Actually Mick the Saudis do have a secret police ..... but then most countries do. The Saudis also used to have a religious police .... people actively going around ensuring compliance with the Koran ... for example forbidding Men eating in Family parts of restaurants. I remember when I did some work at the organisation which now owns NUFC not that long ago, local Saudi women workers were marched off site for simply being alone in a room speaking to a man. And being thrown into a Saudi prison for running an amber traffic light is not particularly western in values.

But things have changed so much over the past 10 years .... women driving, restrictions on dress code, sporting and entertainment events..... they are also building this place called Neom where as I understand it Alcohol may even be allowed. MBS for all his faults is definitely a friend of the West ..... especially after Russia humiliated the Saudis 5-0 at the last World Cup ....