No.188: Qatar

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Alex Horne - 24th October 2007

If he is to be our final find, we couldn't have asked for anyone more appropriate or erudite than the former Ambassador of Qatar, Mr Al-Khalifa. We met at 6pm, six hours before our deadline, in a perfectly cosmopolitan cafe in Mayfair, where he now resides.

Some Qatar Quotes:

On Londoners:
'I don't expect people to smile when walking around. You're busy, you have to get somewhere! People in London are nice.'

On London:
'Now it is a global city. No one can claim it. You find yourself in places now and you don't know where in the world you are.'

On multiculturalism:
'When people move around they become aware of each other. They understand each other. That way, there are no more wars. Unfortunately politicians all over the world are backwards when it comes to multiculturalism.'

On Ken Livingston:
'The Mayor is a good man. He is ahead of his time. He understood what people who come from abroad can do for this city. It used to be dark after 5pm on the streets. Not any more!'

On Doha:
'You can't compare it to London. It's a much smaller city. It's a new city with new people. 80% of the people are non-Qataris. There are people from all over the world there. You could find someone from every country in the world there.'