Smithy

Dad to Archie & Jack. Beer selling #SaintsFC fan living in the Middle East. #OC

[Smithy @iamsmithy]

@broguesy

[James Gillespie @JamesGillespieX]

In France, if you're junior and you go into the office wearing brown shoes, they'll say "who do you think you are, Macron?!" because Macron did this when he was an intern at Rothschild, and French bankers do not forget sartorial faux pas.

[Maine @TheMaineWonk]

MAGA: Obama giving Iran $1.7 billion unfrozen assets is TREASON.

NYT: Trump’s Iran Deal to include $300 BILLION reconstruction fund for Iran.

MAGA:

[Smithy @iamsmithy]

@Boro Superb.

[Smithy @iamsmithy]

Experienced it and it was phenomenal. Seamless to connect and super fast speeds.

[Sawyer Merritt @SawyerMerritt]

Emirates executive Patrick Brannelly in new interview on why they adopted @Starlink:

"The legacy systems weren’t working. No matter how much money we threw at them, passengers still complained, and it was impossible technically for everybody that wanted to connect to connect. Then Starlink came along saying, ‘We guarantee it, it will work.’ With a very pragmatic technical viewpoint, insisting on XWAPs, to connect 100%, and to install more than one antenna to handle demand and for redundancy. It was like for the first time, talking to people that actually understood how the internet works in a highly dense environment on an aircraft.

It seemed our legacy connectivity industry didn’t really understand the core technologies needed to deliver customer connectivity happiness. But Starlink absolutely understood it.

Now, in addition, the big fundamental shift from the first generation of Starlink was the evolution of satellite-to-satellite laser connectivity. So, if you’re a middle of the ocean, where you’ve got nowhere to ground the traffic, Starlink could just pass the traffic through adjacent satellites until there’s one over a ground station. That worked much better than I think anybody had imagined."

Emirates has already started to install Starlink on its entire fleet of ~232 aircraft, with full completion expected by mid-2027. Customers onboard with Starlink are already seeing 10-20X internet speed improvements.

(full SatelliteToday interview linked below)

[Smithy @iamsmithy]

Forgot to add that @Starlink was also onboard. Unreal speeds.
Game changing from @emirates

[Emirates @emirates]

BREAKING: Emirates is introducing @Starlink WiFi across all in-service aircraft, with the first installation already completed and on display at @DubaiAirshow 2025. https://t.co/ypFFhQqapW

[Smithy @iamsmithy]

No issues flying into DXB from CMB yesterday. Yes, I appreciate not all are so lucky but nice to be home in Dubai again.
The house took a battering from the rain but held up. Back to work. Life goes on.

[Smithy @iamsmithy]

Oh yeah. The flight there and back was full.
A full flight of normal Dubai residents coming home and visitors coming to stay.
#bouncebackability

[Smithy @iamsmithy]

This looks brilliant.
If it means less exhausted taxi drivers it can only be a good thing.

[WeRide.ai @WeRide_ai]

🇦🇪 We've launched our fully driverless Robotaxi fare-charging service in Dubai! Riders can now book a WeRide Robotaxi directly through the “Autonomous” option on @Uber along routes in Jumeirah & Umm Suqeim. Service delivered in partnership with the RTA.
$WRD

[SamSays @samjawed65]

Update from grocery shopping in Dubai this morning.

Oranges from Australia, Egypt, Morocco, India, Turkey, China, Pakistan and Vietnam. And that’s just the citrus. Don’t even get me started on the apples.

Supermarkets are fully stocked. Supply chains are working exactly as they should.

How many of those pushing a “shortage” narrative get this kind of a range wherever they are tweeting from? Maybe it’s time shut up and stop the Dubai bashing.

[Smithy @iamsmithy]

@FurkanGozukara @Kate_Martinson Maybe take a look at why people want to leave the UK for other opportunities in the first place.
Fix your current systems and stop worrying about how to take money of other people.

[Smithy @iamsmithy]

@mark_slapinski “Journalist”

[Smithy @iamsmithy]

@jamiebsmith Let us know if you can get there.

[Smithy @iamsmithy]

Grok translate this - worth the read.

Strong words.

#UAE 🇦🇪 ♥️

[Krysia McKechnie @KrysiaJ]

Absolute sensationalist rubbish here from @thetimes. It does not cost 5-10k to drive to Oman unless you’re an idiot. Why would you need ex-military drivers? Where do they think Oman is? Afghanistan?

[Smithy @iamsmithy]

A very nice @wsj article.
#UAE 🇦🇪 #Dubai

https://t.co/aopIRhVY4g

[Smithy @iamsmithy]

@ruswar Fake

[Isabella Rossellini @PopNovaNews]

The GREATEST and most LEGENDARY bluff in the history of TV.

[Smithy @iamsmithy]

When are those bloody tax payers going to evacuate me?

[Obaid AlZaabi @Obaidsview]

Iran is sending missiles and trying to kill people here in the UAE
Its not a joke, they are serious and its not funny that people are worried
If this happened anywhere else, there would be global empathy
I dont know what the people in the Emirates and Gulf did to be so hated but its disgusting

[Joule Sullivan / The Sartorial Shooter @SartorialShootr]

The left hates Dubai cos it has law and order

Lazy types hate Dubai cos you have to work hard to make it here

🐑 on X hate Dubai cos that’s the ‘in’ thing to do right now

99 percent of those who are actually living here?

Love it and are grateful

Hate always from below…