THE BRITISH elite is highly skilled at directing the sleeping public’s attention.

So much so that at the end of a week when the Russian spy scandal has dominated our front pages, we are not only failing to come up with the right answers we’re not even asking the right questions.

Let’s get this one out of the way from the beginning. The poisoning and therefore attempted murder of any individual is a despicable act. And it could well have been perpetrated on behalf of the Russian state.

The latter is almost irrelevant.

For this one incident is a molehill compared with the mountainous subject of the visit of a Saudi Arabian Prince to England- the elephant in the room the elite don’t want us to consider too closely.

For, whilst we are concentrating on the plight of a few individuals and pointing the finger at Russia, we are missing the point that the death warrants of thousands could be being signed this week due to an alliance that is morally indefensible.

Prime Minister Theresa May feebly fended off Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s verbal attack during Prime Minister’s Questions by saying this partnership was ‘historic’ and had been responsible for saving ‘hundreds of lives’.

But how many lives have already been lost – and will be lost – due to our continued mega bucks arms deals that will inevitably have been on the agenda this week?

Put simply, Saudi houses a brutal authoritarian regime that gave birth to the very type of Islam we claim to be fighting in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Talks of reform – such as women now being allowed to drive – are piecemeal and of minimal significance compared with the human carnage they are currently inflicting in Yemen.

And yet, of course, even Corbyn, good man though he is, is forced to tread very carefully when lodging his complaints.

For he knows as well as the Tories that the ‘historic’ link referred to includes the friendship between the respective Royals.

And, if seen to be treading on any Royal toes in this mind-controlled country, you are soon labelled anti-British, even traitorous.

I had to switch channels to Russia Today to get any reasonable coverage of demonstrations against the Saudi visit, even though the clear majority of the population were opposed to it.

It isn’t just our relationship with the Saudis that makes our current attempt to the high moral ground against Russia so hypocritical.

We are both supporters of the biggest killing machine on planet earth – the United States of America – and the brutal Israelis.

Generally the factors at the heart of our alliances are nothing whatever to do with morality but whether countries are run by monarchies and if they are in the central banking system.

When the answer is ‘no’ to both as in the case of Iran, Syria and North Korea, for example, you can guarantee we will be on the opposite side.

Going back to the poisoning, the general public outrage highlights how much we are kept in the dark.

For most people, the murky world of international espionage and intelligence services is the stuff of James Bond and other movies.

We lap up the appalling events and write them off as entertainment in much the same way as Star Wars captures the public imagination and simultaneously ensures we don’t believe in aliens.

Yet, even in modern day 2018, individuals deemed to be a danger to a state are either taken out or silenced. The Russians do it, the Americans are the masters at it and we play a prominent part too.

It’s disgusting, unacceptable but part of a crazy world which means one country must stockpile nuclear weapons just in case it’s blown up by another.

Even the fact that this took place on British soil is largely a red herring.

Perhaps the main significance of its location was that it took place just eight miles from the largest stock of nerve agent in western Europe – yes, that’s right, in London!