This week’s Takimag column has Theodore Dalrymple poking fun at the UAE’s Ministry of Tolerance, whose minister faces accusations of sexual assault. Yes, dear reader, you read that right, and the United Arab Emirates does in fact have such a ministry. Either the UAE is developing by leaps and bounds in the satire department or its leaders are skillfully aping standard, 21st-century, Western progressive drivel.

We laugh (quite rightly) at the idea of a Ministry of Tolerance, as we would laugh at the idea of a Ministry of Politeness or of a Ministry of Kindness. But it is always as well when sneering at the absurdity of others to turn the searchlight inwards, and examine oneself, or in this case one’s own polity. No sensible person would look to the UAE for political guidance; but increasingly the same is true of many Western countries.