Qatar

Qatar, as well as being one of the few proper monarchies left in the world, that is to say where the monarch really is in charge, unlike here where the monarch is a tourist attraction, is also very rich, awash with the monies arising from selling vast amounts of gas.

So it is a continuing puzzle why they find it necessary or appropriate to treat so badly all the people who do the menial, heavy and dirty work that true born Qataris now disdain, possibly in favour of playing with their falcons. Why do they find it so difficult to pay migrant workers decent wages and to give them decent living conditions?

But I also read that while all kinds of things that we regard as normal are nominally illegal there, if you can afford to stay at one of their many luxury hotels, anything goes. The writ of the mullahs does not run inside. Whereas if you are a rich Saudi, you have to come to London to do your boozing and so forth. At least they used to.

PS: and if you are a poor Saudi, what can you do to let off steam? Fags and coffee only go so far.

References

Reference 1: The ethical case for watching this possibly unethical World Cup: Many activists, NGOs and trade unions believe Qatar 2022 can be used to shine a light on myriad human rights abuses - Simon Kuper, FT - 2022.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar.