Leisure, pleasure and Dubai's heroics make for a heady mix

You don't need the Arabian Travel Market to tell you that Dubai's hotel and hospitality sector is booming. Just take a stroll through the Madinat Soukh complex in Jumeirah any night to see the evidence for yourself.

You don't need the Arabian Travel Market to tell you that Dubai's hotel and hospitality sector is booming. Just take a stroll through the Madinat Souk complex in Jumeirah on any night to see the evidence for yourself.

The 10-year-old development, and the neighbouring Jumeirah Beach Hotel, is virtually bursting at the seams. Both the Minah A'Salam and Al Qasr hotels on either side of the complex must be running at full occupancy, and new features inside the faux-Arabic market are pulling in non-hotel guests too. A visit confirms Dubai's status as the leisure centre of the Gulf, with the highest level of hotel occupancy in the world.

Two new venues are especially worth a visit. The Rivington Grill, famous for its top-notch eaterie by the Dubai Fountain in the shadow of the Burj Khalifa, has opened a branch in Madinat, and I can vouch that the food, drinks and service are at least equal to the original restaurant.

The other draw is a new version of the Belgian Beer Cafe, which already has successful operations in Festival City and Al Barsha. The one in Madinat is the same winning formula - foaming drinks, moules and frites - but on top of that is a great venue to watch football, with screens in every corner. Watching the big Manchester derby there the other night was exhilarating.

I also bumped into an all-too-infrequent visitor to Dubai. Aidan Birkett, the restructuring specialist credited with sorting out the mess that was Dubai World in 2010, was in town for his first board meeting as a non-executive at Dubai International Capital.

Aidan has been on a fitness regime, involving lots of exercise and healthy eating, and I can tell you he's looking good on it. The beard is a novelty, adding to the gravitas. He says it makes him look older, but, as I pointed out, once you get to a certain age that doesn't really matter. Much like myself, he doesn't look a day over 45.

+++

The phone hacking scandal in the United Kingdom has spiralled out of all control. The decision by British MPs investigating the affair to the effect that Rupert Murdoch is "not a fit person to run an international company" must rank as one of the most bizarre utterances ever, even in the flatulent world of Westminster.

Just what gives this bunch of hopeless has-beens the right to pass judgement on one of the most successful media moguls in history? How are they "fit" to reach such a conclusion?

Surely this whole thing has gone far enough. The British press, whatever its faults, is the most effective in the world in calling vested interests to account, whether they are from government, big business or the shambolic "celeb" world.

The witch-hunt in Britain has already damaged the media there. If it continues in the current direction, the result will be an obeisant and obsequious press as already exists in many parts of the world.

twitter: Follow and share our breaking business news. Follow us