Ok. Pulse check time. The only religious persecution story on today's BBC news website I can see is that of Buddhists massacring Muslims. Considering I am in Bangkok and visiting their temples, hearing all about tolerance and respect, it makes you think...

By the way Keith, I have consumed alcohol in Saudi Arabia, legally, not within Embassy compound and purchased legally too. After all, I'm not a Muslim. My female colleague drove a hire car for that matter. In some areas, neither is advisable due to local interpretation and level of intelligence of officials, but the law itself differentiates between expectation of Muslims and that of non Muslims. A brutal state with much to learn and I have little time for the fawning Western governments bestow on it, but as far as persecution goes, it persecuted its own people far more than those who visit by placing of restrictions not placed on others.