I guess that many of you, if not all, have actually read the little blurb that came with this talk, in which I say that it is not a lecture.

In fact, it isn't. It doesn't have a beginning and a middle and an end. My head and my life at the moment don't really permit of such structures.

And I say in it that this is a, its impressions, its fragments, its feelings, and ideas and beliefs.

And that is truly what it is.

So I want to tell you about the title of this presentation that you've so kindly come to hear.

I think it was about 20 months ago that the steering committee and I agreed that I would be giving this year's talk.

And then late last year, I was asked for the title.

So imagine the context.

I'm in Cairo and there's everything happening.

And then one night, there's the email that says,

could we have a title for your talk on Edward,

for your talk at the Edward Said lecture next May.

And so there was a bit of a delay.

And of course, my first thing was this isn't really a talk.

This isn't really a lecture.

This is a presentation and so on.

And then I found myself sending this, Minas Banner, Edward Saeed, and the Egyptian Revolution.

And when I was asked to elucidate, I actually couldn't.

I knew I had a title.

I knew what it felt like, but I couldn't just write an email saying what I meant.

But I hope that by the end of this presentation, it will be very clear what I mean.

I tried my title out on my sons and on other young people in the revolution.

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