Family members of Osama Bin Laden were killed in a private jet crash in Hampshire on Friday, the Saudi Arabian embassy in the UK has said.

It came down near Blackbushe Airport, close to the Surrey border, killing the pilot and all three passengers.

In a statement, the Saudi ambassador to the UK, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf Al Saud, offered condolences to the Bin Laden family.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-33745057

Oh the irony. Bin Laden's family members die in a plane crash.

The bin Laden family are a very wealthy group - the grandfather having risen from virtually nothing (the head gardener of King Saud) to own a construction company and many subsidiary firms. They have done this by providing excellent service to their clients, of which I was one when building a hospital in Jeddah. I needed some complicated architectural metalwork for the entrance to the hospital and one of the subsidiary companies provided it - high quality and on time.

Osama bin Laden may have been an aberration, but remember that in his early 'freedom-fighter' days he was funded by the Americans (in Afghanistan, trying to throw the Russians out). He, like Gaddafi, saw himself as assisting down-trodden colonials to throw off the yoke of 'colonialism', whether that be physical, economic or the surrendering of power by their leaders to a supra-national organisation such as the IMF or EU. They may both have been misguided, and both may have gone a long way down the wrong road, but some of their ideas are attractive to me. Peoples should throw off the yoke of slavery, whether it be to the bankers or the politicians. We should all be able to govern ourselves in the overall interest of a truly democratic society.

Outside the Box is creeping into Bedlam again, perhaps it's saner in here.

Steve Coll wrote quite a book on the family entitled "The Bin Ladens". Rather amazing reading.