Sir Norman Foster is among the architects invited to put forward proposals for the redevelopment of Mecca. I know he’s a very clever chap – I worked in his office once. The Millau viaduct is a magical feat of engineering, and the McLaren factory design perfectly in harmony with the high-tech activity that takes place within it, but please don’t let him get his hands on Mecca.

Western architecture now dominates the skyline of nearly every major city in the world, burying beautiful temples, minarets, mosques, spires and pagodas amongst soulless steel and concrete skyscrapers.

I really, really do hate to see the glorious architecture of the East giving way to space-age uniformity, as Western modern building design spreads across the face of the world like a plague, in an all-out assault on  traditional local architecture, so that gradually cities totally lose their national identity.

Surely this will not be the fate of Islams holiest place? Please do not this happen.

There, that’s my rant for today.