The second least surprising piece of recent news – the first being that yet more Tory MPs are reportedly embroiled in bizarre sexual and financial scandals – is that the Line, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s 105-mile-long (170km) vanity project in Saudi Arabia, is being scaled back. In an act of what is known in the construction industry as value engineering, it will now be only one and a half miles long, a reduction of 98.6%.
This makes Prince Mohammed, or MBS as he is known, the Nigel Tufnel of petro-despots – the guitarist in This is Spinal Tap who accidentally ordered an 18-inch Stonehenge as a stage prop, when he meant to get one 18-feet high.
