Landing at the Hamad International airport on Friday evening in Doha I was interested to see whether the build up to the largest sporting event in the world would impact my arrival. Having worked in the country for over a decade and travelled widely and often in the Middle East, I am used to the lethargy and miserable countenance displayed by most border control officials at midnight during a weekend. But surprisingly it was all quite smooth, even my luggage arrived safely. Better than Heathrow of late.

With the 2022 World Cup hours away predictably there were long, snaking queues of suitably attired footy fans from every nation mingling with irritable sports journalists and bemused Arabs but all was quiet and civilised. Qatar is around the size of Yorkshire with the normal population around a third of the size of London. The influx of around 1.2 million visitors to this small country has proved a logistical challenge and over 100 new hotels, metro and other facilities have been constructed to cope. But like all new projects… a certain element of snagging is bound to have to take place.

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