By Philip Whitfield Let me give you my vision: A man’s right to work as he wills, to spend what he earns, to own property, to have the state of servant and not as master. They are the essence of a free economy and on that freedom all our other freedoms depend. Regrettably, those are …
By Philip Whitfield Let’s remind ourselves of the central challenge Egypt faces: the population explosion and its consequences. We know Greater Cairo’s 22 million will be 40 million in 10 years. In 30 years Cairo’s population will be greater than the entire United Kingdom’s. Unless something dramatic happens – and I imagine it will – the …
By Philip Whitfield Too cute? You try. Two’s company, three’s a crowd (corny); Spin doctors (better); Whispering campaign (true); Rope a dope (scurrilous). What’s being spoon-fed? Battle lines drawn, littered through copy with adjectival innuendo: Al-Sisi’s campaign headquarters in the “upper class” Al-Tagammu (New Cairo) district…(snooty?). Worse: Sabahy, youngest of a peasant farmer’s 12 children …
By Philip Whitfield Before conniptions consume, inhale the acronyms. FAG: (For/Against Government), IMP: the British Imperial Tobacco Group the world’s fourth-largest ciggie peddler flogging 320bn cigarettes a year (Davidoff in Egypt) after PMI: Philip Morris International (Marlboros / Merit), BAT British American Tobacco (Rothmans/Dunhill) and arriving on the 1 July JT Japan Tobacco (Winston/Salem). And …
By Philip Whitfield Gettysburg 1863: Government of the people, by the people, for the people. Ashen, sick as a dog, Abraham Lincoln barely lasted another 15 months on earth. The wireman was away supping. Missed the iconic two minutes: 271 words of epigrammatically pithy eloquence: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth …
By Philip Whitfield You may fool all the people some of the time. You can even fool some of the people all of the time. But you cannot fool all of the people all the time (Abraham Lincoln). Who’s starting World War III? Mohamed Bouaziz ablaze in Tunisia? Egypt’s Tahrir Square? Qatar gushing gas to …
By Philip Whitfield Who’d be in the president’s shoes? Adly schleps in the shadows. Morsi shuffles round prison in his. Mubarak hobbles in hospital pumps. Sadat died with his on. Nasser wore his out on socialism’s slippery slope. Who’s got the courage to give the old ways a kicking? The economist Felix Inmonti says rent-funded …
Philip Whitfield Brave reporting by Hamza Hendawi. His Associated Press copy from Dalga makes your blood boil. Morsi supporters are ethnically cleansing Christians in a town a hop skip and a jump from Tahrir Square. The police stand idly by while 20,000 Christian homes and businesses are torched. An Orthodox priest’s house is burned down. …
By Philip Whitfield A just war? Or just a war? Martyrdom versus military might? How far is Syria’s Assad willing to go? Or will he go willingly? Who wins? Does everyone lose? Apparently you can be at both ends and in the middle at the same time. Bashar the Beast fights bantamweight: bare-knuckle with the …
By Philip Whitfield Once upon a time a crocodile was snoozing on the banks of the River Nile. Along came a spritely gazelle. She’d spotted a bunch of cherries on the opposite side. How to get across? One crocodile in sight indicated more dozing. “Wake up, Mr Crocodile,” she pleaded. The crocodile opened one eye …
By Philip Whitfield Truth trumps fiction. According to some Muslim Brothers it’s time to dump Morsi and dump on General Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi. Remember this bit of Brotherhood balderdash? “We’re not seeking power. We just want to build this country.”It was mind-boggling mapping Morsi’s mendacious malarkey. Nowadays it’s caliginous charting the Brotherhood’s course. Did you …
Where to begin reconciliation, asks Philip Whitfield
By Philip Whitfield What’s up? In the media Egypt is fixated with wrangling, fighting and shooting. When you go out people are shopping, mixing and fasting. How much would you give to keep it that way? A million bucks? $29.95 is a steal. Karima Bennoune takes us on an eye-opener. Bennoune is a professor of …
Egypt haemorrhages. Stretcher-bearers bus bodies, fallen replaced. Helicopters swoop and hover. Tormented faces agonise. None dares call it outright civil war; just as none want to admit a coup is a coup. The memory of happier times scurrying across Tahrir Square for a bite to eat or taking in a movie in Heliopolis is fading. …
By Philip Whitfield Nodding off, the scene segues from Downtown’s crepitating, clattering convulsion to a salubrious setting – a favourite picnic spot in the newly greened Rabaa Touristic Village.  Families and friends have gathered, sedately celebrating their communion. A podium awaits the once reviled now revered. Behold, he comes from the East. He alights from …
