The Poolie Bunker

Why do so many people go to the gulf when you’re only 40 miles away from Iran, the loony toon hotspot of the Middle East…….or did they think the gulf is in the Med not fat from Ibiza.

They go for guaranteed sun 365 days a year. I've worked there a couple of times but wouldn't spend money to be there even if the only alternative was a wet weekend in Prestatyn.

Dubai is a magnet for white trash with money. Fergie is said to be hiding out there. Enough said

Double post.

One report said a quarter of a million Brits live there, surely not….?
If they’re out there dodging taxes are we obliged to pick them up…?

I hope not. They chose to move there so they should fund their own way back.

lets say it makes the delights of rhyl look attractive.

Drove through Rhyl loads of times…never tempted to stop.

Snowy at your best criticise places you have never been too and also the people who go there, I know loads of ordinary people who go to Dubai for a holiday, you should try it daily flight from Newcastle.

Ever occurred to you that some people have a different opinion on what is an ideal holiday …cheap living and sunshine ain’t high on some people’s list of the ideal holiday destination.
If that appeals to you crack on, but what other people think is really their business and choice.
Where you a travel Agent in a previous life….?

It's not even cheap. The return flight alone will cost you £600+ to numb your backside for 7 hours. Though they may be discounting soon for the foreseeable future.

To be honest I hate flying…..no hard shoulder at 40,000 feet.
But it has no bearing on what I like…I quite fancy the Hurtigruten.

Was listening to the radio today and they were discussing the British tax payer funding rescue for people who’ve moved there to not pay British taxes

They talk as though it’s some Garden of Eden but overlook the close proximity of the Family from Hell just over the water….waving to them…. with two fingers.
Makes a caravan in Skegness quite appealing, despite paying tax.

Financial reasons, Sun, and people love the soulesness of it all. Wow, tall buildings, Lamborghinis, gold stuff. Never appealed to me personally, seems like the type of Brits who move there are the ones I actively try not to engage with, or they’re tax dodgers.

Sounds like Chavsville on Sea….a nightmare.

lets say where holidays are concerned i have only bothered going id i had spare cash over. even when i bought a caravan at hemsby it was due to getting money i did not expect to get. more or less i swap dog walking areas for another but always end up with constipation away from home. now some who go away and swap there local bingo hall for another the local pub for a different one and then moan about the choices of ale. as for lying in the sun i,d rather freeze my bollocks off on the moors in a snow storm.

That makes my blood boil. All these folk whinging on TV. Mate of mine's son flew from London to Oman on Sunday to drive up to Dubai where his wife and child are living - no need for any help from Yvette Cooper and the tax payer. I was living near Ras Tanura when the first Gulf War started -and which had been brewing for months (exploding mines just off the coast, 'hostile' fighters flying into Saudi airspace etc.) - and the Government's assistance amounted to, "keep a full tank of petrol in your car, make sure you've got a road map to Jeddah, and have a stock of bottled water". Mind, in those days I think we still had a couple of sea worthy naval ships......

So much of the wealth generation in Dubai comes from property development and this may be the event that bursts that bubble. I can see a lot of ex-pats coming home because they'll be out of work. Went to Dubai once for a family wedding and thought it was a soulless place with lots of money about. Its not got anything on resorts in the med for culture and food (or Iceland for those who prefer the snow). It will be interesting to see how the airports fare with fuel efficient planes able to travel further afield without a stop over.

Snowy you have a very negative outlook, up until the other day Dubai and the surrounding countries were some of the safest places to go on holiday until Trump decided he wanted to be the worlds policeman sat 1000s of miles away.

Jamie you seem to forget the numerous cases of 'armed hostilities' in the Upper Gulf, the ongoing Yemeni issues, the relatively recent 'disagreements' between Bahrain and Saudi with Qatar, the relatively regular terrorist activity within Saudi and Bahrain, Somalia, Djibouti and the ongoing ethnic cleansing in Sudan.

Are you for real….the Middle East is and always been a basket case, blighted by religion, self pity and ego.
Just because some of those countries designate an area to entertain the sort of people impressed by Las Vegas on Sea and Tax dodgers, and a society that strictly controls dissent, does not make it Paradise in the sun.
Does Trump enter into every aspect of your life…seek help.

Why don't they move to the many areas of London, getting more like the middle east by the day!

Funny you mention that, saw a documentary about how, moving from Upton Park to the Olympic Stadium site affected local businesses….as a lot of the pubs and other outlets had become regulars on match days and provided a healthy boost to their takings, so much so that a lot of closures of long established outlets happened after the club moved, changing the very character of the place.
Always enjoyed riding up tonBarking on match days in the 80’s and 90’s watching people getting off at West ham only to realise Upton Park was the next stop down the line.

As an individual yes Snowy, I have travel plans arranged for the end of April albeit not transitioning through the M.E. we are still waiting for Trump to say what his ultimate aim is. There is no uprising to remove the current leaders and by trying bomb them into submission wont work, look at Gaza flattened but Hamas still fights on, it’s a no win situation like all the other conflicts The States gets involved with. When did they last have a satisfactory outcome in a conflict, The American War of Independence ?

