Why the British media is suddenly obsessed with Dubai

I learnt that there are currently around 170,000 British people who have made Dubai their home, with British newspapers suggesting that the UK expat population surged last year, ravaged by six months of Sir Keir Starmer’s rule.

Judging by the output from London newspapers over the past few weeks, at least half of those must be the journalists lucky enough to be handed the “winter sun” assignment – head out to Dubai, on expenses, and tell the folks back home what it is “really like”.

A wise London editor once told me that all journalism ultimately falls into one of two genres: “tongue-up” (flattering and positive) or “lid-off” (revelatory and negative), and so it was in the past about Dubai.

The coverage transmitted back to London after the Dubai trip was either wide-eyed amazement at the glittering lifestyles of those residents of “iconic lifestyle waterside developments”; or alternatively a hatchet-job on the exploited underclass living in oppressive labour camps.

However, the tone of recent coverage is very different. It is more of a practical guide for those considering leaving UK gloom and actually heading to the UAE to live.

From this, I deduce that the editors and senior executives of the British media are actually contemplating the move themselves and are sending reporters here to conduct early reconnaissance on their behalf.

What else could explain a recent piece by Cathy Hawker in The Times of London (I always call it that because I know they hate it) headed “Thinking of moving from UK to Dubai? All your questions, answered”.

It’s a pretty thorough guide to life here, though I’d quibble about some of the prices: a four-bedroom villa rental in Dubai Hills for AED240,000 a year? Show me that.

And I was truly shocked by the price of milk. A litre costs £1.49 here, apparently, compared to £1.28 in the UK. If I’d known back in 2006 that I’d have blown so much money on milk I would never have come.

But overall, The Thunderer seemed pretty impressed by Dubai, quoting one British resident thus: “It’s a fabulous place to live.”

The place is not a bottomless pit of jobs, beachside villas and luxury lifestyles for UK media exiles

The Daily Telegraph, well read in the UAE especially in Abu Dhabi, has a rather more schizophrenic take. A piece by Liz Rowlinson, headlined “We moved from Aberdeen to Dubai – it’s hugely expensive to have a family here,” was balanced by a gushing review titled “How to celebrate Dubai’s incredible culture, both past and present”.

“The rich heritage of the nation is perfectly juxtaposed with Dubai’s modernity, where international cuisine and beach life are set against the backdrop of an ancient culture,” the Telegraph enthused. Steady on.

I won’t go into detail of the Mail titles’ coverage, which veers wildly between pearl-clutching revelations of alleged human rights abuses and gushing accounts of influencers’ and footballers’ lifestyles.

Somebody at the Mail needs to set a consistent editorial line. Are they for or against Dubai in Northcliffe House?

The pro-Dubai camp among the Brits got a massive shot in the arm recently with the decision of superhack Isabel Oakeshott to move the family to the emirate.

The final straw in her escape from what she calls “Starmer’s socialist nightmare” was the imposition of VAT on school fees, she wrote in The Telegraph. So she and partner, Reform party MP Richard Tice, upped sticks for Dubai, “a place where success is celebrated, the sun always shines, and there are certainly no Just Stop Oil protestors”.

Oakeshott is a welcome addition to the UAE’s media firmament, but – judging by a recent survey of 2025 salary prospects in The National newspaper – the place is not a bottomless pit of jobs, beachside villas and luxury lifestyles for UK media exiles.

“Competition is fierce in the UAE job market following a massive influx of jobseekers,” the survey concluded, warning that salaries would be under increasing pressure this year.

“Legacy expats” – that must be me and a few more like me – are fearing the worst but hoping for the best on that.

Frank Kane is Editor-at-Large of AGBI and an award-winning business journalist. He acts as a consultant to the Ministry of Energy of Saudi Arabia and is a media adviser to First Abu Dhabi Bank of the UAE