Firm But Fair

Some close friends and favoured customers have celebrated the secular new year wth another forty-seven counter-terrorist measures, including the compulsory anatomical curtailment of a prominent Shia cleric. Iran was moved to proclaim, truthfully enough, that "the Saudi government supports terrorists and takfiri [radical Sunni] extremists, while executing and suppressing critics inside the country", and warned of serious repercussions; which according to Britain's leading liberal newspaper constituted an escalation of religious and diplomatic tensions in the region, although the extent to which it will undermine the pacific effects of our wog-bombing is as yet unclear. The executions themselves were hardly more than routine for Saudi Arabia, which has been chopping off more heads recently; doubtless because the democratic solicitations of Britain's Head Boy and his chums have helped ease the Saudi royals towards their present attitude of enlightened moderation.