Five women have alleged they were raped by the former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed when they worked at the luxury London department store, according to a BBC investigation.

As part of a documentary, "Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods", the BBC spoke to "more than 20 female ex-employees" who say the billionaire, who died last year aged 94, sexually assaulted or raped them. The broadcaster also heard evidence that during Al Fayed's ownership between 1985 and 2010, "Harrods not only failed to intervene but helped cover up abuse allegations".

What are the new allegations against Al Fayed?
Dozens of women have spoken to the BBC claiming they were sexually assaulted by Al Fayed, some were as young as 15 at the time of the alleged assaults. Incidents were said to have happened in the Harrods offices, in Al Fayed's London apartment on Park Lane, or on foreign trips to Paris, St Tropez and Abu Dhabi, with allegations dating back to the 1990s.  

Put together, the testimonies of the alleged victims reveal "a pattern of predatory behaviour and sexual abuse by Fayed", said the BBC. One woman told the broadcaster Al Fayed was "a monster, a sexual predator with no moral compass".

Has Al Fayed faced other allegations?
Al Fayed faced many sexual assault claims while he was alive, although he was never charged or convicted. In 1995, he launched a libel lawsuit against Vanity Fair after an article detailed alleged sexual misconduct, dropping the case after the magazine agreed not to publish further evidence it held.

What has Harrods' response been? 
The barristers representing some of the women said that Harrods was responsible for an unsafe workplace. More women are now considering taking legal action against the department store.

In a statement, the store's current owners said: "The Harrods of today is a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010 – it is one that seeks to put the welfare of our employees at the heart of everything we do." They said they were "utterly appalled" by the allegations. 

The London mayor said "urgent action" is needed to regenerate Oxford Street as he announced a new plan for the West End's famous high street.

Oxford Street was "once the jewel in the crown" of Britain's retail sector, said Sadiq Khan, as he resurrected a previously rejected plan to pedestrianise part of the thoroughfare.

Antidote to gaudy US candy shops
MPs and retailers alike have long "sought to breathe new life" into a street whose "position on the most expensive side of the Monopoly board has long been at odds with a down-at-heel reality", said The Guardian.
More recently, Oxford Street has been "blighted" by an "influx of gaudy US candy shops, vape vendors and empty store fronts", said the Daily Mail. "Rising crime, the Covid-19 pandemic and online shopping" were blamed for its "shocking demise".

An easy win
Under Khan's plan, a 0.7-mile stretch would be pedestrianised in a project expected to cost around £150 million. The mayor hopes that "local businesses, private funders and new revenue streams could foot the bill", said the BBC.

"All the evidence suggests a pedestrianised street, a well-designed street is safer, is greener, is healthier," Khan told Marie Claire. It would entice customers back, attract better retailers and leave fewer vacant stores, a "win win win".

Pedestrian panacea or problem?
Oxford Street's "spiralling tawdriness" is a "miserable advert" for London, said James Innes-Smith in The Spectator. "Something has to change" and once traffic has been removed, the street's "astonishingly varied architecture will finally come into its own".

But the move will hardly be a "panacea for shoppers on foot", said Paul Clements in The Independent. A blanket ban on vehicles means the "elderly shopper or busy mum" will no longer be able to "hop on a double-decker outside John Lewis or hail a cab outside Selfridges".

Either way, "the Oxford Street of our youth is never coming back", said Hannah Ewens on the i news site. London rents are "excruciatingly high" and if government support "isn't there", the street will "continue to be lined with businesses that contribute absolutely zero to both tourists and those living in London".

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An attractive villa overlooking the sea and close to the town centre. 4 beds, 2 baths, kitchen, dining room, 1 further recep, terrace, swimming pool, parking. €950,000; Coldwell Banker

Keir Starmer turns hypocrisy into an art form
Daily Mail editorial board
Keir Starmer "promised to lead a government of service", says the Daily Mail in its editorial, but "while warning us to tighten our belts, it's galling he and his wife have been living high on the hog after accepting more than £100,000 of gifts and hospitality since 2019". After his early release scheme for criminals, "stripping pensioners of winter fuel payments and rampant cronyism", Starmer is now "turning venality and hypocrisy into an art form".

Young women are starting to leave men behind
John Burn-Murdoch in the Financial Times
Across the developed world, "girls and young women have been pulling ahead of boys and young men in education for several decades", writes John Burn-Murdoch. But this isn't so much "a case of women making strides", as the fact that "a substantial minority of young men are actively moving backwards". Reversing this slide is an "essential challenge for the decades ahead". 

Chicken nuggets and natural wine – my lifestyle is full of contradictions
Joe Lycett on the i news site
Exploring a new city through the framework of "high culture, low culture" involves "doing at least one thing that you might expect a visiting royal to do, and immediately after doing something cheap, trad or trashy", writes Joe Lycett. It appeals "because it offers a form of balance: an opportunity to avoid pomposity and to refrain from indulging in too much trash". "Dare I say it, it offers a bit of perspective."