The Spectator magazine combines incisive political analysis with books and arts reviews of unrivaled authority. Absolutely free. Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher.

Hello and welcome to Spectator Out Loud. Each week we choose three pieces from the magazine and ask their writers to read them aloud.

I'm Oscar Redmondenson and on the podcast this

week. Max Jeffrey reads his letter from Abu Dhabi, where he visited the International Defence

exhibition. Emily Rhodes tells us about the tyranny of World Book Day for parents, and Daisy

Dunn read her arts lead on the mysterious world of the Minowans.

Up first, Max Jeffrey.

Yalla, yalla, yalla, shouts a Saudi man.

There are arms dealers, fixers, military men and gun geeks, tanks,

assault rifles, mortars and drones.

Jets do aerobatics overhead, and a band plays Maroon 5.

A Chinese robot dog bangs into delegates.

Welcome to the International Defence Exhibition in the United Arab Emirates. Business is booming.

On the conference floor, Eric Prince is talking to the Emirati president, Mohamed bin Zayed. People are taking photos of MBZ, who smiles out from a dark robe and aviator sunglasses,

but none seems to recognise Prince.

He's an ex-Navy seal, who sold mercenaries to the Americans in Iraq, trained Somalis

to fight pirates in the Gulf of Aden, and allegedly broke arms trafficking laws,

shipping weaponised agricultural planes to Libya.

After some of his mercenaries killed 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007, he left America

for the UAE. He became friends with MBZ, they fell out, and now they're close again. Prince makes

deals happen. He's valuable. Each exhibitor at the fair has a stand with their weapons on display.

Guns are mounted to counters like iPads in John Lewis.

...