Clever of Dubai to name their monstrous erection after the leader of the neighbouring state who has had to bail them out after they overspent prodigally on ego trip architecture.

Now when people seek examples of unparalleled hubris poor Khalifa’s name will be remembered. I’m not sure that’s the association he was hoping for.

I know a bit about follies. They used to be built by one man, and they’d be named after him. Now they’re built by invisible, unanswerable committees who when they see the way the wind is blowing (“this is beginning to look a bit like a folly, chaps”) deftly link the burj to some fall guy in the next country. The folly is so tall that if it did fall it would probably crush houses in the next country anyway.

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