British Egyptian Society

Secretary’s Blog 28th November 2011

2012-01-06T08:55:00.000-08:00

It’s very difficult to keep up to date with events happening in Egypt. I visited Cairo in October with members of our Education Conference sub-committee, led by our Vice Chairman, Professor Magdy Ishak Hanna. The conference, which is scheduled to take place on 18th and 19th September 2012 at SOAS with a video link to Cairo University, received enthusiastic support in Cairo from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Further Education as well as the British Ambassador, the British Council and various companies. In a developing world little is more important than education (we need to feed the mind as well as the stomach). During our visit there was a lull after the awful killings of Coptic peaceful demonstrators but as I write Tahrir Square is still in turmoil (it wasn’t during our visit) with elections on everyone’s mind.
Anyway, back to events in the UK. Karima Khalil (who was interviewed by Anthony Sattin) spoke to a full house at Leighton House on 22nd November as part of their Nour Festival. The photographs from her book “Messages from Tahrir” were both illuminating and harrowing. We were honoured to sponsor this fascinating evening and hope to take part in next year’s festival. Slightly further away I was privileged to attend a private view of the opening of the new Egyptian Galleries at the Ashmolean Museum. These are quite stunning and I intend to organise a visit to view then next Easter when the weather is escaped from the chill of winter.
On 12th December, Sir Derek Plumbly has agreed to give the 4th Sir Michael Weir Annual Lecture and this will be sponsored by BEPAC. Sir Derek was British Ambassador to Cairo at the time of our Conference in 2006 and launched our book on the conference at the British Embassy in November 2007, just before he stepped down. Since then he has been working in the Sudan up to the partition of the country. Few have a better knowledge of the Middle East that Sir Derek and I urge you to attend what promises to be a fascinating evening.
Seasonal greetings and wishes are never more relevant than this year’s. Egypt is the cornerstone of the Middle East with a civilisation which dwarfs everyone elses. Egypt was sophisticated when we in Britain were running around in animal skins and blue woad. There cannot be anyone that doesn’t wish our beloved Egypt a peaceful end to the new year and hope that 2012 heralds the start of a happy and democratic future.

Secretary’s Blog 7th September 2011

2011-09-09T07:12:00.001-07:00

I am more than ashamed at neglecting the site. I had problems with it and got lazy, leaving it to Dina to post messages on our new Facebook page. Do have a look at it.
We have done rather a lot since my last blog (Oh, the last one I attempted to post the site wouldn’t let me due to a confusion of e.mail addresses!)
Anyway, two of our Trustees, the Vice Chairman Professor Magdy Ishak-Hanna and Dr. Assem Allam sponsored a concert at Cadogan Hall on 22nd July in aid of the Children of Egypt. It featured our good friend, Amira Fouad, who gave the World Premiere performance of David Heath’s Piano Concerto, El Hedeiya. I have to say I thought the evening would be “challenging” but in fact I enjoyed it very much. There was a skilful blend of Egyptian and Western composers.
Before that, of course, there was the talk in the House of Lords on the Democratic Future of Egypt on 13th June by Mr. Amr Hamzawi, Dr. Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotooh and Mr. Ziad Aly. Chaired by Baroness Symons it was well attended and after the talks there was a fascinating Question and Answer session. We have to thank Professor Magdy Ishak Hanna for bringing the three of them to London.
Again, since my last blog Egypt has changed out of recognition and we await developments with interest. In a year’s time we are planning a Conference in London on Education in Egypt on the lines of the 2006 Conference at SOAS. We are expecting support at a high level and will keep you posted. A sub-committee is visiting Cairo in mid October to talk to the AUC and Cairo University who we hope will be working with us on the conference.
Reverting to this year, May I record a really interesting talk after our AGM on 23rd June on the Yemen by Dr. Noel Brehony. It was held at the Arab British Chamber of Commerce and the attendance was very disappointing. Better was the visit to Highclere on 31st July (the day before Ramadan started!) Over 50 attended and enjoyed the tour of the castle, the Tutankhamen exhibition and the lunch afterwards at the Carnarvon Arms. Dina Soliman, of course, celebrated Ramadan with an Iftar Dinner on 20th August, again very well attended (and extremely well organised)
Our next event will be the “Jack the Ripper” tour followed by Dinner at the 18th C Simpson’s Tavern. I have e.mailed to everyone on my members and ftiends list as well as posting flyers. PLEASE come!
Future events include a discussion between the writer Anthony Sattin and Karima Khalil (who is flying in from Cairo) at Leighton House on 22nd November. They will discuss her book “Picture from Tahrir” as part of the “Nour Festival” and the evening will include a white wine and soft drinks reception as well as a tour of the recently restored Leighton House including the magnificent Arab Hall.
We have to come the annual Sir Michael Weir Lecture (we have contacted the proposed Egyptian speaker and await his response) in early December and in March next year we have a Private View of the British Museum’s new “Hajj” exhibition.
Finally, I promise not to be so neglectful in future.
Noel Rands

Secretary’s Blog 28th March 2011

2011-09-09T07:11:00.000-07:00

It is with the greatest regret that I have to advise the passing of our dear friend Professor Amir Azmy due to cancer. It was a pleasure to work with this wonderfully humane and courteous man. In 2006 when our Suez conference was in danger of being cancelled he helped come up with the plan that it enabled it to continue. He was a fount of ideas and knowledge and his quiet dignity at our Supervisory Board meeting will be very much missed.
I am writing this following the Reception in the Institute of Directors for James and Amal Watt who will be taking over the British Embassy in Cairo in May. The same evening we launched the UK edition of “The Copts of Egypt” by Dr. Vivian Ibrahim. Well over 100 members and friends met in the beautiful Waterloo Room and we heard speeches by Baroness Symons, H.E. the Egyptian Ambassador, Professor Magdy Ishak-Hanna, His Grace Bishop Angeolos, Dr. Vivian Ibrahim and Professor Muhammad Abdel-Haleem. It was a very happy evening and so many spoke of their hopes for Egypt and of their recent experiences in Tahrir Square. More of this in my next Blog.
Our next published event is a visit to Highclere Castle on 31st July. Do look at the flyer on this which is posted on this site.
Over the next few weeks we hope to add some new and younger members to our Supervisory Board. Constantly we are looking for new idea and if any of my readers have any suggestions for events then please e.mail me at noelrands@hotmail.com
Warmest wishes to you all, Noel

February 2011

2011-02-21T09:27:00.000-08:00

To my shame I am again late with my blog. Snce the last blog we had the wonderful Reception to mark our 20th Anniversary on the Terrace of the House of Lords and then the 3rd Sir Michael Weir Annual Lecture in early december. This was delivered by Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles (who is a mmeber of the British Egyptian Society) and was quite brilliant. Sir Sherard has been HBM's Ambassador to Israel, to Saudi Arabia and to Afghanistan. Recently he stepped down as the Foreign Secretary's Advisor on Pakistan and Afghanistan. His speech was thought provoking and his audience, included a former Chief of the Defence Staff and HBM's Ambassador to the United Nations, gave it an enthusiastic reception. It was a memorable evening.

Since the start of 2011 such a lot has happened in Egypt (and, indeed, throughout the Middle East). As a Charity, the British Egyptian Society cannot comment on political issues but we applaud the incredible bravery of Egyptians in Cairo and Alexandria and hope the future is a bright one.

Our first event in 2011 will be a Reception for the new British Ambassador to Egypt, Mr. James Watt and Mrs. Amal Watt. He will succeed Mr. Dominic Asquith in early April. We are celebrating his appointment with a reception in the Waterloo Room of the Institute of Directors in Pall Mallon 24th March at 6pm. At the same event we will launch the UK edition of "the Copts of Egypt" by Dr. Vivian Ibrahim. Our guests of honour will include Dr. Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem, OBE, (Professor of Islamic Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studie sand editor of the Journal of Quar'anic Studies) and Bishop Angaelos,(Patriarchal Exarch for the Youth Ministry at the Patriarchal Center and the Coptic Orthodox Theological College at Stevenage, United Kingdom).

Later in the year we will be organising a visit to Highclere, the home of the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon, to see the Tutankhamun collection; Highclere was used in the ITV series, Downton Abbey. We plan excursions in London plus other events but these will be advised nearer the time.

Again, my apologies for this late blog, for which there is little excuse. I do promise to be more up-to-date in future.

