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Letters

Wednesday, 21st November 2007

Readers respond to recent Spectator articles

Mr. Bin Mahfouz -- who has publicly condemned terrorism-- has not used English libel laws "to suppress evidence about the alleged links between Saudi financing and terrorism," but to shed much-needed light on this topic. By openly confronting stories that had linked him to funding of terrorism through his role as head of the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia, Mr. Bin Mahfouz has demonstrated convincingly that there is no factual basis for these claims. He has not sued 30 publications, as Ms Phillips suggests, but 4. In dozens of other instances, publications that have repeated these allegations have promptly and publicly apologized, usually without any threat of litigation, because it was evident from material publicly available that there was no evidence to support these sensational and extremely defamatory claims.

Much of this material is summarized by Mr. Justice Eady in his Judgment against Rachel Ehrenfeld (posted at http://www.binmahfouz.info/news_20050503_full.html). As the Court made clear, Ms. Ehrenfeld is indeed "fighting a lonely battle" --not against "libel tourism," as Phillips suggests, but against the truth. Rather than check her facts, defend her statements in open court, or acknowledge her mistakes, Ehrenfeld hides behind a claim to free speech. Thank goodness, the legal lights remain on in Britain to expose such harmful journalism.

Yours faithfully

Laurence Harris

Kendall Freeman

Solicitors for Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz

London

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Dan Brown

November 25th, 2007 9:23pm

Perhaps this lack of integrity in modern building design and construction is due partly to the tragic manner in which our commercial and residential property is now largely regarded as a commodity.

Vast expanses of urban sprawl and suburban development are now covered in estates of houses and "executive" apartments, built flimsily in the pastiche or some pseudo-modern blandness. Little consideration is given to infrastructure, which often consists of a chain supermarket and smaller services; very often these developments are built in complete isolation, connected to town or city only by motorway junction or bypass.

Our capacity to exploit buildings for our financial gain is leaving us with cultural and architectural bankruptcy. Surely it is time to leave this obsession, emerge from making home improvements and calculating the percentage profit that has been made over the past 10 years, and actually create new buildings and cities that matter- buildings that excite and endure, external spaces that stimulate and bring us together. Inspiration is not so distant - visit Barcelona, Rome, Berlin.