Frank Gehry's explosive response to "starchitects", minarets ban likened to burning books and hypocritical politicians attend Copenhagen's Climate Summit.

"I don't know who invented that fucking word 'starchitect'. In fact a journalist invented it, I think. I am not a 'star-chitect', I am an ar-chitect … There are people who design buildings that are not technically and financially good, and there are those who do. Two categories, simple."

The Independent

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"Wholesale banning of a specific architectural element, such as a tower or minaret, is terrible public policy, akin to burning books and censoring newspapers. The minaret prohibition is especially illogical because Swiss law bans neither mosques nor Islam. Clearly this misguided vote is driven by irrational phobia, by perception eclipsing reality, and by misunderstanding of Islamic architecture and mosque building traditions."

Washington Post

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"Greedy? While politicians and their courts - all 20,000 of them - flock, by jet, to Copenhagen to discuss climate change in five-star, slap-up, air-conditioned executive luxury, the British contingent supports a new runway at Heathrow. Stansted and Gatwick, too. Meanwhile, Tesco, as the Times reveals, is to put in as many planning applications as possible in coming months up and down the country."

BD Online

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"They talk about reducing deforestation and boosting controls but they invest in these mega-projects. The rhetoric doesn't fully match reality."

Washington Post

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"I love this house, but I can't be expected to live like people did 50 years ago, stuck in a tiny little kitchen like a housewife from the 60s. Before I bought it I went down to the council four or five times and I was told there were no restrictions on the interior. I wish I had never bought it."

North Shore Times

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