Noel Rands
21.2.11

Secretary’s Blog: 26th September 2010

2010-09-30T10:02:00.001-07:00

To my shame this is the first Blog for several months. I do apologise and if I claim “Pressure of Business” well, so can everyone else.
Just to do a bit of a recap, in April we launched Anthony Sattin’s new book “Winter of the Nile” in the lobby of the Egyptian Embassy, thanks to the generosity of H.E. the Egyptian Ambassador, Mr. Hatem Seif El Nasr. Around 50 people attended and enjoyed the refreshments, the buffet and Anthony signing copies of his remarkable book about Florence Nightingale’s visit to Egypt when she was 29. (Her house was just along the road from the Embassy). In June we had a quite exceptional evening at the English Speaking Union where Sandro Vannini gave an illustrated talk on his visits to Egypt over the past 15 years. Egyptian members of the audience were astounded to see photographs of an Egypt they did not know existed. It is a shame that Sandro’s presentation is not on DVD; well worth buying if it was. This was followed by a delightful party in the courtyard of the ESU where the weather was extremely kind to us and enjoyed by just under 100 guests. As usual, we are indebted to our Vice Chairman, Professor Magdy Ishak-Hanna, and Out Trustee Mr. Assem Allam for sponsoring this event.
In July the Petrie Museum exhibited the photographs which won 2009’s Photographic Exhibition, “Makes me Think of Egypt”. They looked well in the museum but it was a shame that so few turned up for the Private View. In early August we did our first coach tour, a visit to Oxford where we were joined by a few members who had travelled by road making up a party of 32. We were so fortunate that, on a day when the Ashmolean Museum was closed to the general public, we had a privately conducted tour by the Director of the Museum, Dr. Christopher Brown, plus senior members of his staff. After a delightful “Pub Lunch” at the “Head of the River”, Ms Lindsay Siviter gave us a tour of many of the sites used in the “Inspector Morse” series, including the spot where he had “died”. Lindsay had worked on the series, knew the actors and the Director well, and showed us historic Oxford from such an interesting viewpoint. Our Board Member, Dr. Elisabeth Kendall, arranged for us to have drinks in the Senior Common Room at Pembroke College, again a rare privilege.
In September our Committee Member Ms. Dina Soliman, organised an “Iftar Dinner” in a restaurant in Queen’s Park, jointly with an Egyptian club. It was very busy and with an Oud player, all much enjoyed by our Egyptian members in a packed restaurant.
On 5th October we are holding our 20th Anniversary Reception in the Cholmondeley Room and on the Terrace of the House of Lords. We are hoping for a decent turnout to celebrate what is an achievement; we like to think we are still a vibrant society (even though the Secretary gets behind with his blog!).
Future events include the 3rd Sir Michael Weir Lecture in late November. We are still awaiting news on the lecturer but I am hoping that this will be finalised during the coming week. In addition we have been offered a Private View of the City of the Dead exhibition in the British Museum. This is due to take place on 8th November and a flyer will be coming out next week.
Next year in March Mr. James Watt succeeds Mr. Dominic Asquith as HBM Ambassador to Egypt. We will be holding a reception for him in London. We are planning a trip to Highclere to see The Earl and Countess of Carnarvon’s impressive Tutankhamen collection and hope to follow this with an afternoon at Newbury races. Another idea is a tour of Egyptianised sites in London in the morning, followed by a tour of the Jack the Ripper sites in the afternoon, where our guide will be the uniquely talented Lindsay Siviter again!
For reasons beyond our control we have to cancel the 2010 Annual Dinner but hope to make up for it next year. Cross your fingers.
Please note that we are always looking for new ideas and events. Now that we are a Charity we have to be more self supporting and so, with the Egyptian Cultural centre under renovation, we need venues for talks and exhibitions. Any suggestions? noelrands@hotmail.com will find me.
So, I do look forward to seeing many of my readers at an event before the end of the year. Don’t let me down!
Warmest wishes
Noel Rands
26.9.2010

P.S. There are Membership forms on this website, if you can persuade any friends or colleagues to join us.

24th February 2010

2010-02-24T01:46:00.001-08:00

The winter seeming never ending, I thought you might like some items planned for warmer and dryer times.

Next week we have a New Ideas and Events Committee meeting where we will come up with items of interest for the rest of the year. In the meantime we have the following planned.

In May, H.E. the Egyptian Ambassador has very kindly agreed to launch Anthony Sattin's new book, "Winter on the Nile". This is a brilliant account of Florence Nightingale's life changing journey down the Nile in 1949. A flyer from me will follow shortly.

In early June we are planning a panel discussion on Nuclear Disarmamnet at Hull University. Dr. Sameh Aboul-Enein, Egypt's Minister Plenipotentiary and Deputy Head of Mission in London will take the chair in the Assem Allam Lecture Theatre. Mr. Allam is a member of our Execvutive Committee. The discussion is in conjunction with the display of the winning photographs from our "Makes me think of Egypt" competition from last year.

On 22nd June at the English Speaking Union, the photographer Mr. Sandro Vannini will talk on his experieces of filming for 20 years in Egypt. He will be signing copies of his book "Inside the Egyptian Museum" which was launched by Dr. Zahi Hawass in the British Museum last December. This will be followed by a reception in the courtyard, weather permtting, and is being held jointly with the Egypt Exploration Society.

On 29th June the Photographic competition moves to the Petrie Museum.

On 6th July we will be holding our Annual Dinner in the Dorchester Hotel. This will be a fund raising Black Tie event with HRH the Duke of York being the guest speaker.It promises to be a rather stunning evening.

In early October there will be a cocktail party in the Cholmondley Room at the House of Lords (with access to the Terrace) for our members to celebrate our 20th Anniversary.

I do hope that some of these items are of interest. If any of you have any ideas about what we should be doing, can you please e.mail me at noelrands@hotmail.com

Cheers for now

Noel Rands

Secretary’s Blog 11th January 2010

2010-01-17T06:14:00.001-08:00

First of all may I wish all my readers (both of them?) a really Happy New Year?
We finished 2009 on a really high note. On 3rd December Professor Sir Magdy Yacoub FRS gave the 2nd Sir Michael Weir Annual Lecture at the Institution of Civil Engineers. His lecture, before an audience of well over 100, was entitled “In pursuit of Truth” and it was both inspiring and incredibly moving. Sir Magdy has carried out 20,000 heart operations including 2,000 heart transplants and 450 heart/lung transplants. For a man who has had the difference between life and death in his hands he was unbelievably modest. Without doubt the audience felt that they were in the presence of greatness and we felt privileged to be there, especially as Sir Magdy accepted Honorary Life Membership of the British Egyptian Society. The Sir Michael Weir Lecture, with 1st Lord Patten and then Sir Magdy, is becoming an important event and it behoves us to find a lecturer this year who is similarly distinguished.

Then there was a complete contrast. On 8th December we hosted, jointly with the publishers Heritage World Press, a reception for 450 in the Egyptian Sculpture Galley of the British Museum for Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Cairo and Deputy Culture Minister. Speakers included our Vice Chairman, Professor Magdy Ishak-Hanna, and H.E. the Egyptian Ambassador. This was followed by a lecture. Dr. Hawass presented Mr. Neil Macgregor, Director of the British Museum a copy of his impressive book, A Secret Voyage. After the lecture he signed copies of his new book “Inside the Egyptian Museum” whose photographs by Sandro Vannini are incredible.

Dr. Hawass is one of the world’s great showmen. As usual he spoke without notes, aided by a slide presentation from his laptop and he was enthralling. We had arranged for him to appear on BBC 4’s “The Today Programme” where he discussed the return to Egypt of the Rosetta Stone and also the head of Nefertiti from Berlin. If it does get returned I do hope the British Public will not blame the British Egyptian Society!

2010 marks our 20th Anniversary and we are hoping that the events we organise will reflect this. Our Annual Dinner is likely to be a Black Tie fund raising event with very famous speakers and entertainment and an auctioneer. At the moment it is very much in the planning stage. Other events will include a reception for our members in the Cholmondley Room of the House of Lords (and drinks on the Terrace) plus an illustrated talk by Sandro Vannini on his new book on Arabic jewellery in the English Speaking Union followed by drinks and snacks in their wonderful courtyard. This latter event will be hosted jointly with the Egypt Exploration Society. The BES is more than happy to host events jointly with other societies and thus attract the largest possible audience.

Within the next 4 weeks we hope to get final approval from the Charity Commissioners for Charity Status. The new Memorandum and Articles of Association were approved unanimously by our membership at an Extraordinary General Meeting on 3rd December, immediately before the Sir Michael Weir Lecture. This will help us raise sponsorship funds and enable us to fund projects which presently we are unable to do. It will mean also a slight change in the Annual Subscription procedure so that we can claim tax from payers of United Kingdom Income Tax. Naturally you will receive plenty of notice.

Please note that we are always happy to receive new ideas and suggestion. My e.mail is noelrands@hotmail.com.

Finally, I am awaiting photographs from the 8th December reception and these will appear on our website soon. If you would like a copy of Dr. Hawass’ book on the Egyptian Museum (£35) then please let me know.

Noel Rands

Wednesday 4th November 2009

2009-11-04T02:46:00.000-08:00

Swanning around the Far East for almost 4 weeks has put me more than a little behind. So let me try to come slightly up to date.

We had the presentations for our Photographic Competition in the Clore Education Centre at the British Museum on 18th September. It was a really happy evening and for details of the prize winners do look elsewhere on our website. Next challenge is to find something to follow up on this next year. Naturally we could not have done this without sponsors and so I would like to thank in particular Solimon Travels for sponsoring the 1st prize, Eon Media from Hull, who sponsored the 2nd Prize, Allam Marine for sponsoring the next 3 and Sonia Gergis and her brother for giving an extra prize in memory of their late father, who founded the Egyptian Photographic Society. Of major assistance were Damien Demolder of Amateur Photographer, Claire Messenger of the British Museum and the redoubtable David Turner of Mainline Design who created the banners and all the publicity for the exhibition.

