I watch Al Jazeera English pretty much constantly these days – another hangover from the Revolution. I wasn’t always impressed with its revolution coverage, which struck me as unnecessarily emotive at times. Call me old-fashioned but I still believe that us journos need to strive for objectivity, as impossible as that may be in practice. … Continue reading »
Category Archives: Politics
Eighteen days: A Tribute to Tahrir
In the future, when someone asks me where I was when I heard the news that Mubarak had finally stepped down, I will have to be honest and say this: I was putting away our shopping. That’s the way life goes – after 18 days when our world consisted of either going to Tahrir or … Continue reading »
Defiant till the end: Egypt’s deaf dictator
Mubarak remains and we are still in shock. For nearly six hours last night, we watched, we waited and we dared to hope. Twitter was exploding, and for good reason. Every source out there, from the CIA to CNN (including the NDP’s own secretary general, Hossam Badrawi) told us Mubarak was finally standing down. The rumour … Continue reading »
O Revolution, where art thou?
Cairo has returned to normal – almost. From my flat, up high in Zamalek, I can hear the familiar sounds of the city once again – the steady honk of horns, the hum of traffic, the buzz of street chatter – all sounds that had disappeared over the last few days. Most of my friends … Continue reading »
Egypt’s day of shame
Another terrible day of fear and uncertainty. The festive atmosphere of Tuesday, when history seemed to be within the country’s grasp, feels like a lifetime ago now. If the first day of this protest was Egypt’s day of rage, yesterday should be remembered as Egypt’s day of shame. We didn’t make it to Tahrir today. … Continue reading »
Carnage in Cairo
Cairo is on fire once again. I am at home now and watching the footage live on Al Jazeera and it is horrifying, infinitely depressing. There is carnage in Tahrir today, and it is worse than Friday. There is gunfire, reports of petrol bombs, knives and sticks, 500 wounded, buildings on fire again – including, reportedly, the … Continue reading »
Notes on a revolt…
Cairo is on fire, as I write this. Not literally but there is fire in the air. The revolt yesterday – the day of anger, as it has been dubbed – had been planned for some time (using Facebook of course) so most of us were aware of it. On the expat email service I … Continue reading »
Hello world!
I’m dedicating my first ever blog to Nick Clegg. Just a week ago, I was sitting in my local London pub with friends, having my usual farewell dinner before returning to Cairo, when conversation turned to the upcoming election and who we’d each be voting for. A very good friend declared that she’d be voting for … Continue reading »
