The scarcity of gas cylinders, on which thousands of families depend for cooking and hot water, caused a crisis covered in most newspapers this week. Nahdet Masr which described the problem as "the war of gas cylinders'' reported that the price of the cylinder reached LE50 in some districts, more than five fold its original price. Hazem Abdel-Rahman expressed his amazement that Egypt, which exports natural gas to the world, can suffer from a gas crisis, ascribing it mainly to a shortage in supply and an increase in demand. He wrote in the official daily Al-Ahram that an improvement in the general standards of consumption led to more people using gas-fuelled cookers and water boilers rather than the conventional methods that use coal or other forms of fuel. Abdel-Rahman was also amazed that the shortage comes after natural gas networks were installed in most homes in greater Cairo and other governorates. Thus, they no longer need gas cylinders. That should have led to an increase in the number of gas cylinders in the less-privileged areas that do not have natural gas. He blamed the government because it failed to provide more gas cylinders to cover for the increasing number of people depending on them. He concluded by asking why our government does not show more care for its people and why we do not question it for what it does and does not do for us. Mohamed Mustafa Shordi said the problem simply lies in the increasing demand on gas cylinders. Thus the solution is providing more cylinders to meet demand. It is unbelievable that in the 21st century, people have to queue to get their bread, sugar and even gas, Shordi wrote in the daily Al-Wafd, the mouthpiece of the opposition Wafd Party. The government tries to provide gas cylinders for a reasonable price to the citizens. But it gives it to distributors and this is where the problem begins. The government failed, Shordi added, in finding a system to distribute gas cylinders without allowing mediators to exploit the citizen and raise the price of the cylinder. "The crisis of gas cylinders is an embodiment of the government's deficiency and failure to draw up a system or a realistic plan to resolve the problems in Egypt," he wrote. It is a simple matter of supply and demand, and the government should simply close the gap between the two, he added. The echoes of jubilation over Egypt's winning the African cup are still being heard everywhere. While some writers praised the performance of the team and its coach Hassan Shehata, others looked at lessons to be learnt from the experience. Sherif Riad wrote that the unprecedented achievement was only because the Egyptians played with a new spirit. In the official daily Al-Akhbar Riad questioned why we do not see the same enthusiastic and loving spirit of Angola in all fields of production and services in Egypt. If we do, Egypt would join the list of great countries or economic tigers in just a few years. Tareq Abbas warned about exaggerated rejoice over football victories. He wrote in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Yom that people's reaction to Egypt's capturing of the African cup for the seventh time and a record third in a row was not over a mere sports victory but a national victory, an upsurge initiated by Shehata and his team, the kings of Africa. Abbas satirically pointed out that in 2006 we failed to unite in grief over the sinking of Al-Salam ferry that took the life of over 1,000 passengers, but we united then in celebrating the African cup. The same happened in 2008 and 2010 when concern over the Mahala demonstrations and grief in the Nagaa Hammadi shootings did not engage us. All-out attention was focussed on celebrating victory in sports. He added that he did not want to spoil the party of millions of Egyptians, but a football victory is worth celebrating only if it comes within a series of other greater victories. But if it is regarded as the only proof of the greatness of Egypt, that is a great mistake that would contribute in substituting a model person for a football player. In other words, he added, our youth will not look to work in the fields of science and research, but will look for a suitable club to play football in. Mohamed El-Shabba stated that football has become the most rewarding business worldwide and that the sports market is the most active market, unaffected by the worst economic crises. As a result, we hear about huge amounts of money paid to buy a football player, far exceeding those paid to develop the poorest 1,000 villages or help a developing country in tackling a crisis. All this exaggerated interest in football in the West is accompanied by a similar interest in other important fields, including education, research, health and living standards. However, all these fields seem unimportant to us if compared to the exaggerated interest given to a football match. Celebrating a football victory is important, but if it comes at a time when millions of citizens are living without shelter in the cold as a result of floods, it is not acceptable. It is also unacceptable that newspapers come out the following day to talk about the millions that the players would get because of the victory. We hardly hear about these amounts of money when the state decides to honour a scientist, a professor or a researcher, El-Shabba added in the independent daily Nahdet Masr. Some newspapers celebrated the 35th anniversary of the death of the legendary singer Umm Kolthoum. Nabil Luka Babawi, who personally knew Umm Kolthoum, wrote that Arabs had never united on anything except her melodious voice. Babawi described Umm Kolthoum as the singer of his and all future generations, and recounted how Arab families used to gather around the radio in the first Thursday of every month to listen to her. "We are a lucky generation that we lived during Umm Kolthoum time," Babawi added in the official weekly Akhbar Al-Yom .
