Shoulder to Shoulder

Kim Howells, the underling at the Ministry for Lesser Breeds whose ethical rigour has been noted here once or twice before, seems to have been precipitated by the state visit of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia into a sudden and traumatic lapse into veracity. Howells caused irritation among the more spinally endowed Labour backbenchers, and received an embarrassing scolding from the Liberal Democrats, when he called for the "Two Kingdoms" - somebody's been at The Lord of the Rings again - to work together on a basis of "shared values". Some commentators, Howells said, will focus on our differences, in that uncharitable way that commentators have. Nevertheless, "we both face the same threats and insecurities", as well as the same flexible attitude to torture and good business practice. Howells also "insisted that both countries understood the threat that groups such as al-Qa'ida pose". Well, since al-Qa'ida was born in Saudi Arabia and gained perhaps the most effective recruitment drive in its history partly through the benevolent offices of the United Kingdom, one would rather hope they did.