“A British Airways plane was delayed after three of Sheikh Badr Bin Khalifa al-Thani’s most valuable wives refused to sit next to male passengers. Which was out of character for the Qatari royals, really. You see, earlier they had graciously consented to make their accommodations with decadent western ways – while shopping in the designer boutiques of Milan. A trivial story, highlighting an un-trivial trend: the move towards Muslim separateness.”

Jasper Gerard in the Observer, 29 July 2007