As we approach the end of the year we still have some major events. Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub will deliver the 2nd Sir Michael Weir Annual Lecture in the Institution of Civil Engineers on Thursday 3rd December. We are fortunate in having such a distinguished speaker.

On 8th December in the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery at the British Museum we are hosting, jointly with Heritage World Press, a Reception for Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo. Dr. Hawass is a brilliant lecturer on archeology and has appeared on many television programmes, wearing his gtrademark Indiana Jones hat. This will be a fascinating evening.

If you have not applied to attend either or both of these events then please e.mail me at:-

noelrands@hotmail.com

Next year is our 20th Anniversary and so we are thinking of events to make this a year to remember. Soon we hope to be granted Charity Status by the Charity Commissioners and this should help us to raise funds. It is important to us to sponsor items we know are worthwhile and we cannot do it on membership fees alone.

Well, that is it for the moment. I plan to write an "End of the Year" blog, at the end of 2009, that is!

Warmest wishes to all

Noel

P.S. Do please feel free to e.mail me on any ideas you may have to improve our annual programme.

Secretary's Blog 24th August

2009-08-24T02:39:00.000-07:00

There is such a lot in the pipleline that I thought I ought to keep you all informed (I wish someone would tell me how I get out of "Times New Roman" and into "Ariel", my preferred font, but never mind. No. 1 grandson aged 13 isn't around to tell me. Sigh!!!)

Anyway, this week we have the judging at the British Museum of the Photographic competition. The quality of entry is very high and somehow we have to whittle the 50 finalists down to 18 and the select the 5 winners. If you make the 50 but not the 18 you won't feel left out. We are having a rolling display of the 50 from Monday 14th September in the Clore Education Centre at The British Museum with prizes being handed out after 6.30pm on 18th September. I am more than aware that it will still be in Ramadan but we were lucky to get the BM and it was the only time available. I am so hoping it will not put too many people off and, as it will be towards the end of Ramadan, maybe body clocks will have got accustomed to the arid day and the late meal!

Next will be the 2nd Sir Michael Weir Annual Lecture on 3rd December at the Institution of Civil Engineers at One Great George Street. Professor Sir Magdy Yacoub is the most distinguished Heart Surgeon in the United Kingdom and well as being an excellent speaker and we are more than fortunate to have been given some of his valuable time. The lecture will be followed by a drinks and snack reception.

The following week we have yet another treat. Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo, is visiting London for a book launch and the British Egyptian Society on behalf of his publishers, Heritage Key, are hosting a Reception for him in the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery at the British Museum on 8th December at which Dr. Hawass will speak. This will be followed by a lecture in the BM's theatre. He is Egypt's most recognisable archeologist and I am hoping to persuade him to donate one of his trademark "Indiana Jones" hats for the raffle for next year's Annual Dinner. We are hosting also a dinner at the Reform Club for over 100 VIP's on 11th December.

Next year, by the way, is our 20th Anniversary so we had better think up something special. Any ideas?

Going back to the Photographic Competition I must place on record a few thanks. Damien Demolder of "Amateur Photographer" has been a tower of strength as has been our Designer, David Turner of Mainline Design. We are grateful also to the British Museum for giving us the space to exhibit the photos (and I am sure the 50 finalists will be more than happy to say that thir work has been featured at the BM) and providing their Head of Photography to join Damien and David as judges. (the other 3 are our Vice Chairman, Professor Magdy Ishak-Hanna, our Executive Committee Member Ms. Dina Soliman - who thought up the competition - and the writer whose role is to cough if he want to influence the other judges as the photos are discusssed!). No competition can exist without sponsors and we have to thank Wagdy Soliman of Soliman Travels for donating the 1st Prize, Eon-Media for donating the 2nd Prize and Allam Marine for donating the other 3 prizes. In these time of immense pressure on corporate sponsorship we do apprecaite how lucky we have been.

In the New Year the works will be unveiled, after an opening reception, at 1st Edinburgh and the Hull universities. It is the first time that the BES will have toured the provinces and I do hope it will not be the last.

On 21st September I am fleeing to the Far East for a business trip but do hope to write another blog to talk about the winners during my travels.

By the way, if any of my readers (I do hope that I have some!) have any ideas about future events they would like to see the BES organise and offer to its members, please drop a line to noelrands@hotmail.com. We are thinking of next year but fresh ideas are always appreciated

Cheers for now!

Noel Rands

Secretary's Blog 26th June 2009 re Photographic Competition

2009-06-26T01:33:00.000-07:00

At least this blog is being produced a bit sooner than the last one. A few comments on the past and then to the future.

On 17th June we held our Annual Dinner at the Royal Automobile Club. It was a most happy event. After the welcome by our Chairman, The Rt. Hon. Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, H.E. Mr. Hatem Seif el Nasr, the Egyptian Ambassador who is our Honorary President, gave a most interesting summary of the relationship, both business and political, between our two countries. The Guest Speaker was The Rt. Hon Lord Malloch-Brown, Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, who is the government spokesman in the House of Lords. His talk was very enlightening and much enjoyed. We were indebted to EgyptAir, Sakkara Travel, Mr. Mohammed El Fayed and Miss Mira Takla for donating prizes for our raffle. As I spent most of the evening either selling raffle tickets or folding them or announcing speakers I don't remember much of the meal (I am told it was delicious) as I bolted it down!

During the evening we launched our new Photographic competition, details of which appear on this website. However, may I add a bit more? It is called "Makes me think of Egypt" and so images can be of Egypt or something in the UK (even elsewhere) which makes the judges think of Egypt. A few sites in the UK, put together by my friend and colleague, Cathie Bryan, which may be helpful are:-

Cleopatra's Needle and associated sculpture and street furniture, Victoria Embankment, London

The Carreras Building, Hampstead Rd-Mornington Crescent NW1, c. 1927-8, Designer Arthur Porri

The Hoover Factor, Perivale, West London (1932). Designers, Wallis, Gilbert and Partners.

The Mecca Bingo Hall, effectively 161 Essex Road, N1. Formerly the Carlton Cinema (1930) Designer, George Coles

Four Seasons Hotel at Canary Wharf, Isle of Dogs. (2000). Architects. RHWL

The two surviving sphinxes from the Egyptian Court at the site of the Crystal Palace

The Egyptian House in Penzance (1836)

Library at Devenport, Plymouth (1832) Designer: John Foulston

Temple Mill, Leeds (1842) after the designs of Joseph Bonomi Jr. Recently part of the facade has collapsed.

Biddulph Grange, Staffordshire - the Egyptian garden, 1856 (if it still exists)

The committee of judges will be chaired by Professor Magdy Ishak-Hanna (our Vice Chairman, and will include a photographer from the British Museum and Damien Demolder of Amateur Photographer Magazine to whom we owe a great debt oif thanks (as we do to Dina Soliman who thought this up!).

Do "Have a go!"

Cheers for now

Noel Rands

Secretary's Blog 27th May 2009

2009-05-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

Really I have no excuse for taking so long to update my blog. But maybe I have looked a bit like a swan, serene on the top but with my legs going wild in the water underneath!

Since the last blog there was the very moving Memorial service for Lady Weir at St. James's Church, Piccadilly. This was, naturally, extremely well attended and reflected Hilary's wide range of interests. I still find it difficult to believe that such a formidable and influential person has gone. At the Reform Club in March we welcomed, formally, His Excellency and Mrs. Hatem Seif El Nasr. Around 100 guests enjoyed the evening and the short speeches from His Excellency and from our Chairman, Baroness Symons. His Excellency has agreed to become our Honorary President and for this we are most grateful.

At Birkbeck College on 20th May we had an enthralling talk by Professor Ronald McCaffer from Loughborough University. he had helped to found the British University In Egypt which shortly will award its 1st degrees. The complex, the construction of which which has financed largely by Mr. Mohamed Farid Khamis, is quite magnificent (I have been fortunate enough to visit the campus) but students number around 2,000 to 2,500 against the10, 000 hoped for. Amongst the audience were two trustees of the BUE, Sir David Blatherwick and Lord Stone, so it was extremely disappointing that the audience numbered just 13 with members who had signified their intention to be there just not turning up. I have to say it is a little dispiriting to organise and evening such as this (with drinks and refreshments afterwards) and get such a poor attendance, particularly as a similar lecture a year ago from the President of the AUC was very well attended.

Our next event will be the Annual Dinner at the Royal Automobile Club on 17th June. The guest speaker will be Lord Malloch-Brown, the British Government's Minister for Africa, Asia and the United Nations. To quote from my "flyer": -

"He served as Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations from April to December 2006 having been, from January 2005, the Secretary-General's Chef de Cabinet. Before the UN. he worked at the World Bank, joining in 1994 as Director of External Affairs and subsequently serving as Vice President for External Affairs and Vice-President for United Nations Affairs from 1996 to 1999. he founded the Economist Development report and served as its editor from 1983 to 1986. Previously - from 1977 to 1979 - he was the political correspondent of The Economist. Lord Malloch-Brown is a renowned speaker and we are most fortunate that he has agreed to speak at our dinner."

