Can the West ignore the murder of Jamal Khashoggi?

My guess is President Trump’s team spent hours, maybe days, fretting over how to word his statement on US-Saudi relations after the grisly murder of Jamal Khashoggi, and then the man himself just did it. A little of the old genius razzle dazzle – the work of a moment. ‘It could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!’

Speaking as someone who’s written more than his fair share of bloodless, madly nuanced corporate statements, Trump’s handiwork – which is that sentence alone (complete with showbiz exclamation mark!) – stands out a mile. It’s so perfect I suspect very soon we will hear it widely parroted, not least by CEOs of international corporations desperate to fill their boots in the all-new, inclusive Saudi Arabia, and perhaps even by the man many believe ordered the killing himself.

‘Look, I will be honest with you,’ Saudi’s sporty young de facto despot Mohammed bin Salman could say.