It is 43˚C in Erbil, which a friend here describes as ‘cool’. Unlike my first visit in 2015, when Isis was just a few miles from the airport, the flight in was smooth. The plane this time was full of Iraqis and Kurds, mainly those who have emigrated, returning to visit their families. Ten years ago, the plane was empty apart from a few American contractors in fatigues and one lone priest. The descent then was rapid, to avoid Isis missiles.

Erbil is the capital of the north-east Kurdish region of Iraq. After the 2003 invasion, the Kurds were given greater autonomy but since then they’ve found themselves fighting Isis, Iraqi armed forces and even each other. The capital is filled with unfinished skyscrapers; the oil bust and then the emergence of Isis in 2014 meant that all projects were stopped. Those empty buildings became shelter for the thousands of Christians and Yazidis who were driven out of their homes by the jihadis. The Kurds offered them safety and the Church fed them while the UN, with its expensive SUVs, was mostly hidden from city life behind a large wall. It did nothing during those Isis days apart from running up large bills at the most expensive hotels.

Now building work is starting again. Many of these construction sites are part of money-laundering schemes, run by local politicians and in........

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