By Philip Whitfield I don’t have to be here. Shouldn’t be, according to some who brand the likes of me Peeping Toms. They say we’re voyeurs reporting naughtiness we’re not supposed to see. They’d rather we skulk around Northern Ireland counting the bandaged heads of police and politicians bashed up during their marching season. Egypt’s …
By Philip Whitfield Was it a coup d’etat, half a coup, coup-lite or just plain old martial law? The top brass gave Morsi just enough rope to hang himself to execute their mission: divide and rule. Not so fast, say some. It’s our revolution, not theirs. If you want to pray the worldwide court of …
By Philip Whitfield La Jolie Plage North Coast (30 June.) Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, and the riff raff at the back, welcome to the Couch Party annual general meeting. Or as my wife put it when she sent me packing, welcome to the Couch Grouse. Founders of civilisation, interim riparian cotenants of …
By Philip Whitfield Who? What? When? Where? Why? Frequently we’re asked to explain ourselves. The most asked hereabouts: What will happen on 30 June? It’s promiscuous to flirt with what-ifs. Better to explain why the protest will fizzle out. Sunday is a black day for democracy, rivals aiming to win, not warm. Why climb Mount …
By Philip Whitfield Who’s really behind the Battle of the Nile? Here’s a clue: Gold and girls. Don’t be fooled by hydroelectricity or irrigation. Focus on lust and greed. Skedaddle if you hear shankilla. It’s Ethiopian for slave. Head for the hills if they shout agbert – slavery permitted. Beware of God. He spake of …
By: Philip Whitfield Of all the poker players I’d want to cut the cards Barack Obama ranks First Dealer. We both spent 20 years in Chicago. So we know to keep our hands in full view. I was taken aback when he appeared to cave after Republicans scuppered his choice to succeed Hillary Clinton in …
By: Philip Whitfield You’d be livid if your boss blew your wages gambling. Consider how often the Muslim Brotherhood risks your life, how close Cairo courts catastrophe. I’ll wager this. Isn’t the answer to Egypt’s enigma staring the head-scratchers in the face? Lump all Egypt’s woes under one defining issue. Security: a pitiful failure to …
By Philip Whitfield Why’s Morsi picking up tips from Jose Mourinho? They’re both hoping for a second chance: Mourinho to Chelsea, Morsi to the palace after Ramadan. Both need to turn things round: Mourinho to keep John Terry and Frank Lampard happy, Morsi to woo the crowd to his side. On his left, Iran’s Mahmoud …
By: Philip Whitfield Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei must be walking on air. His acolyte President Mohamed Morsi apes Iran’s every move. Essam El-Haddad, one of the top honchos in the Muslim Brotherhood Guidance Bureau, has been in Tehran chewing over Syria. Just as on 4 December …
By: Philip Whitfield Robert Browning (1812 –1889) is a favourite poet among high schoolers: Judge people by what they might be – not are, nor will be. Seems their parents and teachers are taking him to heart. I’m getting more invitations these days to farewell parties. It’s not a lemming-like flight. It’s a dolorous brain drain. …
By: Philip Whitfield How do you feed your prejudice? Choosing what bits to read? Or who to hang out with? It’s an infectious disease. One minute you’re as tolerant as can be, the next you’re ranting about someone’s views. We are all united in a crisis, says Nancy Taylor, pastor of the Old South Church …
By: Philip Whitfield Cut and run, or duke it out – Morsi’s dilemma during the interregnum. Feuding inside the Muslim Brotherhood rages. Khairat El-Shater berates Morsi for pussyfooting around the Brothers’ project to control every facet of Egyptian life. El-Shater reportedly craves the top job, goading Morsi to call a snap election. According to Mark …
By Philip Whitfield Chitchat is Cairo’s currency. Spotting a rare bird in the undergrowth has set the tongues wagging. One swallow doesn’t make a summer. But the return of this migrant to Egypt’s shores has stirred the jabberers into a chunter. In another conversation a medical man laid a bet that Morsi et al will …
By: Philip Whitfield You can measure the revolution’s pace counting column inches devoted to the birds and the bees. There’s nothing government toadies like more than filling up space with articles on Nile Delta flora and fauna and Red Sea ostriches. In peacetime that’s OK. But in war? The chicken livers are squirming to keep …
By Philip Whitfield At least you can hear the jets overflying Cairo from time to time. In future clusters of silent “flying Weetabix” will conduct furtive surveillance thanks to promises President Mohamed Morsi received in India. That’s on top of the 70,000 dodgy electronic voting machines (EVMs) ordered for delivery in January. Until now EgyCubeSat-1 …
