now seen the footage of Metropolitan rozzers kicking a suspected terrorist in the head, repeatedly, when he was down.
We can all play a part in putting an end to this sort of police brutality. Mainly by not going around stabbing people.
@54JohnBull@DrMarianaClaire Tesco offers refunds out of good will not because they have to. I doubt the sea bass was faulty or not as described and she didn’t buy online.
Dubai has always disgusted me. The equivalent of blowing your tax return on garbage. The Emirati conception of wealth, and broadly that of the Middle East, is their own gaudy oriental attributes smashed together with hyper globalized capitalism. What you get is this tasteless, ghetto, poor man’s idea of a rich city, a parody of prosperity.
When westerners think of wealth, they don’t picture mirrored gold plated supercars idling outside luxury malls. They think of Tuscan hill towns with terracotta roofs and cypress lined roads. They think of private islands in the Mediterranean, old money estates in the English countryside, the French Riviera, the Pyrenees, the Swiss Alps, Lake Como, the evergreen forests of British Columbia. They think of inherited castles, stone villas, vineyards older than entire countries, libraries with first editions, oil paintings accumulated over centuries, discreet marinas with teak deck sailboats, not LED lit yachts rented for Instagram.
They think of silvers and patinated leather. Handmade Oxford shoes. Tailored linen and wool suits cut in Naples or Savile Row. Heirloom watches. Baroque and classical architecture in Vienna and Paris. Romanesque cathedrals. Renaissance frescoes. Marble busts in quiet courtyards. Wealth as continuity, not spectacle.
They think of French and Italian cuisine. Four course meals with seasonal ingredients, Bordeaux and Barolo chosen for the vintage, white tablecloths, polished cutlery, deliberate pacing. Long lunches. Private members clubs with dark wood panelling. Galleries, opera houses, patronage of the arts. Discretion.
They don’t think of roided out Iraqi dudes with tapered fades reeking of cologne driving a Tesla or a Lambo, hauling around a harem of dead broke Slavic or South American models whose chests they poop on for 10k a piece on some rented yacht in the Gulf. They do not think of Indian slaves to wipe their ass while pretending it is entrepreneurship. They do not think of influencer culture masquerading as aristocracy.
Everything about Dubai feels like excess without depth. Record breaking towers built for headlines rather than permanence. Designer logos as personality. Gold leaf as a substitute for taste. A desert theme park for people who confuse spending with stature.
It is wealth as performance. Loud, transactional, and historically empty. A city trying to cosplay old money without the culture, restraint, or civilizational weight that made Western wealth signify anything beyond raw cash.