We all know that radio here is bland and PC but it plumbed to new depths this morning when most of the Business Breakfast on Dubai Eye was devoted to a biscuit tasting competion. I was in the car listening with a business visitor to Dubai Air Show who asked if this programme was a joke because it gave completely the wrong impression of Dubai as a business centre. We are living in a city that is trying to climb out of a recesssion and if this is the best the two purile and amateurish presenters (who insist on telling you their names every five minutes) can serve up then no wonder most new business is moving to Abu Dhabi where thankfully you cannot pick up the signal for Dubai Eye.
Monday, 16 November 2009
Dubai Biscuit Breakfast
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The Business Breakfast is excellent. If Malcolm and Brandy want to talk about biscuits then that's fine by me.
So, take your Air Show Visiting Friend and fuck off somewhere else you absolute tragedy of a human being.
PS: Moderator, so much more could have been done with the headline here you lazy minger.
business breakfast is the best show in town
Compelling talk radio requires the ability to criticize. They do not have that ability in this (albeit friendly) dictatorial environment. So you get cookies for breakfast, and like it.
lighten up
the truth is that dubai is not a glittering cosmopolitan and sophisticated first world city of uber-excellence.
its been exposed for what it is: a very elaborate pyramid scheme to sell sand and a property development scam.
it is no longer the best city in the UAE , let alone the Gulf. its bubble has burst once and for all, although along the way a lot of locals got very rich and many ex-pats too.
it is no longer the middle east's main media hub - cnn demonstrated that very recently by opting for abu dhabi.
so if you guys think business breakfast is excellent then good for you. you get what you deserve.
i believe the inhabitants of st helena are very happy with their local radio station too
dubai eye is a great station, always enjoy it
i'm surprised by this posting, dubai eye is one of the better stations along with bbc news
I think Business Breakfast is excellent... considering the limitations they are working with
I switched over from Radio 2 to Dubai Eye a year or so ago, the station has got a lot better. Business Breakfast is a good show, although Malcolm and Brandy dont get along with each other but the chemistry works.
Best show in Dubai.
yea, Business Breakfast is an excellent show and Emirates Business is an excellent newspaper!!! ROFL
Can we have a contest to guess which one of the above anonymous commenters is Malcolm and which one Brandy? My bet is that #1 is potty-mouth Malc and #2 is the woman whose parents named her after their neighbours'dog.
Business Breakfast consistently puts people on the spot, and has actually managed a fair few scoops in its time, along with the soft biscuit stories. Watch the way the newswires regularly pick up on its interviews.
(Also, if you think CNN opened an operation in Abu Dhabi for any reason other than ad dollars and government incentives, you know nothing of media or business).
i think cnn wanted to open in abu dhabi because they needed to be seen to be close to the centre of power, influence and money in the UAE and didnt want to produce business programmes from a minor bankrupt emirate.
why did Formula one decide on abu dhabi when dubai has been banging on their door for years pleading for a grand prix, having staged the regions first major international race as far back as 1981.
simple reason is that dubai has lost its lustre and reputation for excellence.
Business breakfast may well be ok for a few brit expats in dubai but to describe it as excellent is a bit like describing Indian wine as excellent.
i thought FM 92 in its hey dey was excellent.
in the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man is king.
business breakfast is king.
dubai eye is king
Generally a good show, well prepped and knowledgeable along with Dean on Business Tonight. Although lately with the downturn and lack of decent and, ahem, broadcastable-able stories, it often makes for repetitive listening. How many more times do we need to hear of EMAAR's latest share price or the 'bellwether' of financial change?
It's hardly the Today programme but the rapport is good. However, the morning car crash that follows it... that's another story.
hey keep Indian wine out of the discussion @@@@ .. what next ..aussi wine is brilliant ... south african... now dont get me started on French wine ... .. give me lebanese wine any day
Totally agree with 12.36. After 9am on Dubai Eye it is tragic listening
just a minute, i am no fan of dubai, but it has not been "been banging on their (F1) door for years."
it wasn't prepared to throw as much money as bahrain, so mbr walked away.
abu dhabi, clearly, was prepared to waste billions to make a name for itself. it should all end in tears but it won't as they have too much money.
