"Respect"...

In just over three weeks the football World Cup will start in Qatar: a country with lots of brand-new stadia, but no tradition of football. God only knows how many manilla envelopes had to change hands for this tiny oil-rich country in the Persian Gulf to have won so many votes. Qatar is run under sharia law, which means that both apostasy (leaving Islam) and homosexuality are capital crimes. Other crimes, such as adultery or the consumption of alcohol, are punishable by public flogging.

The migrant workers who constructed the football stadia worked long hours, for low wages, in searing heat, often in conditions of involuntary servitude. In short, being more interested in their repressive religion than in human rights, Qatar should never have been awarded a major sporting competition in the first place.

There have been “reassurances”, by the Quatari government, that gay fans will be welcome. Not all gay fans are convinced, of course, and Quatari jails are full of people who have drunk alcohol, worn skirts considered too short, or showed any public display of affection. Our foreign secretary, James Cleverley, suggested that fans should “respect” the cultural and religious norms of the host nation. What would this “respect” look like, exactly?

I hope this vastly expensive exercise in “sportswashing” backfires spectacularly, by revealing this repressive regime in its true colours…