The Saudis Must Be Fixed
A café wall shakes and a foreign friend turns pale. Two stories follow: decades of self-appointed reformers who came for the Saudis, and the numbers on who actually needs fixing.
Saudi Society & Public Life
The world rarely knows the Saudi as he is; what it sees passes through many political and economic filters. Self-styled reformers have come for the Saudis for decades and gone, while the numbers tell another story. Change at home asks us to drop convictions born of illusion and raised by fear, before they harden into rules.
Leadership & People Marketing, Brands & Media AI & the Future of Work
Writing
The National Day I Saw
A dream of a National Day on which every ministry tells the country's story, a documentary, a play, a game, until the alarm rings and Twitter fills with discounts.
The Saudi You Need to Know
English version of «السعودي الذي رأيت»: the policeman, the ID cards, and the hosts of Bisha, Baljurashi, Qatif and Jizan.
السعودي الذي رأيت · Marketeirs · 2019
The Saudi I Saw
A policeman doubts a man whose ID cards come from five different cities. What years of crossing the Kingdom taught him about Saudis, and two challenges for the events meant to show them to the world.
Who Pays for the Adventure Boys?
Germany billed a kidnapped backpacker for her own rescue, and a court agreed. When thrill-seekers drive into flooded valleys, someone pays: the rescuers, the budget, and every citizen whose services wait.
Entertainment Newbies
English version of «سنة أولى ترفيه»: an Eid show in Riyadh, and the jobs, businesses and tourism money behind a family night out.
سنة أولى ترفيه · Maaal · 2018
Should We Beware of Saudi Men?
A recruiter's rule never to hire a Saudi secretary meets the young man who broke it; then two restaurants turn away "bachelors". On convictions born of illusion and raised by fear.
Entertainment, Year One
An Eid show with the children becomes a lesson in jobs, start-ups and the money Saudis used to spend abroad, and a reply to those who call having fun at home a threat.
Taxes, and "Sorry, the System Is Down"
The bank teller's favorite excuse decoded, and why VAT and new fuel prices may finally make Saudi businesses earn their customers, and expose costs that kept opportunities hidden.
What Didn't Go Viral About the Man Who Promised a Second Mecca
A slip of the tongue at the 2017 Future Investment Initiative went viral; this is what did not. Masayoshi Son on losing a fortune, betting on the future, and the Kingdom's next wealth, the sun.
Don't Be Onoda
Hiroo Onoda fought on in the Philippine jungle for nearly thirty years after the war, because no officer had canceled his orders. How many Onodas do we meet, loyal to orders that expired long ago?
Saudi Vision 2030 Through the Eyes of an Average Abu Abdullah
An average Saudi doubts the Vision 2030 promises, then watches them arrive: civil servants working full days, concerts and monster trucks in Riyadh, ministers answering in public.