Dubai eye ejaculates soggy biscuit?
Actually I think you will find that they have been banging on Bernie's door for some time.
In fact it was him that walked away from the huge pile of dosh Dubai was prepared to splurge as he was not prepared to guarantee a season opening race or the last race of the season.
How that fits with AUH getting the curtain closer this season though I do not know.
for many years getting the grand prix to dubai was a hugh priority for MBR and sons.
it goes back to 1981 when dubai staged a "formula 1 style grand prix" on a circuit in the sand around the hyatt Regency hotel, with a small constellation of international motor racing stars. it was held to mark the 10th anniversary of the creation of the UAE and it was always hoped it would lead to dubai hosting a full scale F1 GP.
the fact is that Bahrain outbid Dubai, and Dubai couldnt compete with Abu Dhabi.
does business breakfast have this soprt of background knowledge at its disposal amidst the bikkies and the jokes and the jingles
whoever thought that formula one 'chose abu dhabi' obviously doesnt get it.. formula one is pretty much a bidding contest, and abu dhabi threw money at it.
business breakfast is generally a good show.
And how many more jokes about the word 'balls' can the silly trout broadcasting from The Dubai World Championship crack? I know there's a dearth of presenters at the moment, but today's 'discussion' on the number of dimples on a golf ball reached an almost existential level on the futility of life itself, worthy of Samuel Beckett. Or Benny Hill.
Excuse me.
Sorry to ask, but are you all on FUCKING drugs ?
Next you'll be telling me Dubai 92 knows what the fuck they are doing.
Business Breakfast does a professional and entertaining job, given that half the interviewees are just there to sell their cat-food, double-glazing or whatever. In a small town it can't be easy to find high calibre people to talk to every day. And the presenters often ask good questions, outside the political field which they obviously can't enter. The programme is at the higher end of Dubai journalism.
Former radio presenter (not UAE station).
In the land of the blind the one eyed radio presenters are king! But singling out the Business Breakfast is unfair. The whole of Dubai Eye is appalling and barely up to the standard of university radio. AMG, or whoever now owns it, should fire the lot of them, including the management and start again. Once ADMC starts rival English-language stations it will be embarrassed like the rest of Dubai's media industry.
Urrgghhhhh....
These people crawling up the fundament of Abu Dhabi as the new shining city on the hill make me ill. Five years ago you would have been banging on about Dubai, now that there's a new source of revenue in the region you're convinced you're part of the Renaissance just because you've changed PO Box.
Guess what? Abu Dhabi is still a dictatorship, still terrified of independent civil society, still bringing in superannuated execs from Asia and Europe to do the work and then sacking them two years later when there's no profit.
It still sees media's role as propaganda first and still puts conservatism before truth. There's still a network of creepy and down-right criminal "facilitators" getting involved at every level.
All the elements that strangled and screwed Dubai media are in place in AD, just on a larger budget and with a more professional website.
dubai eye does a good job
spot on anon at 19 November, 2009 18:45, spot on. Also to suggest AD is 'better' now than Dubai is ridiculous. Maybe, MAYBE, in 10 years it will catch up, but there is still a reason why most people under 35 commute there from Dubai.
Its the National hacks who crack me up the most. They think they wave a sword of truth and that they are the only paper with any teeth - but they only show the teeth to Dubai! Still not got the balls or the editorial power to have a pop at AD. And where do they all live? yep, Dubai.
Whilst, obviously, ITP is to blame. The twats at the National are right up there.
i think the reason most people under 35 commute to abu dhabi from dubai has something to do with rental prices.
and of course abu dhabi is not shangri la by any means and most people would prefer to live in dubai depsite it being ruined by MBR's psychotic property developement
Off topic but this is from GN. Music to the ears of many I should think, especially at ENG:
Firms warned over salaries
Companies that don't pay their employees on time will be prosecuted
Dubai: Companies that produce dishonest reports regarding salary payments to their employees will be referred to the public prosecutor, said a senior official from the Ministry of Labour.
Humaid Bin Deemas, acting director general at the ministry, said companies that submit to the ministry documents wrongfully claiming they have paid their employees salary on time will be charged with forgery and will be referred to public prosecutor as this will be considered a criminal act.
