Helped Out

British values have made themselves felt in Bahrain, whose government receives advice from the UK on matters concerning fair play, law and order, bobbies on the beat and that sort of thing. Three people have received the usual benefits of this civilising influence, despite interference by rapporteurs and other trendy do-gooders with funny foreign names. Convicted in separate cases of terrorism and killing a cleric, the three were allegedly subjected to assertive questioning and prevented from attending their own trial and sentencing: an economically astute and environmentally responsible mode of justice from which Her Majesty's Government will doubtless not be too proud to learn.