Stop London's libel tourists

The British Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, is completely right to start a process of wholesale reform of England's libel laws, which he believes are "running out of control".

Straw has promised radical action to stop the "bonanza" for libel tourists (and their London lawyers) as individuals flood into the UK courts to take advantage of their high awards, and their insistence that they have jurisdiction over libel that happened in other countries.

Gulf News has an interest in Straw's welcome move. The newspaper published a story last year naming a property developer whose clients felt they had lost money unfairly.

The commercial dispute was in the UAE, about property in the UAE, between the UAE-registered company and a UAE resident. However, the developer chose to avoid the UAE courts, and ran off to London to take his case to court on the claim that the story might have been read on the internet.

Gulf News refused to acknowledge the English courts' jurisdiction over the issue, and lost the case in absentia.

Gulf News stands ready to advise the UK justice secretary any time he wishes to hear how the English courts have been abused by libel tourists.

English courts have a world-class reputation, and the justice secretary's proposals are the right way to continue their great tradition of justice.