The cost of the dinner will be £60 per head, down from last year's £80 thanks to a generous subsidy from two members of our Executive Committee. Do please come; I can assure you of a happy and interesting evening in quite beautiful surroundings.

Just before the dinner we plan to launch our first photographic competition: - "Makes me think of Egypt". This website will be used for entries. We have been helped greatly by Amateur Photographer magazine; donors include Soliman Travels and Eon Media with Amateur Photographer donating free annual subscriptions to the 5 winners. The 1st exhibition will open in the Clore Gallery at the British Museum on 14th September with the winners being announced and prizes presented there on Friday 18th DSeptember. Afterwards the exhibition will transfer to Edinburgh University and later Hull University. This will be the First Time the BES will have visited the provinces!

Finally may I mention that at the AGM on 29th April we spoke of progress on becoming a charity and hope that this will all be tied up soon? One irritation is that HSBC Private Bank Ltd has asked us to move our account of HSBC Bank plc, Curzon Street, London. this we are in the process of arranging and I will advise you of the ramifications to your Annual Banker's Order!

Noel rands
29th May 2009

P.S. May I mention that my "compuserve" e.mail account stopped working without warning last week and so my e.mail address (and for the society) is now noelrands@hotmail.com

March 2009 Secretary's Blog.

2009-03-06T06:35:00.000-08:00

Secretary’s Blog 6th March 2009
I feel rather ashamed that March has arrived and only now am I writing my first blog of the year and we are extremely grateful to National Bank of Egypt (UK) Ltd for sponsoring our site. I do hope that the New Year (and the Chinese New Year of the Ox) has been good to you.
The society is still working hard on a programme for 2009. Last night we had our 1st event, a private tour of the Petrie Museum. Attendance was extremely disappointing but the “happy few” were given an excellent introduction by Dr. Stephen Quirke, the Curator, followed by separate little tours of the 6,000 objects on view (with another 12,000 not on display) by Dr. Quirke and our own Cathie Bryan who we thank for organising the evening. The BES made a donation of £240 towards conservation projects. The Petrie Museum is held in part of University College London. Dr. Quirke told us that it is in an old stable block and they “enjoy” 13 different leaks in the roof which fortunately they can identify. The museum is the result of the sponsorship in the 19th Centurary of Amelia Edwards and Flinders Petrie’s devotion to archaeology over almost 50 years until 1942. Some of you may remember the excellent talk by Professor Fekri Hassan, the then Petrie Professor of Archaeology at UCL, after our AGM in 2007.
The reception to welcome the Egyptian Ambassador, H.E. Mr. Hatem Seif El Nasr, and Mrs Seif El Nasr is due to be held in the Library of the Reform Club, 104 Pall Mall, on 12th March at 6pm. I was privileged to be invited to the Embassy to celebrate His Excellency presenting his credentials to H.M. the Queen. It really was a stunning occasion with the Ambassador being accompanied in a horse drawn carriage by the Marshall of the Diplomatic Corps in Court Dress. It was a very happy event and we do hope that the Ambassador and his family enjoy their tour of duty in London.
At the moment the Executive Committee is working hard on future events, including our Annual Dinner which we hope will be in excellent surroundings and with a very distinguished speaker. We are working on a Photographic Competition, “Makes me think of Egypt” which we hope will be launched in April/May. It is targeted at students but there is not an age limit.
Finally, may I mention the Memorial Service for Hilary, Lady Weir at St. James’s Church, Piccadilly in February? She achieved such a lot in her lifetime, was so respected and her departure us mourned by all who knew her. The service was a combination of tributes and music. Sad as the circumstances were it was a happy event.

Noel Rands
6th March 2009.

Ali Baba Supper evening

2009-01-01T04:00:00.000-08:00

In yesterday's blog I forgot to mention the Ali Baba Supper evening in November, organised by Gigi Moustafa. Mrs. Moustafa is a long serving mmeber of the Executive Committee and is one of the organisers of the Annual Dinner. In the dying days of autumn she manages to lift spirits by organising the Ali Baba evening. We almost filled the restaurant and the evening managed to lift spirits. Thank you so much, Gigi.

Noel Rands
1.1.09

Honorary Membership Certificate

2009-01-01T03:48:00.000-08:00

Secretay's End of the Year Blog

2008-12-31T04:59:00.000-08:00

Secretary’s Blog 31.12. 08
The last day of the year and so I had better get up to date with the events of the last few months. I’m sorry for the delay since my last blog but I do have to wait for the muse to hit me, and sometimes it just passes me by!
On 30th October, Dr. Jean-Marcel Humbert gave a talk at the English Speaking Union on his “Napoleon et Egypte” exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. Lavishly illustrated with slides, Dr. Humber gave an enthralling talk which delighted the 100+ members of the audience. He apologised for his English, strange when it was a lot better than many of the voices one hears these days on what passes for the BBC. His accent was reminiscent of the late Sacha Distell but without the guitar and any reference to Brigitte Bardot! He was quite fascinating and received a most enthusiastic reception. I have to say that the ESU provided an excellent buffet reception afterwards.
Biggest shock was the death of Lady Weir. I have put a piece about Hilary on the website already but couldn’t write a blog without mentioning her. She was such a vibrant person, so full of life and even now I can’t believe that she is no longer with us. At the 1st Sir Michael Weir Annual Lecture at the Institution of Civil Engineers, One Great George Street on 27th November, tribute was paid to this remarkable lady in the presence of many members of her family including her mother. The Vice Chairman, Dr. Ahmed El Mokadem spoke of our founding Chairman before introducing The Rt. Hon. Lord Patten of Barnes, OM, PC. Lord Patten was an old friend of Sir Michael and he then gave a stunning lecture on “After the Crash” to an enthusiastic audience of 150, a record for one of our events. Our problem for 2009 will be to find a speaker of the same quality. After Dr. El Mokadem had given the closing remarks, our Chairman, Baroness Symons, thanked Lord Patten warmly and presented him with a certificate confirming that he is the 1st Honorary Member of The British Egyptian Society. She then announced that Dr. El Mokadem had decided to retire as Vice Chairman but he was happy to accept the title of “Patron and Founder Member” and confirmed his continued interest in the Society.
The Society’s visit to Paris took place during the 1st weekend in Paris. Setting aside the chaos over breakfast on the Saturday morning and one of the guests collapsing over dinner in a local bistro, needing paramedics to take her to hospital, the weekend was mostly enjoyed! The highlight undoubtedly was Dr. Humbert’s conducted tour of his exhibition on the Monday morning, on a day when the gallery was closed to the public. Dr. Humbert is both a master of his subject and also the English language. He showed us an incredibly well curated exhibition and, again, seemed to eat time effortlessly. We are indebted to Cathie Bryan for persuading Dr. Humbert to give the lecture at the ESU and also the tour of the exhibition.
At our Executive Committee Meeting on 9th December 2008, Professor Magdy Ishak-Hanna was elected unanimously Vice Chairman, in succession to Dr. El Mokadem. At the same meeting it was agreed that the 4 office holders (Chairman, Vice Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary) would be ex-officio Trustees of the Society after we have been granted Charitable Status. At the next meeting it is hoped that we will agree on the other 8 trustees.
The year ended on a disappointment. We had been working with the British Museum on a major Joint Conference on Conservation in October 2009. However, doubts over sponsorship during these troubled financial times means that it is being postponed for a year. Naturally, we do have other items planned. A privately conducted tour of the Petrie Museum early in 2009 and a major event in the autumn will be a photographic exhibition which is the brain child of our Executive Committee Member, Ms. Dina Soliman. We are working also on the occasional lunchtime lecture.
May I end by thanking the National Bank of Egypt (UK) Ltd for their sponsorship of this website and by saying that we are always looking for new ideas and events. If there is anything that you would like us to arrange, please send me an e.mail at noelrands@compuserve.com
May I wish you all an extremely Happy New Year?
Warm regards,
Noel Rands, Secretary, the British Egyptian Society

Secretary's Blog 9th of October 2008

2008-10-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

It has been pointed out to me, rather firmly, that if one starts to write a Secretary’s blog one has to keep doing it and not neglect it for 7 months! So, Mrs. Cathie Bryan, being suitably admonished here we go again!

Quite a lot of water has passed under the bridge since the last blog, with my soggy pen, may I mention that Mr. David Arnold, President of the American University in Cairo, spoke to a lively audience at SOAS on 25th March. The evening was chaired by our Vice Chairman, Dr. Ahmed El Mokadem, who is an old friend of Mr. Arnold. What added an extra flavour to an already interesting evening was the possibility of the British Egyptian Society hosting a meeting of the foreign universities in Cairo in the New Year with Dr. El Mokadem in the chair. That will take a lot of preliminary work.

We had an interesting Annual General Meeting on 21st May, chaired by Baroness Symons. At the meeting it was agreed that we should become a charity and so, now that summer (did anyone notice it? Don’t think it reached Croydon) is behind us we will be working on how to achieve this. It will mean that the Society will be run by trustees but with the help of an advisory committee. After the AGM Dr. John Jenkins, Director Middle East and North Africa at the Foreign Office, gave an informed and fascinating talk on The changing role of British Diplomacy in the Middle East.