"The ministry has introduced a new system under which each company must send through e-mail to the ministry a monthly report regarding their employees' salary," he said.
He said any company that failed to send the report within 30 days of transferring salaries will be blocked.
"If a company introduces its monthly report saying that they have paid the salaries on time, and then the ministry receives a complaint from any [person] in this specific company that they did not receive their salaries, that will lead to blocking the company.
"We will investigate such complaints from workers who say they have not been paid. If it's proved that the company did not pay them, then we will refer that company to the public prosecutor," he said.
"In August this year a decision was issued by the Ministry of Labour, which stated that each company that employed more than 50 people must sign an undertaken at the ministry stating that they are paying the employees salaries on time.
"Those companies must send their report about their employees' salary every month," he said.
Bin Deemas said such reports must reach the ministry within 30 days from the date of giving the salary.
He said companies will face sever penalty in case they fail to do so.
to anonymous who asked "are you all on fucking drugs"
can you get drugs in dubai.
please can you tell me where as I'm bored witless with sand and
shopping and swimming
Business Breakfast is the best radio show in Dubai by a long way, that said - the standard of radio is appalling.
However, I have heard the guys ask difficult questions that no newspaper here would ever ask, and in the evening show I used to enjoy listening to Richard Deen's boundless Dubai optimism (and endless cliches) being laughed at by his co-presenter.
Using the BB as an example of what is wrong with Dubai radio is laughable, just listen to the crap that comes after it on Dubai Eye.
Ram Jethmalani's comments anger Saudi ambassador
NEW DELHI: His middle name is controversy and he is India’s leading enfant terrible. Living up to his image of a self-confessed maverick, Ram
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Jethmalani on Saturday went where few men have dared to venture. Speaking at a meeting of legal eagles, Jethmalani poured vitriol on Wahhabi sect of Islam, spewed fire at jihadis and poked fun at their idea of god — until finally, the Saudi ambassador staged a walkout.
Jethmalani, who is not known for his diplomatic skills, kicked up the row at an international conference on terrorism, by taking on Wahhabism. He criticized the jehadi doctrine, which allegedly propagates, in his words, the belief that martyrs would ‘‘get a place in heaven and the company of the opposite sex there’’. He wondered aloud about the almighty’s ‘‘job in heaven’’.
He went on to warn the government and the international community against trusting god when it comes to fighting terrorism. ‘‘He will not help as he is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease,’’ Jethmalani quipped.
Soon enough, Saudi ambassador Faisal-al-Trad was seen walking out of the conference, apparently offended by the remarks. Adesh Aggarwala, who organized the event, confirmed that the ambassador had walked out but said he returned after law minister Veerappa Moily’s statement that the views expressed by Jethmalani were not the government’s.
In his address, Moily said terrorism cannot be attributed to any particular religion. Later, Jethmalani himself attempted damage-control, saying he was ‘‘a student of all religions, including Islam, and I have read the Quran several times. I find that the Prophet is a man of peace. It (Quran) nowhere preaches hate and violence’’.
drugs are, unfortunately, hard to come buy in Dubai - unless you happen to know a Sheikh....
it might offer you some comfort, however, to know that prostitutes are in ordinately plentiful supply per capita
I heard biscuit-gate first hand, and I have to say I loved it. Yes I am a bit sad, but I thought two serious journos discussing the merits of chocolate on biscuits a bit of good fun. I think they should do more of it. Life has to be more than yet another Colin Griffiths interview, however worthy.
Keep it up. It's that kind of thing that keeps me coming back.
Climate of fear anyone? Climate of beer more like it.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/gulf-a-choice-between-liberalisation-or-recovery-1826388.html
Does anybody still live in Dubai except gangsters and nobodies/wannabes?
Report on BBC stating that Dubai 6th likely country on the planet to default.... ha hahahahhahahahahahah
You're ALL fucked
First of all Eid Mubarak to all.Today morning i was listening to DUBAI92. Catboys show started with christmas and ended with Merry christmas,and nothing about eid in dubai or eid celebration.This we are not expecting from ARN RADIO
is Dubai now officially broke ?
