Tommy Martin: Paid stooges on a magic golfing journey to change the world

LIV Golf is just one front in Saudi Arabia’s long war to position itself as a thrusting global player while still maintaining its cruel, repressive power structure

Newcastle United's Saudi Arabian chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan takes part in the Pro-Am round of the LIV Golf Invitational Series event at The Centurion Club in St Albans, north of London, on June 8, 2022. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP) (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)

These are great days for the euphemism. Anybody can do it. You just take a not very nice thing and use words that have a completely different meaning to describe that thing and hey, presto! The not very nice thing vanishes. In its place are just harmless words.

So, if you are Vladimir Putin, you can refer to a brutal invasion of a neighbouring country as a ‘special military operation’. Boris Johnson can call a mass backbench rebellion against his leadership a ‘conclusive and decisive’ victory. And Graeme McDowell can describe taking money to launder the image of a brutal regime as being a “great role model for kids”.