Dear Doha Diary

So here's the thing……. President Hadi flees to Saudi Arabia following a coup by the Houthis in Yemen.  But did he in fact allow this coup to take place because he wasn't in control of Yemen at all?  Was Yemen being run in the background by the ousted former President Saleh, who was kicked out in 2011 following arab-spring style demonstrations? An Al Jazeera documentary, The Road to Sanaa, has shed light on what led up to the apparent 'soft coup' in September 2014 when the Houthis took control of the capital Sanaa without any real opposition from the Government.  I remember at the time being mystified by this turn of events.  What kind of Government simply opens the gate like that unless there is something more sinister going on behind the scenes? The Al Jazeera investigation centres around the fight for Amran, a city north of the capital and a key gateway to Sanaa for the Saada based Houthis.  Lead by General Al Qushaibi, the Yemeni Army brigade sent in to defend

When I first came to Qatar, one of the things I missed the most was cycling.  I'd been a committed commuter cyclist in London, loving the daily weave and dodge through the London traffic, literally going into battle with taxis, buses and delivery drivers, all vying for position at traffic lights, cutting the corners of junctions, driving and parking in cycle lanes and trying desperately to prove their wheels are faster than yours…….. until they're stuck in an endless jam along High Holborn and I go sailing past, victorious and not to mention just a little self righteous ;-) I got to the point that I would cycle every day no matter what the weather -rain, snow, ice…. bring it on.   I loved it.  Loved the challenge, loved the adrenalin, loved the change in my body - id never been so fit, never felt so energetic.  It was fabulous…… and then I moved to Qatar. Doha is a relatively small, flat city, compared to London of course, and the roads are good and well maintai