Saudi arabia

A major Greek ship owner, whose political knowledge matches his wealth and business acumen, explained to me what the Qatar brouhaha is all about. My friend Peter had the foresight to invest in liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, among the most expensive of ships to build but big-time money-makers. Why is it that it takes a major ship owner to tell us what’s really going on? Forget the bull put out by American hacks, whose minds no longer seem to function — at least since Trump’s triumph last November. Here goes: we sat on my terrace in Gstaad under the stars, watched the mountains turn from grey to dark blue, drank some good red wine, and I got the scoop. The first to ring the Donald after the election was the ruler of Saudi Arabia.

I was busy explaining to a 23-year-old American girl by the name of Jennifer why the election result was not a disaster. She is a Spectator reader and wants to work in England, preferably in politics. She called the result the worst news since her father had abandoned her mother. I begged to differ. Actually, it was a far better result than it would have been had the Conservatives won a majority of 100, I told her. She gasped in disbelief, but soon enough she was hooked. Do not be alarmed, dear readers. I have not taken LSD. Nor am I suffering from populist-nationalist rage at global elites and starting to hallucinate.

 Washington DC At 8:06 on Tuesday morning the Tweeter-in-Chief reached for his Android phone and told the world: ‘During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar — look!’ At 9:36 a.m. we heard from @realDonaldTrump again. ‘So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off. They said they would take a hard line on funding… extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!

I feel like an obituary writer, what with Nick Scott, Roger Moore, Alistair Horne — all great buddies — and now my oldest and closest friend, Aleko Goulandris, dead at 90. Mind you, they all had very good lives: plenty of women, lots of fun, accomplishments galore, and many children and grandchildren. And they all reached a certain age — what else can you ask of this ludicrous life of ours? Well, I won’t be writing about the high life this week, but scum life instead. And I’ll tell you why: those innocent young children slaughtered by that Islamist scumbag in Manchester, that’s why.

New York Although both guilt and innocence fascinate me, I’m not so sure that there is such a thing as redemption. I know, it sounds very unchristian, but there you have it. For me bad guys remain bad, and good guys ditto. I didn’t make it to the memorial service for either Rupert Deen or Alexander Chancellor, my first editor — two friends not known for feeling too guilty, nor for their innocence, come to think of it. I’m still in the Bagel and need to stay here because at my advanced age I’m finishing the last part of a TV show, or perhaps film, as yet untitled about two pre-embalmed society figures produced by Graydon Carter, the Vanity Fair honcho and Donald Trump’s cheerleader-in-chief.

There's no such thing as a free lunch -- and Owen Jones is quickly discovering that there's also no such thing as a free jacket in a fashion shoot. The Guardian journalist has come under fire over his decision to model a £1,080 jacket while discussing the 'collapse of capitalism' with the men's magazine. While Jones has since dismissed the criticism as 'surreal', Mr S is sorry to report that there is further bad news regarding the pricey attire. The designer Jones is ‘modelling’ is Corneliani. The menswear label is owned by Investcorp (with the company purchasing a 55pc stake in Corneliani in 2016), which is a Bahrain-based private investment bank.

Here we go again, my 40th Christmas column in a row, and it seems only two weeks ago that I filed the last one. This is a very happy time of year — parties galore, lots of love for our fellow man and happiness all around. Mind you, there is an old calypso that says: ‘If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife...’. I’m not so sure about that; in my book, the prettier the woman the happier it makes me, but I could be wrong. My instinct tells me that a pretty woman keeps a man on his toes. No beautiful woman will stay with a man who doesn’t deserve her — not in the long run, anyway. But I’ve also noticed that many — though not all — very beautiful women are not very happy. Why is that?

In this week’s issue, Owen Matthews discusses Vladimir Putin’s endgame in Syria. He says Russia’s bombing of Aleppo this week was intended to send a clear message: that the Russian President is in charge. But Owen says Putin’s strategy is his riskiest yet. What does it mean for the hopes of peace in war-ravaged Syria? And could it be a good thing after all if Putin’s intervention does bring an end to the conflict? On this week’s podcast, Isabel Hardman is joined by Owen Matthews in Istanbul and Robert Service, Emeritus Professor of Russian history at St Antony’s College, Oxford.

Our most-read piece this week was Fraser Nelson’s article about the Swedish government’s refusal to be honest about the crime and immigration. He said: 'News of an attack brings grief and outrage, but the sense that the authorities are not telling the whole truth brings a new level of anger and suspicion. All of this further undermines public support for immigration.' Read the article by clicking here The second most-read article was Melanie Phillips’ cover piece on gender. She said that it was dangerous and wrong to tell children they’re gender fluid. In her piece, Melanie added: 'In short, the political class is obsessed by gender issues. I trust you are, too.