Very Gradual Reform

Western moral tutelage appears to be reaping the usual dividends among Britain's favourite fundamentalist head.choppers. Six years ago the House of Saud decreed that people would not be executed for crimes committed before reaching the age of majority, no matter how much trouble had been taken in beating confessions out of them. Under the current crown prince there has been a large increase in the number of executions generally, and the moratorium on child offenders has been upheld about as religiously as the House of Saud upholds most human rights. Thanks to the current crown prince's enthusiasm for wog-bombing the right sort of terrorist, the West's response has been to laud him as a reformer.