Dubai Eye is simply dreadful. None of the shows seems to have a running order, or any semblance of planning or professionalism.
The Business Breakfast does seem to be planned in advance and is probably the most authoritive voice on the station, but that is hardly a big ask or achievement.
Brandy and Malcolm have absolutely no chemistry together, the former trying to sound very important, professional and authoritative but failing, while the Malcolm seems arrogant, dismissive and condensding. In short, both seem to have a really high opinion of themselves. Needless to say, the content of the show is slavishly brand-Dubai, everything A-OK, with no real insight.
Not only really dull radio but pathetic 'journalism'.
Oh and one more thing, while do all Dubai Eye presenters ALWAYS draw attention when they make technical mistakes? "oh, that shouldn't have happened, looks like I pressed the wrong button there! We will have that interview once I figure this machine out..." etc.
Up your game chaps and try to pretend you know what you are doing.
Today is Friday Nov 27.Worldwide the media is jam packed with news and comment regarding the potentialy fatal financial situation in Dubai.
The Times [London,front page]
"Dubai in deep water"
The Daily Telegraph [London,front page]
"Dubai in crisis"
Stock markets around the world wiped billions off stocks with any Middle Eastern exposure.
Todays online editions of both Gulf News and National simply carry cosy comforting stories about how everything is going according to plan in Dubai.
On balance I prefer to believe what I read in uncensored newspapers published in democratic countries and to see with my own eyes the reaction to the destruction of Dubai by the world stock markets.
There is no doubt that it is all over.Dubai now has no credit rating anywhere in the world.
Even those of you being paid are best advised to depart.
Finally some good news about the recession - Dubai has flushed itself down the toilet.
Yay!
"Report on BBC stating that Dubai 6th likely country on the planet to default.... ha hahahahhahahahahahah
You're ALL fucked"
Dubai isn't a country, it's an emirate (like a state) in a country called the United Arab Emirates. The BBC should know that. Given that the UAE is one of the most oil rich countries in the world it's unlikely the relatively small (in GDP terms) amount needed to bail out a corporation that has been at the forefront of bringing the country to the world's attention won't be put forward. The only people who are really scared are the countries whose banks threw money at Dubai all hoping to get in on the boom. British based banks mostly. We know the UK is already fucked, so now even more fucked, if the UAE decides not to throw some money at them.
And let's not even think about the kind of asshole that laughs at the idea of a "country" going broke. Little wonder people want to fly planes into your buildings and blow up your buses.
http://gulfnews.com/business/markets/market-volatility-is-overreaction-1.533634
Are they for real. Does anyone at GN actually believe the crap they write or do they microchip staff brains on the first day
Anonymous @ 29 November, 2009 04:08
- Finally some good news about the recession - Dubai has flushed itself down the toilet.
Yay! -
Yes, thankfully that dream of an Arab state and a Middle East engaging with the world and providing a model of tolerance and globalism is over. The worst part was how they built things and employed people and dreamed of prosperity.
yes dubai deserve credit for being a so-called island of liberalism in a region of islamic extremism but that obvoiously doesn't mean open ended financial credit.
and whats the real issue is the complete lack of financial transparency which was demonstrated on thrusday when the government released the statement about their inability to meet their payments and then promptly shut up shop for eid al adha - with no government minisyters or officials available for comment. talk abotu a good day to release bad news.
dubai now has a hige image problem and its largely brought this on itself by vulgar consumerisim and pathological property development.
and at the heart of it is the maktoum familiy friends and cronies: they form the government and ruling elite and when dubai makes money they all get rich, but when dubai loses money, lo and behold it is a "government loss" and not theirs.
there has been too much development and too many shady deals and too much exploitation and that is why so many people are rubbing their hands with schadenfreude at dubai's demise.
it a shame, but you reap what you sew and this is what vanity, greed and self delusion brings.
would having a free press have helped ???
And now it's reported that the UAE has banned publication of the Sunday Times because it dared tell the truth about the debt default.
