Let this be an end to it

• Last Updated: October 16. 2008 9:07PM UAE / October 16. 2008 5:07PM GMT

They broke the law: it’s as simple as that.The behaviour of Michelle Palmer and Vince Acors on Jumeirah beach in Dubai would also have been against the law in London, Paris and New York. Not only that, it would have been against the law in the fleshpots of Las Vegas, Amsterdam and Bangkok. That is why they were arrested, that is why they were prosecuted, that is why they were found guilty and that is why, if their appeal fails, they will go to prison.

Some western media commentators will even now be consulting a Thesaurus for 25 different ways to say “clash of cultures and civilisations between East and West”. It will be poppycock. Two people who should have known better decided to do something that would have been fundamentally stupid in any cultural setting, and they have paid the price. Michelle Palmer lived and worked in Dubai. She knew the rules. Vince Acors was on a business trip. If a UAE businessman travelled to London, hired a car and caused an accident by driving on the wrong side of the road, no one would argue that it was the result of a culture clash: they would say that he was a fool.

What might be considered acceptable behaviour in the alcohol-fuelled nightclubs of Essex would be unacceptable in the genteel country clubs of Surrey, far less a beach in Dubai. And it would be a tragedy if this case somehow came to define the relationship between the UAE and the 120,000 British people who live and work here: it does not. Almost all expatriates respect the traditions and culture of this country: often, that culture and tradition are among the reasons they came, and those few who find that they have made a mistake know where the airport is.

Obviously, if Miss Palmer, Mr Acors and their legal representatives feel that they have been harshly treated, they must appeal, as is their legal right. But let us hope that we can all swiftly draw a line under this sorry affair, and get on with living, working and building a nation – together.