No country for funny men, this. The entire Middle East leg of Russell Brand's world tour The Messiah Complex, which was meant to open in Abu Dhabi on August 15, just got cancelled because of threats from extremists. How dreary. How tedious. How disappointingly predictable. Update (24 June): Come to think of it, if this outcome happens to have been part of Brand's PR plan all along, I'd like add this: how lame. How manipulative. How defeatist.