You say there is’no uprising do you watch the news40,000 killed over the past few weeks rioting against the wicked regime and dancing and singing in Teheran when the fighting started..,the Iranian people deserve better.
Any country run by religious zealots of any persuasion should never be allowed.
If you let this country be run by the happy clappy daft old Cof E we’d become a basket case

That was weeks ago, yes I agree there were many killed, that’s the way they keep uprisings down unfortunately, since then there hasn’t been another one.

I got back from Dubai on 16th of last month. Been three times now, it’s not my favourite place but guaranteed sunshine and there is always loads going on. It is gaudy full of people you normally avoid but the restaurants are fantastic the hotels world class. If anyone is tempted to visit once Trump and Netanyahu are finished turning Iran into flattened cinder I would recommend Abu Dhabi, just as much to see and it’s a lot cheaper. Only ever go for a week.

No surprises there,Jamie.If protesters aren't shot in the street they're murdered in their hospital beds along with their care workers.Survivors sometimes end up in the cells only to be tortured by the sadists for days on end.It's something the Trump haters don't want to hear about when they're slagging him off.

Are you serious, 40,000 killed and you just brush it off, irritated because it was weeks ago….do you actually you have a conscience or are you AI.

Yet 70,000 people dead in Gaza and the US actually go to war alongside the government that oversaw that loss of life.

I agree the ME is a basket case and but understand why so many people in the West see Israel as good and Iran as bad.

I'm not sure what the US are actually wanting as the end point in Iran as it seems Trump is taking pleasure in killing anyone who could try and lead the country before starting any communication with them. Has he actually said who he wants to govern the country? The only person from outside Iran I've heard about is the Shah's son and as his father was kicked out of Iran, would he be accepted?

You could put a dyslectic donkey in charge of Iran, it could only be an omprovement.

Well, no reply from our resident geo-political stock market supremo.

He’ll be getting programmed in the lab for tomorrow’s shift .

You have knowledge of politics in Iran Snowy ?

What’s Trumps ultimate goal, remove the regime by bombing the hell out of them, as I quoted before Israel flattened the Gaza Strip, put boots on the ground and nought has changed there. One thing for sure Trump won’t put boots on the ground in Iran, it would be suicide for him.

Of course I have a conscience, but the regime set that as an example to others who might be thinking about protesting, it’s their way of thinking. The only way the regime will be brought down is if the army and police revolt.

Yes, since 79.

I suspect he’s taking out the brain’ ( I use the word brain in it’s loosest sense) and the branches of their political theology will find it hard to be quite so prolific in their activities without finances.
It all boils down to money…and encouragement by Biden’s shameful panicky running away from Afghanistan., a military embarrassment which emboldened the zealots in the Middle East.

Yes but they are not using tomahawk missiles killing hundreds of people some who were kids, any other country who kill kids are called terrorists.

Life isn’t like the fillums, kids get killed in war, it’s a sad unavoidable fact.
The terrorists who run Iran managed to rack up an appalling 40,000 deaths with small arms in a matter of days.
We (and the yanks, but it’s kept quiet) at the request of the Russians in World War 2 bombed Dresden killing 25, 000 in two nights……but the people understood it was ‘ the war’ and an inevitable outcome …… if you wanted to win.

The kids dying as a result of US and Israeli attacks are not deliberate targets, 40,000 deliberate killings and many of those would have been kids is a totally different matter. Plus how many innocents have died at the hands of Iranian sponsored terrorism across the world, and will continue to die if it's allowed to continue?

And how many kids have died with Israel’s bombing in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, so you think bombing the hell out of people will stop world wide terrorism, I doubt it, in fact it will make it worse, revenge is sweet. Remember 30% of the arrivals in the U.K. are Iranians and there is a good chance some of the people killed will be their ‘brothers and sisters’ it’s a ticking time bomb being made worse by The States and Israeli actions.

Doing nothing was a ticking time bomb, how long before they develop a nuke, worse still how quick would they be to deploy one? Don't forget their mantra is all about "death to America" and the destruction of Israel. And, as their response in bombing other Arab states and the British base in Cyprus shows that includes any and all allies of the US and Israel.
I didn't agree with the Israeli response to the Hamad atrocities as it was disproportionate imo.
Starmer's response is being criticised by most of our affected allies including the military command in Cyprus - are they all wrong? I believe that he's sent a strongly worded letter to the Iranian government telling them they must stop targeting UK bases - that should do the trick eh, job done? We're spending more on defending Ukraine than UK assets FFS.

Think you'll find that the Houtis have been using Iranian supplied missiles for the last few years - killing hundreds of their countrymen due to religious and ethnic differences. And infanticide is rife in Sudan (using various munitions) - and Somalia. But hey, let's not let a few facts counter your argument.

Any figures out for how many are used as human shields or forced into combat?