The country's rapidly resorting to type as a medieval shithole
sunday times banned after the sh mo sinking ship picture and rod liddles rant (it started with a paragraph about the rattlers....!). poor SAB media....ruined the launch and now this....no wonder richard murdoch refused to take it back in house last year after a thorough review....
Dubai is the biggest international media story in the world at the meoment, the front page of major newspapers in Europe, Asia and the US and not a dicky bird on here.
This blog is a joke.
The editors couldn't even be moved to offer an open thread on the debt chaos?
In the meantime:
DUBAI -- The Sunday London Times newspaper was removed by authorities from shelves in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday amid intensive reporting of Dubai's debt problems, an executive at the paper said.
The National Media Council ordered the paper blocked by distributors without providing a reason, an executive at the paper in Dubai told Zawya Dow Jones.
The Sunday Times edition available in the U.A.E. on Nov. 29 featured a double-page spread graphic illustrating Dubai's ruler Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum sinking in a sea of debt. The Times wasn't given a reason for the block, or a timeframe when it will be lifted, the executive said.
A government official in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the U.A.E., said that the picture of Sheik Mohammed, which accompanied a story entitled: The sinking of Dubai's dream, was "offensive."
Under the U.A.E.'s media code, publications are prohibited from criticizing the sheikdom's rulers. Local media and government officials have criticized international press coverage of Dubai's debt crisis. Markets around the world fell last week after the government requested a debt standstill for one of its biggest conglomerates.
Earlier this month Dubai's Sheik Mohammed told reporters gathered at an investment conference in the city to "shut up" and stop criticizing the emirate and its crucial relationship with Abu Dhabi.
Dubai is struggling to deal with it debts estimated to exceed $80 billion.
The Sunday Times is part of News International, a unit of News Corp., owner of Dow Jones & Co. The Times and The Sunday Times are published in the U.A.E. through a local partner SAB Media.
thanks to business breakfast for being so useless at reporting dubai's financial mess.
Can I please revise my post of 18 November, 2009 12:36.
In the light of recent developments, how can business presenters look at their own faces in the morning? No wonder Dubai is getting a hammering in the international media with such appalling self censorship and denial.
As my old mate RW Emerson said: “A little integrity is better than any career.”
I tuned into the Business Breakfast this morning wanting to know what has happened to local markets in wake of debt bombshell on first day of trading after Eid. What was on? Earlier-recorded shite about recycling mobile phones. How convenient for the Dubai government.
Heads in the sand. As usual.
A radio station claiming to be Dubai's flagship station where 75 per cent of its daily output is "recorded earlier" is a disgrace.
I await to see whether the "Business Tonight" programme is similarly mysteriously missing this evening.
how can you have a place that wants to be the business hub of the middle east and sets up an international financial market to rival the world, yet local media sources are prevented from accurately reporting business news.
head arse up in sand the and - please rearrange
sack all the local idiots and bring in some proper international management who know how to count and be accountable.
and open up the media - you cretins
r
You know what's really cretinous? Every idiot blogger and international media reporter using "sand" imagery to describe Dubai's plight. We get it: sand castles, shifting sands, buried beneath the sands, the sands of time, like sand through the hourglass, head in the sand ...
Shut the fuck up already.
Sorry to bring this up again, but really,are you all on FUCKING Drugs ???
Dubai Eye, as the worlds best example of where talentless fuckers get a job, could and would not bang on about the Dubai debt crisis.
First of all, they don't really have the know how to cover it off in a balanced way and secondly, They ain't gonna bite the hand that feeds them.
Put yourself in their shoes : Being paid to work on a Dubai based and semi government backed station, In a recession, with no radio jobs in the UK, plus being shit, would you really risk getting sacked?
They have enough to worry about now knowing Dubai PLC is skint and Abu Dhabi media are waiting to grab more frequencies.
Capital Radio 103.8FM anyone ?
how can we be on drugs in this town. its illegal, like having no money to pay your debt.
unless you're a local of course and then its not your fault
I like biscuit chat and I like Dubai Eye. Nothing wrong with a bit of lighthearted banter every now and then. Tim Tams rock ♥
Has anyone noticed how difficult its become to get hold of Custard Creams lately?
That's a real fucking disaster, never mind the Dubai World bollocks
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