Barely a week goes by without the British press telling the story of somebody moving to Dubai for lower taxes or, conversely, that the Dubai dream is dead. The city-state benefits from this discourse-fuelled soft power. It strikes both the haves and have-notes. Dubai fever is democratic. The city is an El Dorado of the east for remittance-sending strivers, sun-seeking expats and scammers. For many, it represents an unsettling post-western horizon.