During a recent journey to visit our family in Australia, we were on the long second leg from Dubai to Australia. Two middle-aged women of Arabic origin were seated in the row ahead and had caused considerable disruption for both the crew and fellow passengers. For want of a better word, their behaviour lacked what we might call social graces, though there was a nagging doubt that, since they were from a very different world, it may simply have been that they didn’t understand what was needed on a jet-liner, with an economy cabin packed with other people.

The fact that they didn’t speak any English didn’t help, either. Though the Emirates crew were polite, caring and multi-lingual.

At the start of the flight the two women had ignored their booked seats and chosen ones they liked – they had taken mine and my wife’s. By the time we got there…