Our Annual Dinner took place at the Royal Automobile Club on 26th June. Dr, Maged Farag’s talk on the Egyptian Monarchy was hindered by the lack of technical equipment. Dr. Yusuf Boutros Ghali, the Egyptian Finance Minister followed with an incise and informed talk without even a note.

We have had preliminary meetings with the British Museum on our joint conference on conservation in October next year. Discussions are taking place with our Egyptian partners.
However, before that we have Dr. Jean-Marcel Humbert’s talk on “Napoleon et Egypte” at the English Speaking Union on 30th October. This is such a major event for us as Dr. Humbert is the curator of the exhibition of the same name which has just opened at the Institut du Monde Arab in Paris. He is taking our December Paris visitors on a privately conducted tour; that is a coup.
Mid November we are contemplating one of our popular “Ali Baba Restaurant” evenings, organised in her immaculate way by Mrs. Gihad Moustafa. A flyer will be on its way shortly.
Our 1st “Sir Michael Weir Annual Lecture” is due to take place at the Institution of Civil Engineers at OneGeorgeStreet on 27th November and I have sent out flyers to members. The Rt. Hon. Lord Patten of Barnes OM PC will talk on “After the Crash”. Let us hope that it is indeed over by then!

Looking to next year we will be welcoming a new Egyptian Ambassador. Mr. Hatem Seif al-Nasr is due to take up his post early December, in succession to H.E. Mr. Gehad Madi, and we plan a reception to meet him in mid January 2009. Our Honorary President, Mr. Madi has taken a great interest in our activities during his 4 years here and the Executive Committee presented him with a Silver Salver as a thank you. I am hoping that my bad photograph of it, revealing my grandson’s fingers, will reach this site.

Our New Ideas Committee has a lot in the planning stage but that can wait until my next blog. Mrs. Bryan will make certain that it is less than 7 months next time.
May I add, as usual, that I do enjoy hearing from our members, or even from the people who read this! My e.mail is noelrands@compuserve.com so do write to me with your comments and also suggestions for future events.

Best regards
Noel Rands, Secretary
9th October 2008

Secretary’s Blog -10th March 2008

2008-03-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

I see to my horror that two months have passed before I have again put pen to paper (well, the laptop equivalent) to give you a hint of what has been going on and what we hope will go on with the British Egyptian Society.

Dr. Hegazy’s talk on 4th February was well attended and we were extremely pleased that he was accompanied by Mr. Farid Mansour, Secretary of the Egyptian British Friendship Society in Cairo. Baroness Symons was in the Chair and we were impressed by the frank way that Dr. Hegazy handled the “questions and answers session”.

Last month our Executive Committee member, Ms. Dina Soliman Abdel Meguid, married Dr. Morten Pedersen at the Egyptian Consulate in Lowndes Square. The Treasurer, Mt. Mohamed Nasr Farid, and I attended and I hope, if I can work out how to create a zip file, those photos are also on our website.
On 11th February Baroness Symons formally presented Enham Alamein with the restored El Alamein Club Scrap Book from 1943. This is a unique record and the result of restoration is that it will survive for many more years to come. Again, I am hoping that the photos of this event are on our website also.
Now, things to come. I have sent a circular to everyone informing you of the talk by Mr. David Arnold, President of the American University in Cairo, at SOAAS on 25th March at 6.15 for 6.30pm. President Arnold is an excellent speaker and we do offer refreshments afterwards. In May we hope to have our AGM which will be followed by a talk by Sir Derek Plumbly who, until last December, was HBM’s Ambassador to Egypt. He has just received a posting to Sudan. Sir Derek is a brilliant speaker; not to be missed.

We are still working on the Annual Dinner in June; location and speaker will be announced in my next blog. In October we will have an illustrated by Dr. Jean-Marcel Humbert who is the curator of the “Napoleon et Egypt” exhibition which opens at the IMA in Paris early October and runs for a few months. Participants in our Paris trip on the first week of December will get a privately escorted tour of the exhibition by Dr. Humbert.
Our 1st “Sir Michael Weir Annual Lecture” is due to take place at the Institute of Civil Engineers at OneGeorgeStreet on 27th November. The Rt. Hon. Lord Patten of Barnes OM has agreed to give it. He was an old friend of Michael’s and spoke movingly at his Memorial Service in St. James’s Church in 2006.
Finally, there will be a Middle East Association Trade Mission to Egypt in May. Again, details of this should be elsewhere on our website.

May I add that I do enjoy hearing from our members, or even from the people who read this! My e.mail is noelrands@compuserve.com so do write to me with your comments and also suggestions for future events.

Best regards
Noel Rands, Secretary
10th March 2008

Secretary’s Blog ::6th January 2008::

2008-01-08T05:01:00.000-08:00

With two small boys destroying the Christmas tree as I write may I wish you all an extremely Happy New Year? The British Egyptian Society is working on a few items for next year but let’s start with just a few comments on our finish to 2007.

On the 1st Friday in December we left on Eurostar for the Society’s weekend trip to Paris. Bravely some of the travellers joined the Secretary in a glass of champagne in the new Long Bar at St. Pancras. It was a good start. As usual a coach was waiting for us at Gare Du Nord, thanks to Soliman Travels, and we left for the 1st of our two hotels. As a government sponsored group had refused to leave our hotel until the Saturday, we had to spend the night elsewhere. In fact it wasn’t a hardship and the showers at the replacement hotel were wonderful. Unfortunately they matched the weather outside but that didn’t stop an English, Scottish, Russian and Egyptian quarter hiking up to Sacre Coeur and demolishing an excellent Tarte Tatin overlooking the square and scurrying artists.

Rola gave us her usual excellent tour round the IMA and a Phoenician Exhibition on the Saturday morning. In the evening and in our original hotel we had a group dinner at a Bistro. Interestingly, the taxis in Paris are as frightened by rain as the ones in London. Downhill was fine but back to the hotel certainly walked off the meal!

Sunday, our new guide, Jennifer, took us round the City of Paris Museum was very interesting before we did as dive to the restaurant Rola had chosen for us to meet for lunch. The weather killed off the tour of the Latin Quarter so instead Rola showed us highlights of the Louvre.

I have to saw I do look forward to the Paris weekend which is a wonderful way to start celebrating Christmas. At the end of this year there will be a major “Napoleon of Egypt” exhibition and the indefatigable Cathie Bryan has persuaded the curator to give us a conducted tour.

The day after we got back we celebrated the appointment of a new British Ambassador to Egypt with reception in the Reform Club. Dominic and Louise Asquith stayed until the end and we were extremely pleased at the turnout. Mr. Asquith has promised to follow our activities and offer any help if necessary.

The Society was a co-sponsor of the British Council’s celebration, in Alexandria, of the 50th anniversary of the publication of Lawrence Durrell’s “Alexandria Quartet”.

Now, to this year. Our first major event will be a lunchtime talk “Egypt Today and the Road Ahead” by Dr. Abd Elaziz M. Hegazy at the English Speaking Union on 4th February. Dr. Hegazy, a former Egyptian Prime Minister, is Chairman of the Egyptian British Friendship Association and will be accompanied by its Secretary, Mr. Farid Mansour. After the talk there will be a drinks and snacks reception at the ESU. We are hoping that this, the first of our new occasional series of lunchtime talks, will be well attended.

Dr. Zahi Hawas, Chairman of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo, is visiting the UK in May and has promised to talk to us. We are still waiting for a date.

Finally I must mention “The Kite Runner”. This enthralling film stars Khalid Abdalla; his father, Hossam, is a member of our Executive Committee. I do urge you to see it. The film is moving and thought provoking and Khalid is excellent.

Best wishes to all until the next “Blog”

Noel Rands
Secretary
6th January 2008

Lecture by Mohamed H. Heikal at St Anne's College

2007-11-21T04:05:00.000-08:00

Oxford University on October 29, 2007

This was the inaugural Reuters lecture and was chaired by Lord Patten, Chancellor of Oxford University. It was interesting to hear one Egypt's most distinguished journalists and the summing up by Lord Patten was a masterly exercise.

It is both an honour, and a pleasure, to have been asked to deliver the first memorial lecture of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, not least because the institute is itself the child of a concurrence between Reuters and Oxford.

The collaboration between an institution as venerable as the University of Oxford, and a news agency as celebrated as Reuters, cannot be chalked up to coincidence. It represents a convergence of interests that - certainly from my standpoint - is as significant as it is right.

For I believe journalism, however diverse its media and mechanisms, continues to have three basic approaches by which it can strive to fulfil its most vital functions in free and advancing societies.
Ä The first of these approaches is to keep all written, audio and visual channels open for the transmission of political decision-making across the policy spectrum - domestic and foreign, social and economic, military and strategic - acting as a bridge between decision-making centres and the wider public.

In so doing the press affirms the public's right to information and reinforces the public's ability to appraise the rationale and purposes of policy decisions, assessing whether they conform to the public and what their costs and impacts are likely to be.

Keeping channels of communication open safeguards the right of citizens to oversee policy-making, furnishing a means to judge the constitutionality and legality of the actions of governments and other public actors and, if necessary, redirect policy.

