When Robert Fisk talks about Islamic history: when will this man retire, when? I swear, I will buy him a calculator or a watch as a retirement gift

"The palace was packed with singing girls, concubines and servant girls. But… word had it that he maintained a homosexual relationship with Jafar, one of his principal administrators, who was later executed."  Well, Robert.  You should have consulted with your driver, Abed, on this one. 1) the singing girls were concubines. So the reference of the singing girls AND concubines was redundant.  2) your story about Harun Al-Rashid and Ja`far al-Barmaki is totally baseless.  The fall of the Baramikah is a whole different story.  And W.M. Watt was right in observing that modern scholarship finds no evidence of this alleged relationship.  The fall of the Baramikah had to do  with their enormous influence within the government and their self-enrichment and their political attitudes.  It was not personal.  The personal story that is more relevant to the execution of Ja`far had to do with the story that Harun arranged for the marriage of Ja`far to `Abbasah (the sister of Harun) on the condition that the marriage would not be consummated.  Ja`far may have violated the agreement, but that also is not the reason for their fall from grace.