Egypt issues nearly 20 million digital treatment approvals as health insurance digitalisation accelerates    Pakistan FM warns against fake news, details Iran-Israel de-escalation role    Russia seeks mediator role in Mideast, balancing Iran and Israel ties    LTRA, Rehla Rides forge public–private partnership for smart transport    Egyptian government reviews ICON's development plan for 7 state-owned hotels    Divisions on show as G7 tackles Israel-Iran, Russia-Ukraine wars    Egyptian government, Elsewedy discuss expanding cooperation in petroleum, mining sectors    Electricity Minister discusses enhanced energy cooperation with EIB, EU delegations    Egyptian pound rebounds at June 16 close – CBE    China's fixed asset investment surges in Jan–May    EHA, Konecta explore strategic partnership in digital transformation, smart healthcare    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt to offer 1st airport for private management by end of '25 – PM    Egypt's GAH, Spain's Konecta discuss digital health partnership    Egypt nuclear authority: No radiation rise amid regional unrest    Grand Egyptian Museum opening delayed to Q4    Egypt delays Grand Museum opening to Q4 amid regional tensions    Egypt slams Israeli strike on Iran, warns of regional chaos    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's EDA joins high-level Africa-Europe medicines regulatory talks    US Senate clears over $3b in arms sales to Qatar, UAE    Egypt discusses urgent population, development plan with WB    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Egypt, Serbia explore cultural cooperation in heritage, tourism    Egypt discovers three New Kingdom tombs in Luxor's Dra' Abu El-Naga    Egypt launches "Memory of the City" app to document urban history    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    Egypt's Democratic Generation Party Evaluates 84 Candidates Ahead of Parliamentary Vote    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Cabinet approves establishment of national medical tourism council to boost healthcare sector    Egypt's PM follows up on Julius Nyerere dam project in Tanzania    Egypt's FM inspects Julius Nyerere Dam project in Tanzania    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    

Articles of the author Philip Whitfield
Don't shoot I hoot
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 (...)

14 - 07 - 2014
Flip flop fibs
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 (...)

29 - 09 - 2013
Fighting talk
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 (...)

08 - 09 - 2013
Out on a limb
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 (...)

01 - 09 - 2013
Truth or dare
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 (...)

25 - 08 - 2013
Boxed in
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 (...)

04 - 08 - 2013
I had a dream
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 (...)

22 - 07 - 2013
Mob rule
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 (...)

14 - 07 - 2013
Split second
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 (...)

08 - 07 - 2013
Sofa so good
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 (...)

01 - 07 - 2013
God's goons
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 (...)

16 - 06 - 2013
Fried Rice
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 (...)

09 - 06 - 2013
Bloody cuts
If you twitch a nostril near a cop in Cairo, you risk being beaten up, arrested, thrown in jail, raped, held in isolation and sentenced to five years' hard labour. If you kidnap a military patrol in the Sinai, tie up thousands of troops in tanks, (...)

26 - 05 - 2013
Bailing out
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. (...)

28 - 04 - 2013
Cherish freedom
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 (...)

21 - 04 - 2013
Breaking up
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 (...)

15 - 04 - 2013
Morsi's end
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 (...)

07 - 04 - 2013
Dog bites dog
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 (...)

31 - 03 - 2013
Open sesame
“Iftaḥ ya simsim" Ali Baba says, and the mouth of the cave concealing the 40 thieves' treasure opens wide. The poor woodcutter becomes antiquity's biggest Lotto winner. We grow up on myths, glorious fiction, and eternity's morality story of hope's (...)

09 - 02 - 2013
Tahrir's Tattered Trophy
How long would it take you to vent your spleen? Me? An hour a column if I'm not distracted. This one's been stewing, nay boiling, for months. The headline should have been The Rape of Egypt, but I toned it down not to offend the squeamish. If you (...)

02 - 02 - 2013
ADVERTISEMENT: Blue light special moment
ASSIUT: K-Mart introduced the phrase to a generation of Americans — the moment when a flashing police lamp announces a surprise special offer in a store entering the American lexicon in films such as Troop Beverly Hills, Beetlejuice and Dawn of the (...)

23 - 05 - 2012
Reconciliation the path to Egypt peace
CAIRO: Rattled, the Muslim Brothers packed parliament to amend a law that would ban former regime figures from running after Omar Suleiman threw his hat into the ring. That'll get tossed into the courts, unlikely to see the light of day (...)

11 - 04 - 2012
Tahrir tumbles and tumbrels
CAIRO: It appears the Salafi Sheikh Hazem Abu Ismail's mother did obtain American nationality on October 25, 2006 putting paid to his presidential bid. Doesn't the Egyptian Administrative Court's ruling on Saturday doom the Muslim Brotherhood's (...)

08 - 04 - 2012
BRICs and more tar
CAIRO: Talking shops or photo ops? Verdant oases of green shoots? Or overblown blooming nuisances? Downtrodden by history's rapacious greed, the wooed nations are the benighted forlorn — ugly ducks turned swans. Their allure? Growth. Though not (...)

04 - 04 - 2012
Bonfire of the banalities
CAIRO: Grace and pace they have not. Filibuster and bluster they're full of. Can you believe the new crop of rags-to-riches whistle-stoppers are turning down a billion US dollars and some because their pride is hurt? More likely they've been (...)

02 - 04 - 2012
Advertisement