This was a fascinating debate between Mehdi Hasan & Madawi al-Rasheed for the motion, and Mamoun Fandy & Crispin Blunt against. Lyse Doucet did a good job moderating what ended up being a heated conversation on the part of Mehdi and Madawi. Their impassioned cases for cutting ties would have had me sold, especially with a lacklustre argument from Mamoun, if not the sensible argument put forward by Crispin. Having declared the punishments in Saudi Arabia as bordering on torture Mr. Crispin is far from a pro-Saudi activist, but he persuaded me that cutting all ties would very likely result in far more harm and really only benefit us in the sense that it would make us feel like good guys. Indeed, if we were to entirely pull out one could imagine Russia or China stepping in, and their human rights history is far from exemplary.