photo: Mohamed Wassim National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM), my little ones, the last international conference organised jointly by the Ministry of the Environment and Al-Ahram Establishment at the De la Salle School is anything to go by, I am in for serious trouble. Titled "Peace, the dream of childhood in the Middle East", the event featured -- alongside my very handsome colleague Mahmoud Bakr and me (unlike the sneaky Abd El-Kader, Bakr will take me along, see) -- NCCM secretary- general Mushira Khattab, Arab League Assistant Secretary- General Mohamed Sobhi, Minister of Environment Maged George, Regional Goodwill Ambassador for the Middle East and North Africa Mahmoud Qabil and delegates from the embassies of France, Canada and the Vatican. All of which is not to mention the children, dears: 22 of them, in full delegate representing Palestine, Sudan, Lebanon and Jordan besides De la Salle: they exhibited their drawings, they sang and demonstrated environmental awareness. And they were just eatable, dears: ooooooooh! photo: Ayman Barayez Now, now, my lovelies, what a wonderful occasion it was when my excellent friend Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni and the regally mannered Saudi Ambassador to Cairo Hisham Bin Mohieddin Nazer cut the ribbon of the exhibition of my gorgeously young old-man friend Adam Henein. And what a marvellous experience it was tracing 50 years of a truly remarkable life in the form of 20 wood and marble statues and -- get this, dears -- 200 pictures in all. Among the guests were British Ambassador to Egypt Sir Derek Plumby, his wife Nadia Gohar, former foreign minister Ahmed Maher, Prince Abbas Helmi, head of the Arab publishers Union Ibrahim El-Moalem, colloquial Arabic poet Abdel-Rahman El-Abnoudi, writer and daughter of the late Gamal Abdel-Nasser, Mona Abdel Nasser, media luminaries Moufid Fawzi and Sanaa Mansour, and my very dear colleague Afkar El-Kharadli, editor of Nisf Al-Donia magazine. Now back to that hogger of high-profile events Ghada Abd El-Kader, dears. Her latest foray took her to "Sight from Palestinian Jordan Heritage", an exquisite exhibit of Palestinian embroidery inspired by traditional patterns and drawing inspiration from Arab-Islamic civilisation up to the present day. Now, dears, this was Abd El-Kader 's chance to chat up my friend Mohamed Abdel-Moneim El-Sawy, the force behind this amazing space, mingling with Palestinian Women's Union member Amal Agha, Jordanian Culture Consul Barakat El-Fra and sundry representatives of the Palestinian and Jordanian embassies in Egypt. Congratulations yet again, beauties. My universally delectable actress friend Hala Shiha and that lovely star of the West Al-Balad band Hani Adel tied the knot at the Dar Al-Shorta public hall in the presence of Shiha 's well-known father, plastic artist Ahmed Shiha, and all her pretty pretty pretty sisters and me. Shiha has worn the veil for two months now but she says she will not give up acting because of it; her next lead role will be in filmmaker Ahmed El-Badri 's Kamel El-Awsaf, and she will play it veiled. And along the same joyful lines, dears, tourism expert Amr Badr and his drop-dead-gorgeous beloved Taiba Swiss were happily wedded at the Mena House Oberoi. Among the guests were Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, chairman of the NDP's Policies Committee Gamal Mubarak, former president Anwar El-Sadat 's wife Gihan El-Sadat, secretary- general of the Arab League Amr Moussa, American actress Vanessa Williams, veteran actor Omar Sharif, director Inas El-Degheidi, Egypt's most beautiful symbol of abundance Laila Elwi, the very risqué dancer Dena and the justifiably arrogant king of pop Amr Diab. Silver, copper and semiprecious stones, dears. At the Indian Cultural Centre in Egypt, held in collaboration with Indian Egyptian Friendship Association and opened by my good friend ambassador A Gopinathan, an antique and handicraft exhibition demonstrates yet again the power and magic of the subcontinent.
