The London Season held a ball at the Royal Island Beach Club on The World last week, with Princess Katarina on hand to prevent etiquette terror, which I fondly imagine includes the spraying of menstrual blood. Readers may remember The World, perhaps the silliest construction project ever conceived; it is a series of sand islands in the Persian Gulf in the shape of the countries of the world. Construction was halted after the financial crash, and The World stopped except for Lebanon and its Royal Island Beach Club and, now, a dethroned princess existing in a netherworld of agonised metaphor. The London Season insists it exists for charity – we all need charity – but its emphasis is odd. Dubai, and the surrounding Gulf states, is full of construction workers, toiling in conditions of near slavery. They are building the infrastructure for Qatars 2022 World Cup. (How I wish the vagina stadium was revenge for their sufferings; but it is, I know from long experience of watching fools plot vanity in mirrors, more likely a mistake.) They will build Entertainment City in Qatar, a metro, a semi-submerged resort, roads, bridges, hotels and more stadiums that look like other things by mistake. More curious is what possible benefit can a ragtag army of stateless European princesses and over-dressed teenagers bring to the land where Islamism meets hyper-capitalism? Why does Dubai, a tyranny with seven-star hotels, a mountain in a fridge (for skiing), the lost city of Atlantis and politically neutral dolphins need Princess Katarina, pursued by a butler, and the wreckage of the London season? Why does Qatar need a branch of University College London – for shame? Why does Dubai need a branch of Repton, the famous English public school? Why does the Qatar Museum Authority need a partnership with Prada, makers of strange and ugly handbags? theguardian/commentisfree/2013/nov/21/gulf-tyrannies-ex-princesses-teach-eat-sandwich
Posted on: Fri, 22 Nov 2013 04:03:43 +0000