Arrived in Egypt for the first time at 1.00am this morning after coping with Heathrow security etc etc. First impressions:

They drive on the right in spite of still using pounds as their currency;

They identify the quality of fruit by naming the best quality after film stars and worst quality after George Bush;

They claim that more Mercedes are sold in Egypt than in Germany;

On arrival at the airport we were whisked into a luxury lounge, had our passports and luggage tickets taken away and suddenly everything (customs, passport control, luggage carousel) was fixed - nowhere else in the world that I've experienced...

We're here because the Egyptian Government has decided to encourage competition among publishers to produce the best quality textbooks for schools and colleges. Macmillan has worked in Egypt for more than thirty years and intends to be part of the massive opportunities of a country with 15 million schoolchildren, 4 million university students and a commitment to education as a driver of economic and social progress. There are many many problems but as usual we follow our new mission statement - We're doing our best.