In the United Arab Emirates, poetry – along with falconry and horsemanship – is the pinnacle of manly achievement. Even the hard-headed ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, has a website featuring his verses and declaring that ‘poetry has allowed Sheikh Mohammed to express the creative, sensitive side of his nature that he has little chance to display in the political arena’. As a hobby of princes, it is an accordingly lucrative business.”