♣ In a recent interview Mohamed Hassanein Heikal said, “Egypt is too big to fail.” At the age of 90, the veteran political analyst — who made his name as Gamal Abdel-Nasser's mouthpiece — draws a massive audience to his bi-monthly television political analysis show. Such popularity is not only due to his wisdom and experience, but also to his being a privileged witness to history for 60 years. The entire Al-Ahram Weekly staff congratulates Heikal, who is a very good and regular reader of Al-Ahram Weekly, on his 90th birthday, wishing him good health. Heikal's birthday party was held at his house and attended by a handful of close friends such as writers Youssef Al-Qaaid, Yehia Qalash, Hussein Abdel-Ghani, Al-Hayat satellite channel presenter Sherif Amer and Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper Chief Editor Yasser Rizk. Heikal received warm birthday wishes from Minister of Higher Education Hossam Eissa and former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi.