The west has a great deal to answer for in the Middle East from Britain's belated empire-building after the First World War to the US and British policy that condemns modern Iraq to the material and social squalor of a half-century ago.

I absolutely relate to being alone in squalor trying to come up with something adequate. I relate to that and I've been known to crawl out of bed and drink out of a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke.