(1) A report from the New Zealand Press Association, dated June 10, 1987: "Seven prominent New Zealand Muslims have issued proceedings in the High Court at Wellington against the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand, alleging defamation by The Listener magazine, their lawyer says. Mr Tony (A D) Ford said the proceedings followed a March 7 article in the magazine titled Sword of Islam. He will act for the seven Muslims, all executive members of the Federation of Islamic Associations. They are each claiming $1 million in damages, a total of $7 million. The plaintiffs are: Ghulam Irshad Abdur Razzaq Khan, education researcher, of Christchurch; Mohammad Ashraf Choudhary, research officer, of Palmerston North; Khalid Rashid Sandhu, medical practitioner, of Wellington; Mohammed Abdulsamad Bhikoo, projects manager, of Auckland; Mazhar Shukri Krasniqi, exporter, of Auckland; Salih Al-Samahy, medical practitioner, of Christchurch, and Abdul Rahim Rasheed, barrister and solicitor, of Auckland."

(2) The List of Fellows of the Royal Historical Society, as given in the Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, London, 1986, shows that John Laffin was not a fellow. I suspect that one of Fry's sources was a 1987 promotional leaflet from Prayer for Israel/International Christian Embassy. Click here to read it. According to Abdur Razzaq (in a personal letter to me dated March 26, 1987), Laffin did not hold a Ph.D and did not meet some of the people he claimed to have met. I doubt he held any relevant qualifications. Certainly, he did not write like a person who had ever submitted his work to peer review.

(3) Click here for Derek Hopwood's review of Know the Middle East, by John Laffin, from the Bulletin of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, Vol 13, No 1, 1986.

(4) John Laffin was another of those purveyors of spurious scholarship/expertise who are greeted by naive, semi-educated New Zealanders with a respect, bordering on awe, that they don't in any way deserve. It is appalling that such people, with an unscrupulous publicity machine behind them, are able to find so much space in the country's newspapers and magazines for their sensational nonsense, while others, who have a genuine contribution to make to a debate, are sidelined or summarily dismissed. When the "popular press" is bamboozled by this bogus erudition, the journalistic credulity is deplorable enough. When a magazine of the stature of the NZ Listener falls victim, one is doubly disappointed. In his letter to me of March 23, 1987 (click here), the editor of the Listener, David Beatson, says: "I regard it as part of the Listener's editorial function to publish articles reflecting all shades of opinion on any contentious matter." But is this principle to be extended to crackpot opinion, and to statements of opinion in which there is a fudging of the facts and — as in this case — a blatant attempt to whip up paranoia? Mr Beatson continues: "Fairness demands that we publish a representative selection of letters we receive responding to issues covered..." But letters, which sometimes have their most compelling points excised, can hardly be said to restore balance. And they can, in some cases, compound the confusion by introducing new factual inaccuracies. For instance, Alexandra Barratt and Shaista Shameen, of the Centre for Women's Studies at the University of Waikato, say in their letter to the editor of April 18, 1987, on the subject of "female circumcision", that "Reduce the sexual organs but do not destroy them" is a verse in the Qur'an. In reality, it is a hadith, or saying of the Prophet, of dubious authenticity. Although I pointed this out to the editor, the error was allowed to stand.

(5) For evidence of "female circumcision" in the West in the 20th century, click here.

(6) John Laffin died in 2000.