KIELL SMITH-BYNOE: Dubai, Dubai

I think I got away with calling Dubai a cross between Venice, in the 17th century mixed with a gold rush town like johannesburg in the 19th century and the marketing department of the sirius cybernetics corporation… Douglas Adams fans know what I’m on about.

I find it hard not to be appalled by Dubai’s opulence, extravagance and carefree attitude to the environment. However am I just being a jealous saddo? Kiell Seems to think so, and the way he waxes lyrical about the pool parties, the weather, the shopping, the activities, it is hard to argue with him. But I don’t need gold from a vending machine, or a six hundred dollar icecream or indoor ski resort with spoilt penguins … do I? Shaun is strangely torn by it all, and certainly he thinks his teenage sons would love it.

Listen to Your Place Or Mine on Radio 4 at 10am on Saturdays or anytime you please on BBC SOUNDS.