Kuwait has just held its eleventh parliamentary election since independence in 1961. Though Kuwait is a monarchy, its parliamentary history has not been placid, and the election campaign reflected ongoing tensions between the royal family and segments of the electorate.

For a time that I find to be the most placid and uneventful hour of the day, four in the morning sure gets an awful lot of bad press (Laughter) across a lot of different media from a lot of big names.

He had not the placid, quiet, unworldly air of Simeon Halliday on the contrary, a particularly wide awake and au fait appearance, like a man who rather prides himself on knowing what he is about, and keeping a bright lookout ahead peculiarities which sorted rather oddly with his broad brim and formal phraseology.