The Guardian- We cannot say we abhor the use of weapons against civilians in Aleppo, yet supply such weapons for use against civilians in Yemen

Do we know – or sufficiently value – what the UK gains from its relationship with Saudi Arabia? This is the question posed here recently by Professor Rosemary Hollis after the revelations that UK-made cluster bombs were used in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition.

We know, more or less, what we get in the way of defence contracts and jobs, but what we get from intelligence cooperation is less clear. It always is, because intelligence experts have a way of saying loftily that the intelligence is more important than our need to know.

That is an effective argument, and in principle often a valid one. But, like other arguments that pre-empt debate, it is too effective, and perhaps in consequence gets used too often.

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