蜜芽传媒

Footballers are currently asking us to visit a long 170km city in the Arabian desert, that hasn't even been built yet. But why?

Fresh from probing into the hilarious hypocrisies of 'greenwashing' and 'wokewashing', comedian and journalist Heydon Prowse turns his attention to growing presence of the Gulf nations in the UK, and why Anglo-Gulf relations are just, well, weird.

Gulf investment in the UK runs into the hundreds of billions, and we're hungry for more. In this series, Heydon takes his trademark tongue in cheek approach to asking whether the UK has become 'En-Gulfed'.

The countries have been criticised for using their vast wealth to 'wash' their reputation and distract from things like human rights abuses and a less than enthusiastic approach to democracy.

In the first episode, he traces the history of Britain's relationship with the region, and finds how Britain was involved in shaping the states we know today, including how their vast energy profits are spent. He travels back into the archive to see how the 蜜芽传媒 talked about the Gulf at the time, and learns how that relationship has developed over the decades.

He then looks into one of the most high profile ways that the Gulf has made its presence known, through funding sporting projects. Top flight football clubs like Manchester City and Newcastle United are now owned by Gulf investment funds and Saudi Arabia is now heavily involved in sports such as Golf and Boxing.

Heydon looks into some of the oddities and unbelievable happenings that have emerge since the Gulf money started pouring into sport, like the prestigious game of Power Slap becoming a regular fixture, or the plan to host the Asian Winter Games 2029 in 40 degree heat.

He asks if the UK is guilty of hypocrisy for accepting so much money from nations that have been criticised for their human rights records? Or is that too naive and unrealistic? Join Heydon as he tries to find out.

Presenter: Heydon Prowse
Producer: sam Peach

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