Ä The second approach is to keep channels of communications open between vital centres of thought - from universities and research centres to theatres, galleries and other venues of creative expression - and the wider public.

Ä The third approach is for the media to stimulate, and act as a conduit for dialogue, between the general sphere of political decision-making and current affairs and those centres of intellectual and cultural activity capable of inspiring and refining a greater understanding of the issues involved. In facilitating such an open dialogue the press helps to reaffirm both human aspirations and values.

Within such an overall perspective, the collaboration between Oxford and Reuters is not only desirable, but timely.

***

The three approaches by which journalism might fulfil its basic mission are, of course, far less simple to accomplish than to state.

Decision-making centres do not act in some hypothetical ideal space but in one constrained by major conflicts; they must negotiate diverse and often conflicting interests, many of which might be deeply rooted in history, unrestrained in their aims, and violent in their exercise.

Political decisions, in short, are conditioned by factors that are far from ideal.

Neither do the sciences and arts formulate or project themselves in an ideal space. They, too, are subject to pressure - often of a type that finds it convenient to conceal in order to monopolise, to withhold in order to augment their stock.

We may aspire towards a model in which ideas and information are transmitted without inhibition or distortion but it would be wilful to confuse aspirations with reality.

The channels of communication available in the various media are not as open, nor are they as clear, as we would like. News, ideas, voices, dialogue - are not transmitted unadulterated. Rather, the channels on which we rely are replete with obstacles. Between the source and recipient news and information are subject to forms of intervention and bias determined by the nature of events they seek to report and by outside pressures, by the different agendas of interest groups, and often by the moods and whims of fashion.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We hear a great deal of talk about one world. Geographically, of course, we all inhabit the same globe. Yet the notion that our world comprises communities that overlap seamlessly is at best wishful thinking. The globe is fractured, and among its many divisions the most alarming is the one that separates North from South.

There is no point in being delicate about this and varnishing the truth, however much we might like to focus our attention on the globalised elites of the South and ignore the vast swathes of population that stand behind, and apart from these elites.

There are two worlds, North and South, and the gap between them is wide.
And the wider the gap becomes the greater the dangers it poses as facts fail to make the leap across the growing chasm and obsessions weave their way into our understanding of the complex realities we face. Obsession is no basis for policy; is, indeed, its nemesis.

When channels of transmission become blocked, when the free flow of information reaches gridlock and the gap between the North and South gapes wider is the moment the written message becomes a landmine, the picture becomes a bomb.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Honoured to accept your invitation, I feel the responsibility to be frank and open. I trust that you will accept this and, if necessary, forgive me.
I am, after all, from the South, and the concerns of the South are part and parcel of my life.

But I also feel I can address the North, not least because in the course of my life I have been afforded the opportunity to pursue my journalistic career in both our worlds. I have written about the Arab world in the Arab world, in newspapers, books and on television.

I have also pursued my profession in the North, beginning, I would point out, in the United Kingdom, where newspapers and periodicals, including The Guardian, The Independent and The Observer, have published my articles and interviews, and where many of my books have been published as well as serialised in papers such as The Times, The Sunday Times, the Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have said that as an inhabitant of the South I am aware of its troubles and concerns, and as a frequent visitor to the North believe, or like to imagine, that I have at least some insight into what makes it tick. I have also said that the distance between the two worlds is growing.

From the vantage of my position at the brink of these two worlds there appears an urgent need to find ways of bridging the widening gap.
For if we do not start building these bridges soon there is every possibility our two worlds will collide, setting off a series of explosions that could prove cataclysmic.

The spectre of such a cataclysm is very real and the chances of it occurring will only increase unless we put our heads together and work hard to ward it off. In order to do so we must first be frank with one another, regardless of how uncomfortable such candour might make us feel.

I will begin with a generalisation. In the South it is increasingly felt that decisions taken in the North are done not only with a callous disregard of how they will impact on our lives but seem at times to relish the violence they unleash with such shattering effect. Against this backdrop the South has come to feel that calls for dialogue are at heart hollow and that the North is barely interested, if at all, in our participation.

There is also a growing perception in the South that the realm of ideas, the world of the sciences and the arts, is not as open or as welcoming as we once thought. Invitations to dialogue, if they are extended at all, are too often tainted with bias if not outright hostility.

I would like to offer three observations for your consideration, points that are not intended as an airing of grievances and that I trust will not be written-off as the obsessions of a Southerner. If they seem to stray from the subject I beg your indulgence, since to me they seem to lie at the centre of the problems we face.

Ä My first observation is that there is no such thing as a clash of civilisations, and furthermore, that it is pointless to seek ways in which supposedly divergent civilisations can seek to reconcile themselves.
History offers ample testimony to the existence of a single human civilisation to which all cultures have added during times of their own fecundity and from which all cultures have drawn in times of drought.

Each corner of the globe has, at some time or another, contributed to filling this vast reservoir, generating over time a natural partnership and a collective storehouse that should be available to every society that has the desire, and ability, to tap it.

Peoples and nations have poured their cultural acquisitions, accumulated through interaction with the environment, through the pursuit of knowledge and the benefit of experience, into this common reservoir. This flow has been rich, continuous, and as generous as it is spontaneous.

This process was set in motion at the dawn of mankind, lent impetus by the development discovery of agriculture and the emergence of alphabetics and numbers, and invention of tools, branched out as trade and crafts became more sophisticated, as the arts of architecture were refined and roads built, seafaring vessels constructed, the position of the stars charted.

These activities, and a great many more, led to a rising cultural tide that overflowed into adjacent areas. Streams and rivers merged and broadened, feeding these rich waters as they poured into civilisational basins some of which - the most obvious example being the Mediterranean basin - seem almost to have been created by design.

Nor did the process stop there. In different regions of the world these basins also overflowed their shores, merging into a vast civilisational ocean, one that remains capable of spreading, and still able to transcend considerations of time and space.

Think merely of the Mediterranean basin, and survey the course of cultural development around its shores, the flow of civilisation from source to sea and from sea into the vaster ocean: even the most cursory glance is enough to allow the spectator to sense - and sense in a tangible way - the development of cultures, the way they ebb and flow, fill a common storehouse and then draw on its contents.

It is almost possible to trace with a finger the line that connects the temples of Babylon and Memphis to the arcades and pillars of Athens, and from there to the ancient Library of Alexandria, to Dar Al-Hikma - the House of Wisdom - in Baghdad, to Damascus and Cordoba and Sicily and Italy, northwards to Germany, France and Britain, and then across the Atlantic to America where, on the other side of the Pacific, the constantly rejuvenating and dynamically expanding cultural overflow from the Mediterranean basin converges with another deep and vital sea, the Hindu and Chinese civilisational basin.

In the course of this summer I had occasion to look upon the Library of Alexandria and climbed the Acropolis, walked through St. Peter's in Rome and traversed the bridges of Venice around the Piazza San Marco. As I surveyed these wonders I could not help but recall a remark by Stefano Carboni, the curator of the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The waters of the Mediterranean basin, he said, are liquid frontiers.

How accurately this quote describes the overflow of cultures from source to civilisational basin to a vast ocean.

Of course the growth of this ocean has been divided into phases, and it is convenient to refer to the Pharaonic, Hellenic and Roman, to the Byzantine and Islamic, the European and the American eras.

A similar reduction occurs in terms of language, as epochs are described in terms of the dominant tongue - Greek at one point, Latin at another, Arabic at yet another, English now.

But historical eras come and go. And it would fly in the face of history to suppose that the dominance of any political power lasts forever. Our shared cultural storehouse, that reservoir of civilisation, outlasts the ephemera of empire, resists the passing dominance of any one language.

****
My second observation concerns a highly significant development we have witnessed in recent years. This lies in the cynical exploitation of a human tragedy, the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York on 11 September 2001.
It has been exploited in a way that resembles, if anything, the sleight of hand of a stage magician, turning catastrophe into a protracted optical illusion, a series of special effects. Suddenly the world woke to a new image of the Muslim, Arab and non-Arab alike. They were now lumped together as fanatical terrorists.

In perpetuating this insidious image the entire story of terrorism has been rewritten. In this revamped version the North is depicted as innocent, the Far East as too far away to be involved: Islam, alone, became synonymous with suicide bombing and murder in the minds of the general public in the North.

Last year Pope Benedict XVI stood before a German university to offer his reflections on Islam and civilisation. A learned and respected figure, the Pope nevertheless delivered a message that the North is "civilised" while the - mainly Islamic - South is essentially barbaric, the inference being that the West has been able to extract from Christianity and Greek philosophy a humanitarian ethic which others are somehow congenitally unable to comprehend.

Many at the time cringed. Certainly one might have hoped that the occupant of the throne of St. Peter would recall that Christianity was born in the East. Jesus himself was born in Nazareth and Peter, upon whose remains the Vatican is built, was from Jerusalem. St. Mark, whose splendid church stands in one of the most beautiful squares in Europe, was a native of Upper Egypt. He was buried in Alexandria and his remains were smuggled to Venice in the 9th century.

Christianity germinated on the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean before overflowing its oriental banks and spreading to the occident. Not that these eastern origins prevented Renaissance artists from portraying apostles and saints with white skin, blue eyes and blond hair.

