Economists, Like Royal Children, Are Not Punished

The Rise To Prominence Of The Saudi Novel In Arabic Is The Great Man-bites-dog Of Recent World Literature. Saudi Arabia Is A Country Without A Free Press, Where European Styles And Forms Are Distrusted And Where The Female Half Of The Population Became Literate Only In This Generation.

Saudi Arabia Is A Puritanical State That Claims A Monopoly Of Wisdom And Virtue.

For All Their Current Prestige, Osama Bin Laden And The Suicide Bombers Are Still Regarded In All But The Most Desperate Districts Of Gaza Or Peshawar As Romantics With Little Chance Of More Than Symbolic Victories, However Bloody And Brutal. That Gives Both The Middle East And The West A Small And Distant Hope Of Security.

The Dividing Line Between Wish And Need Was Never Clear.

Governments Of Rich Countries Spend Some $6bn Of Tax Money A Year On Disaster Relief And Development Aid Overseas, While Each New Earthquake, Famine Or Tidal Wave Can Attract 1,000 Aid Organisations, From The United Nations Children's Fund And Oxfam To The 'jesus Brigades' Of The American South And Other Charitable Adventurers.