It seems Eamon Dunphy was right after all! Dublin’s a Kip!

Dublin is not a kip .
It is the way things have gone lately .

Well said adam.

I can’t see that the report ‘heaps praise’ on Saudi Arabia, it merely analyses cities worldwide according to a predefined set of economic parameters. If you dislike this particular criteria, you can refer to other more holistic surveys which look into the other lifestyle related criteria, like that of the Economist Intelligence Unit which continues to rank Ireland highly even in the recession days. I honestly doubt this particular survey was met with such criticism in the good auld days when Dublin ranked 19th. And lastly, I have no idea how close you ever got to Riyadh or Jeddah. I do not prefer Riyadh but Jeddah is ok. In fact we have a gay Asian guy in the office and surprisingly his head is still on his shoulders. It is probably even easier to be gay then a single heterosexual male.

@Dom Morgan

Homosexuality is not only illegal in Saudi Arabia but punishable by the death penalty. And the last time I checked, Jeddah was a Saudi Arabian city subject to such barbaric laws. So any economic success enjoyed by these two cities is more than outweighed by serious human rights violations.

Adam, your preconceptions about this place is amusing. This is much closer to reality.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/05/the-kingdom-in-the-closet/5774/

And your glib remark that it’s easier to be gay than straight would be amusung were it not for the fact that people have been executed in Saudi Arabia due to their sexuality.

You just can’t help yourself. All of the nonsense you have spouted above has nothing to do with being gay and only points to the religious fanaticism that keeps genders segregated. Anyway, I have no intention of wasting any more time discussing this issue with someone more interested in being offensive and getting a reaction. You did prove one thing however.

This ‘nonsense’ has everything to do with being gay in KSA. Saudi youth engage with the same sex exactly because of the strict separation of sexes. It is exactly as I said – it is easier to be gay here then single heterosexual. Anyway, in the absence of facts, I understand that you’d rather not discuss this any further.

You cannot so easily and conveniently separate social and economic issues. They are all linked.

It seems to me that you are looking at life in Saudi Arabia through the rose tinted lens of an ex-pat walled off from the realities of life for everyday Saudis. Your experiences are hardly typical of life under such a repugnant and corrupt regime.

You’re absolutely right – the points I was making all along was that a) my experience is typical of an everyday Saudi and b) that this study shows that Saudi is a smashing place to live.

You are quoting your wonderful experiences of life as an ex-pat in Saudi. I simply pointed out that that is not typical of life for most people in that country.

Yes that’s it. Our concerns for basic human rights and for people not to be tortured or executed is down to jealousy…

I’m not even going to dignify the rest of your ridiculous rant with a response. Pathetic.

How many people were executed in Saudi for being gay?

It’s not a question of insanity, as the list is objectively compiled from certain statistics like income growth rates and employment growth rates. I agree with the comment above, that the article headline misleadingly implies it is a comprehensive ranking of attractiveness in general- but the text of the article clearly explains it isn’t.

The headline isn’t meant to be misleading – it was impossible to fit the information about it being an economic study into the headline simply for space reasons, but it’s made clear in the article what the study was measuring.

“Dublin falls from 12th to 198th in study of major world cities’ growth”

“Dublin falls from 12th to 198th in growth study of major world cities’ growth”

Ah sugar, one too many growths in the second one.

oo-er.

Gavin, I don’t see the word growth in the headline!

Just as an aside, maybe our economic performance would be better if Ireland’s digital strategy was properly developed. Due to a total lack of Irish strategy, €billions, yes BILLIONS is being fed into overseas economies. People are being forced to buy online from foreign economies. This proposal has been made to our government on countless occasions. There are potentially 55,000 in the area. With a reduction like that in unemployment, and a proper digital strategy in place, we might perform a whole lot better. Look up Stradigí, every country performing well now has a digital strategy – we don’t! WHY NOT?

That’s my point, Sandra – if The Journal stick “growth” in there they wouldn’t get people flying off the handle, “Dublin’s bleedin dzeddly, worrar dey on abou’?”.

Alternatively, people could read the article prior to commenting.

Ye fine, but look who exactly does this information serve? Is it beneficial to the general public? Bit like kicking us while we’re down. We dropped .3% and slipped 186 places – helpful to know! Especially when Germany are hell bent on changing our corporate tax.
I’d love to see a survey of the cities – no of the native people to all countries – who are dealing with this best. The people with the best attitude in the world, and most likely to give the downturn the the two fingers, now that would be good! I know money is important, but without people, money is useless.

The headline is accurate, though – plus the article makes it clear that it’s an economic indicator rather than a general one about the cities.

I’ve clarified that sentence slightly so that the meaning is clearer cos I can see why you were confused. Western European countries generally did badly while Shanghai and Riyadh topped the list.

where does it say their part of Europe?

Jiddah or Jeddah depending on spelling is on the west coast Saudi Arabia. Yours truly lives there since June last year. I’m glad to see its doing well. But the influx of expats at the moment due to booming economy is such that is difficult to get school places and housing in good quality compounds. Accommodation is quite dear (normally covered by company packages) but the rest of living costs are lower than in Dublin.

see, Com, there is a problem for me right there – “Compound”

What’s wrong with a compound? Walls and guards to keep not so nice people outside and nice people inside. If something is broken, just lift the phone and maintenance is there in 30 min. Lift the phone and have anything from the shop delivered in 5 min. They wash my car every other day for 20 quid a month. And the pool rocks. It’s like living in a resort. It’s a cool concept – should be introduced in Dublin too.

You may say I’m a dreamer, Dom, but I’d prefer to live in a country where it wasn’t necessary to live behind 20 ft high walls with closed circuit surveillance and patrolled by armed guards in order to feel safe. Just a personal foible.

Been to any beheadings lately?

Not really. It’s been kind of quiet lately. I think nobody was beheaded since July but it could be that I missed an event while I was away. So tell me, barbed wire on walls and rooftops all over Dublin – they took it all off?

I think you’re hamfistedly equating a gaff in Dublin with a armed guarded compound in Saudi Arabia — is this the case, Dom?

Seriously, why all that barbed wire on shops and walls around Dublin?

How heavily armed are the National Guard who protect your compound?

Tell me, around Connolly Station there’s barbed wire all over looks like Auschwitz and the streets around same. Why??

Have you been to Auschwitz? Looks nothing like the IFSC.

Why don’t you live amongst the Saudis?

“Have you been to Auschwitz? Looks nothing like the IFSC.

- Did you see the wall between the IFSC and Sheriff Street?

“Why don’t you live amongst the Saudis?”

- I Can’t. It’s because of my concern for the gay rights.

I hear ya, Dom, loud and clear — living in Dublin is like living in a Nazi extermination camp compared to the myriad wonders of the people’s paradise that is Saudi Arabia.