As for the influence of Greek philosophy on Western civilisation, few can be unaware of the eastern Mediterranean context - from Athens to Alexandria
- in which such thought floursihed, or of how the legacy of Classical thought was preserved, developed and elaborated so that it might eventually be assimilated by Europe via the great Arab Muslim philosophers of Andalusia, foremost among whom was Mohammed Bin Ahmed Bin Rushd Al-Andalusi.

But Ibn Rushd - or Averroes as he was known in Europe - along with the other illustrious Muslim philosopher-scholars of the time, was not just an intermediary; he interpreted Greek thought, expounded upon it and augmented it with wisdom of his own.

The frontiers of the Mediterranean are fluid indeed.

****

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I hope to have couched my third observation delicately: I have spoken at length about history though my subject is journalism. The point I wish to make is that the two are hopelessly intertwined, and one result of this intrinsic connection is that the Muslim East is currently being penalised on two fronts.

It is paying, firstly, for the progress set in motion by the revolution in science and technology. It has had no time to catch its breath, let alone keep pace. While the Buddhist south has largely succeeded in grabbing the moment the Islamic South, for reasons that are both numerous and complex, has not.

But the Muslim East is also penalised by the fact that the spotlight - and the thousands upon thousands of cameras that follow in the wake of the spotlight - are trained on it at a critical stage in its attempts to make the transition from the old to the new, as it struggles from a position lagging behind.

It is useful to remember that the birth of modern Europe, which lasted for nearly four centuries, took place behind closed curtains whereas the labour pains of the South are taking place in a theatre that is surgically lit.

Europe's birth pangs must perforce remain muffled, heard only at a distance, sanitised on the pages of written history. The agonies of labour in the Arab Muslim South are broadcast to the world live, moment-by-moment, in lurid colour and gory detail.

As such, a process that history might eventually have recorded as a one of natural birth became an international scandal.

Some of my colleagues in the North may ask but what can we do about that, it is how things are in today's world. And in a sense they are right. The media in the West cannot be expected to memorize history every time it covers an event in the South. But there is something it can do. It can appeal to the moral equivalent of historical recapitulation and borrow some elements from the culture of open-mindedness, sympathy and objectivity.

Is it too farfetched to ask what would have happened had such media giants as ABC, CBS, NBC, SKY, FOX, CNN and Al Jazeera been around to record Europe's feudal conflicts and its religious, national and class wars?

Imagine if hordes of reporters and cameras had been on hand at the St.
Bartholomew massacre, when hundreds of thousands of French Huguenots were slaughtered by their Catholic compatriots, their hatred fomented by their cardinals and rulers.

Or if reporters and cameras had flocked to La Place de la Concorde to film the succession of royalty, politicians and intellectuals paraded to the guillotines from morning till night.

Or if some intrepid investigative journalist had managed to sneak into the Tower of London and revealed the nightmare existence of the Tower's assorted prisoners.

Imagine the consequences of twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week coverage of the horrors of the American civil war, in which brother turned against brother, fields were razed, homes and villages burned to the ground, and hundreds of thousands were killed.

What would have been the effect had the media had the ability to broadcast live over television and satellite networks scenes from some of the darkest episodes in human history, chapters that remain within living memory, and which were written and produced entirely by the North? I refer here to such twentieth century blights as anti-Semitism, Stalinism, Imperialism, Fascism, Nazism and the Holocaust, with its millions of victims - both Jews and non-Jews.

To home in on just one country during that blackest of centuries: what would the effect have been had the events of the Spanish civil war been aired live in twenty four hour broadcasts, had people around the world been given an opportunity to witness the horrors occurring in Guernica, Valencia and Toledo as they happened instead of having to rely on mediations by writers such as Ernest Hemmingway, Andre Malraux and Hugh Thomas?

The modern media had just been born when World War I ground to a close. It was in its infancy as World War II ran its bloody course. Both these wars were conflicts between Northern powers, though the combatants extended the theatre of conflict across continents, sucking all nations into the carnage and leaving between 60 and 70 million dead.

World War II crashed to a close with the first use of nuclear weapons. It wasn't covered live. The echoes of the tragedy, though, resounded everywhere and the entire world, North and South, said never again. Yet half a century on and US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq were using weaponry containing depleted uranium.

Arrogant, contemptuous, insanely reckless are words that spring to mind when I think about it.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I may have dwelt at length on experiences that are painful but my purpose has been to draw as stark a picture as possible. Nor would it be fair to ignore the other side of the picture, for there are always two sides. The world owes journalism, as it has developed in the North, a sizeable debt.

Thanks largely to the vigilance and good faith of many of its practitioners, and despite the density of vested interests, the seeming impenetrability of decision making centres and the obstacles placed in the pathway of the free flow of information and ideas, journalism has continued to shine a light on areas that are profoundly important to the world's future security.

For example, and in the face of the best efforts of the Israel and its influential friends, people in the North have learned some of the truth regarding events in Palestine and the cause of a people uprooted from their land and corralled into desolate camps and ghettos.

And in spite of the influence of the neoconservatives, and what we might call neo-Orientalists, the truth about Iraq has been revealed, beginning from the unprovoked invasion of an Arab country on the bases of false pretexts, proceeding through its destruction through an arrogant display of might and appalling display of ignorance, resulting, up till now, in the death of half a million Iraqi civilians and three million displaced persons and refugees.

It is thanks to the vigilance of journalists in the North that we learned about the sadistic practices conducted in a whole string of fortresses, from Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib, from Fallujah and Basra to Somalia.

The media in the North has been able to penetrate the world's most powerful decision-making centre and expose many of the architects and academic apologists of a global political project that has drawn everything from the folly of empire and learned nothing from its history. As imperial projects go it will prove the most short-lived precisely because it is the most short-sighted.

And the media in the North has acted as a beacon on another, perhaps more important, level: at its most honourable it has replenished the civilisational store-house on which the South might draw.

The North may have started ahead of the South, developing a media that, with the aid of technology, has become one of the great driving forces of our age, but in its best practice, and in the courage shown by its most redoubtable exponents it provides an inspiration to its Southern practitioners.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is in the nature of things, however, that just as new stages of human progress may open up new horizons, they could also place strict limitations on how much people can borrow or emulate from the experience of others.

Indeed, there are certain areas of human experience that seem impossible to merely replicate. In one way or another, they must be lived, their cost in blood and tears has to be paid, even if it appears that the wheel is being reinvented.

The most important of these areas pertains to freedom, not in any Romantic sense but in the down to earth sense of striving towards a constitutional system and a social contract that imposes the rule of law on all and that respects the rights of others to create a space in which they can exercise their civic responsibilities unhampered.

And the struggle for freedom is precisely one human experience that cannot be replicated by borrowing or through the mere transmission of values and norms across cultural and geographical boundaries. Freedom needs to be made, manufactured from start to finish, and once attained has to be jealously safeguarded by those who seek it. Stages of human development show a great deal of variance and different situation require different approaches.

During the 20th century in particular, the North was able finally to consolidate its own rules and norms of democratic government. This is yet to take place in our part of the world, where rules and norms remain frail and the struggle over enlightenment, freedom and progress rages fiercely, under the most difficult conditions.

" Take, for instance, the fact that in our part of the world this
struggle condenses into a single historical moment a great number of battles that the North fought more or less consecutively, and as such, were classified into distinct ages: enlightenment and freedom - industrialization - social reform - communications and transport - the internet and the digital age.

" Such intertwining of what for the North had been distinct stages of
development was bound to create intense pressures and stresses on national, religious, sectarian and ideological grounds.

These in turn resulted in the confusion of priorities and, on occasion, to recourse to means so immoderate and unrestrained as to lose sight of original aims, and become lost in a wilderness of abandon.

" Take also the pressures associated with a process of birth that is
taking place live, under the glare of the mid-morning sun. The actors in such a dramatic birth were bound to suffer from the symptoms of exposure, including disorientation, exhibitionism and dissimulation.

" Such obdurate conditions include as well the fact that our regimes
have failed to base their legitimacy upon the constit ution or the law, opting instead to resort to coercion and repression. The rudiments of political and social rationalism thus went out the window and crisis management became impossible. All of which distorted further the developmental scene in our part of the world.

" And though I am loath to allocate responsibility to parties other
than those directly concerned, it must be stated nevertheless, bluntly and unabashedly, that the foreign element plays an extremely negative role in our part of the South - specifically in the Middle East.

For there lie, at the heart of this region, three sources of threat to which I might refer in passing, to avoid reiterating what has become a cliché, albeit true. These are, consecutively: the strategic position - the crucial importance of oil, and - the illusion of Israel's security.

" Thus, internal elements - expressed first and foremost in the
collapse of legitimacy of the contemporary Arab state, and the growing pressures of development, interacted with these external threats to create great breaches which in turn attracted foreign intervention in the internal affairs of the region.

Regretfully, such intervention did not always take the from of unwelcome guests, but was often invited and exploited, for the sake of domestic political manoeuvres and perceived or imagined internal political balances.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Although some of my observations may appear pointed the last thing I intended was to come here and seek to apportion blame.

