The west has a great deal to answer for in the Middle East, from Britain's belated empire-building after the First World War to the US and British policy that condemns modern Iraq to the material and social squalor of a half-century ago.

The Honourable James Buchan born 11 June 1954 is a British novelist and journalist. He was educated at Eton and Magdalen College Oxford and began his career as a Financial Times correspondent writing from the Middle East Germany and the United States. Biography
Buchan is the son of William Buchan 3rd Baron Tweedsmuir and grandson of John Buchan 1st Baron Tweedsmuir the Scottish novelist and diplomat.