Jury out on Saudi ruler
WHO will guard the guards? A question first asked by a Roman poet in the first century A.D., but equally unanswerable now, and all over the world. HOUSE OF SAUD: A FAMILY AT WAR (BBC2) is a nuanced look at Saudi Arabia’s role in global affairs, and in particular at the change of direction taken by its new de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
Rooting out terrorists, co-operating with the West on intelligence, locking up 500 senior figures, including members of his own family, on corruption charges, Bin Salman could almost seem like “a good thing”. Perhaps he is as well, regardless of his record on human rights. You cannot, as one commentator said on this documentary series last week, hope to turn this desert kingdom into California overnight. California was an interesting choice of word, because something like a gold rush happened in the Middle East in the post-war years, and today’s Saudi Arabia seems to be a product of it.
Alongside the expert analysis, last night’s instalment included a few human stories to illustrate how the oil-rich kingdom operates. If they didn’t show Saudi Arabia in a particularly good light, the same might be said for Her Majesty’s government, whose servants have shelled out hefty commissions to secure lucrative Saudi contracts, ever since the Sixties.
People who questioned the payments, like communications contractor Ian Foxley, were ignored, threatened and pushed towards the door. Investigations, such as those by our own Serious Fraud Office, met with government opposition. When these were shelved more lucrative business swiftly came along, particularly for our arms and aeronautical industries.
British taxes went to buy palaces for Saudi princes so British workers could stay in work and continue paying taxes. The experts were right to query whether Bin Salman is really trying to change things or whether this new kid on the block, with his superyacht and newlypurchased French chateau, is just going after everyone else’s wealth.
To a man, though, they ignored another question. Hints were dropped early on that the bribes and bungs were a way of life, a tribal hangover in a country that went from medieval clans to petro-superpower overnight. That seemed, to borrow a word from the Arab historian Edward Said, a touch of orientalism. Is it uniquely Saudi to expect and take bribes? Is it only done in swarthy, foreign places, or might it be how a large part of the world does business?
Speaking of old stories, those creepy playlets from the INSIDE NO.9 (BBC2) team have a definite whiff of Tales Of The Unexpected, but three series in they’re not struggling to keep the format fresh.
We weren’t bowled over by the first, “comedy of errors” story, but it showed an admirable commitment to shaking things up. Last night’s tale, “Once Removed”, went in reverse, each segment going 10 minutes back from the initially unremarkable set-up of a removal man arriving at a country cottage.
Flashy or confusing in films, when applied to 30 minutes of quiet menace with Reece Shearsmith, this rewind tactic was a triumph.
They only missed one trick in my view. As the dumpy Mrs Foulsham (Monica Dolan) set up the whole macabre massacre with a simple switch at the gateposts, they should have played that Jimi Hendrix classic If 6 Was 9.