And if, in other of my observations, I have expressed appreciation for some of your journalistic practices, I do so not to flatter or congratulate.

In touching on some aspects of the situation in the South my aim is not to complain, and even less to incite.

I want only to share a particular vision of the human civilisation that nourishes us both, though our perspectives over that vast ocean, mine from the South, yours from the Northern shore, may seem to differ.

I come as the representative of an institution that by pure coincidence bears my name, an institution whose primary concern is to help meet the aspirations and needs of young Arab journalists.

And I do so in the hope that together we might share in constructing a bridge between different shores of our single human civilisation. The cultural production of all nations has flowed into this vast basin, making at once our shared heritage, and to which access is our common right.

Thank you.

Second Edition

2007-11-14T10:46:00.000-08:00

Secretary’s Blog 14.11.07

I was supposed to make this pretty regular so my apologies for the delay since the first blog. In that one I should have mentioned the talk by Professor James Stevens Curl at SOAS on 27th September 2007. Professor Curl spoke about “The Egyptian revival from the time of Augustus to the present day”. Rather selfishly I was huddled over a book by a swimming pool in Bangkok on that date so couldn’t attend. Cathie Bryan has written about the talk and her usual perceptive comments will be found under “Events” (or is it “News”? Please look, anyway!). He spoke very well and the audience were interested. And that is the problem. The audience comprised just 30 hardy souls. I do wish we could persuade a few more of our members to attend our talks.

Anyway, last time I spoke about the book launch at the Reform Club and we have had two more since then. (Who made the remark “There’s no such thing as a free launch”? Or words to that effect. Well, it was free if you were a guest.) The next one was at SOAS and was delivered by one of the book’s authors. Professor Moustafa Kamel El Sayeed spoke under the title “Britain’s Support for Democracy in Egypt”. Again, it was before a rather sparse audience. Never less than interesting, Professor El Sayeed mentioned that there is no vast groundswell for (the Western view of) democracy in Egypt although there is a demand for Economic change. When I lived there in the 1980’s the population was around 40M, now it is over 70M. Running Egypt is certainly no easy matter with a population increasing at this rate.

The next launch was at the British Embassy in Cairo, a farewell present to us from the retiring Ambassador and his wife, Sir Derek and Lady Plumbly. It was a quite wonderful evening with 10 members of the Executive Committee of the British Egyptian Society present and headed by our Vice Chairman, Dr. Ahmed El Mokadem. It was a truly glittering occasion, with guests including the former Foreign Secretary, Mr. Ahmed Maher, the former Ambassador to London and co-founder of the British Egyptian Society, Mr. Mohamed Shaker and the President of the British University in Egypt, Dr. Moustafa El Feki. All three have articles in the book. Many of the other contributors were present including Hugh Roberts, Hoda Rashad, Yousri Nasrullah and Moustafa Kamel El Sayeed plus representatives from local sponsors such as HSBC and BG. The event took place a year and 3 days after last year’s forum and it’s a tribute to the writers and the co-editors, Noel Brehony and Ayman El Desouky, that the papers were submitted, edited and published. Remember, you can order from me at a specially reduced price of £8.99 including postage (noelrands@compuserve.com); I’m even cheaper than Amazon!

Dr. El Mokadem and I visited the new and impressive British University in Egypt and were received by Dr. El Feki. The buildings are stunning. The first graduations are due to take place in 2 years time when graduates will, in addition, receive a degree from Loughborough University in the UK. We met also the former Prime Minister and Chairman of the Egyptian British Friendship Society, Dr. Abd Elaziz M. Hegazy and we are hoping that, on a visit to the UK in the early part of next year, he will give a talk to us. We had talks with the British Council, BEBA and the American Research Centre in Egypt, all of which gave us food for though and ideas for the future.

Today, however, was the most glittering event of all. The entire Executive Committee of the British Egyptian Society was invited to the Robing Room of the House of Lords to hear an address given by Her Excellency Mrs. Suzanna Mubarak, the First Lady of Egypt. Introduced first by our Chairman, Baroness Symons (who gave also the vote of thanks), and then by the Lord Speaker, Baroness Hayman, Mrs. Mubarak spoke for about 40 minutes in a most impressive performance. Then, surprisingly, she took questions which were answered frankly and fluently. I’m happy to say that three very pertinent questions were asked by members of the BES and so I like to think we made a significant contribution to the event.

On 11th December we welcome the Hon Dominic Asquith CMG and Mrs. Asquith, Her Britannic Majesty’s Ambassador, designate, to Egypt at 6.30pm in the Stranger’s Room at the Reform Club. He succeeds Sir Derek Plumbly at the end of December. We wish him well in his new post. Do come! Just send me an e.mail, as before.

The reception takes place the day after 19 of us return from the society’s annual visit to Paris and our first experience of the newly refurbished St. Pancras Station. I’ll let you know if the champagne was worth trying at 10am on the preceding Friday.

Cheers for now

Noel

1st Edition - 19th October 2007

2007-10-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me that many members wonder what we do between postings on the website or events so I've decided to start a "Secretary's Blog" which I will update regularly. I feel a bit like "Captain James T Kirk" and his "Captain's Log" but I don't have a "Star Date" to offer, just an Earth One.
And I'm writing this on 19th October.

Just a year ago we were in the lead up to our Forum, "50 Years since Suez.
From Conflict to Collaboration". As one of the members of the organising committee my nerves were in shreads but in the event it went extremely well, from the Opening Reception in the magical surroundings of the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery (thanks to the generosity of the British Museum) and on to the closing session in the Brunei Gallery at SOAS which summed up the contributions of the more than 40 speakers over the previous two days and an evening. The event featured two former Foreign Secretary's; Mr.
Ahmed Maher from Egypt gave one of the keynote opening speeches and Lord Hurd spoke at a dinner for the sponsors.

We are still working on how we build on this base and the first brick is a book published by Saqi Books. Titled "Egyptian-British Relations. From Suez to the Present Day" it was launched at a Reception at the Reform Club on Tuesday 18th October 2007. It is a triumph and contains articles from many of the speakers which have been put into an academic format. To a certain extent it was a "labour of love" by the two editors, Dr. Noel Brehony from the BES and DR. Ayman El-Desouky from SOAS who both spoke at the reception following opening remarks by our wonderful Chairman, The Rt. Hon. Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean.

Naturally, "The Curse of Rands" struck again. Representing the British Egyptian Society I am a Trustee of the "HMS Whimbrell Trust". Whimbrel is the last remaining sloop from the Second World War and was sold to Egypt in the 1940's. As "ENS Tariq" she has been decommissioned and is currently in Alexandria Harbour. The Trust plans to buy the refurbished ship and bring her back to Liverpool, her wartime base, as a tribute to all those who fought in the Battle of the Atlantic. I invited the Chairman, Vice Admiral Gretton, to speak at our Annual Dinner at the Royal Automobile Club in June. Two days before he was in a car crash and broke his leg! The launch of the Trust was held on board HMS Eaglet in Liverpool on 20th September, an event to be hosted by His Grace the Duke of Westminster so I travelled North to attend it. The day before His Grace went into hospital for a routine check, was detained over night and so couldn't attend the opening.
A limping Mike Gretton gave his speech.

(By the way, it could have been worse. Moving on from being the Midland Bank Group Representative in Tehran in 1980 when they took the American hostages, I was based in Cairo when President Sadat was shot, in London in
1984 waiting to move to India as Group Representative, South Asia when Mrs.
Gandhi was shot and the day I arrived in Bombay they shot the British Deputy High Commissioner! These occasions do tend to come in "3's" so after the 3 BES mishaps we should now be in the clear for future events and this time we did avoid bloodshed!)

Our Book had been delayed due to late submissions by the authors and so was not seen by anyone until 6.30pm on Tuesday. Well, it's wonderful but in checking the articles the accreditation was missed and so our name and logo does not appear on the cover. I blame me! SOAS have apologised profusely and future copies will have our logo on it. However, anyone reading the book will be in no doubt that the book and the Forum were joint collaborations and both are to be celebrated.

A group of us are due to fly to Cairo at the beginning of November for a launch at the British Embassy on 5th November. This will be the first official visit by the British Egyptian Society to Cairo and the group, headed by our dynamic Vice Chairman, Dr. Ahmed El Mokadem, will try its best to make a good impression and work on co-operations with local organisations. We are extremely grateful to Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador, Sir Derek Plumbly, for his generosity in hosted this, for us, momentous event in the last month of his tour of duty in Egypt. Sir Derek was a moderator at our Forum and has been a major supported of the BES.

He will be succeeded by the Hon. Dominic Asquith who, until recently, has been Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to Iraq. We wish him well in his new post and we hope to meet him in London before he takes up his post.

By the way, This is not supposed to be a "One Way Blog" so please let me have your comments plus any ideas you have for the BES. Our Board is about to be joined by Mr. John McHugo, Dr. Elisabeth Kendall and Mr. Assem Allam.
They are replacing the late and sorely missed Dr. Ashraf Marwan, Mr. Ian Richardson and Mr. Mahmoud Hamed of Egypt Air. Fresh ideas can be only a good thing.

Cheers

Noel Rands

P.S. You can always contact me on noelrands@compuserve.com