Luke White plays pool and talks marriage in Rawalpindi

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:11:12 +0000

Rawalpindi exemplifies old style Pakistan. I had checked into a lovely very run down hotel with blue windows, stone floors and cool faded bedrooms. I played pool in a street round the corner and later that day I met the hotel owner’s nephew who was over from Birmingham. He was a little suspicious of me at first, and asked me some searching questions. Realising I was there more by chance than by design he relaxed and was soon telling me proudly in his strong Brummy accent of the scam he was pulling off with his uncle. He was there to get a wife. Together they had found and groomed a rich family who were prepared to pay a good dowry. The plan was to marry the girl, get her back to the UK, put up with her for a couple of years, spend the money, and then divorce her. He told me that this is common practice.

Up to this point I had only ever considered the issue of arranged marriage from a liberal multicultural perspective, countering qualms about personal freedoms infringed, with the many reassurances of those happily in such marriages. What I heard in Rawalpindi changed the nature of the argument for me. These men were acting legally. The system they were exploiting employs coercion and information asymmetry as constituents of its moral and legal structure. It is both readily “corruptible” because of this, and incompatible with the choices guaranteed by just society. These principles are exemplified in a very graphic way by the wearing of the burqa in public, which I am glad to see the French are now going to ban.

Luke White does not strip down on Essaouira beach

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:21:50 +0000

I am on Essaouira Beach and it is a very busy place. It’s June, the windy season, and yes the wind is relentless driving along an abrasive mist of sand and spray. Lying on my towel and reading a book is not really an option here but luckily there are lots of others. Stripping down and ripping along the foreshore crisscrossed by 50 or so other kitesurfers could be fun, or I could jump into one of the double skipping rope competitions, play a game of beach football or join my children and their friends in some hopping races. If I had a really healthy appetite for risk however I would not miss this oportunity to join the suicidal enthusiasts somersaulting backwards off the sea wall, or even compete with the kids trampolening high into the air off the brightly coloured bouys that wash up on the shore. But actually all I do is sit back and watch all this amazing activity, humming along to Jimmy Hendrix as the whole beach, together with the sea and the islands beyond dissolves in the shimmering atlantic light.