Who'll walk me down to church when I'm sixty years of age

When the ragged dog they gave me has been ten years in the grave

And senorita play guitar, play it just for you

My rosary has broken and my beads have all slipped through

You've hung up your great coat and you've laid down your gun

You know the war you fought in wasn't too much fun

And the future you're giving me holds nothing for a gun

I've no wish to be living sixty years on

Yes I'll sit with you and talk let your eyes relive again

I know my vintage prayers would be very much the same

And Magdelena plays the organ, plays it just for you

Your choral lamp that burns so low when you are passing through

And the future you're giving me holds nothing for a gun

I've no wish to be living sixty years on

Bernie Taupin, Elton John's Sixty years on

Let's do away with infantile questions like, “Coup or no coup?”; or, “Puppet or no puppet?”; or, “Modernizer or reactionary?”; or, “Will there be another '1979'?”

And, I am referring to 2013 Egypt, not 1953 Iran. Parallels aside, who wants to compare Mosaddegh with Morsi; or, Shah with Mubarak; or, Zahedi with el Sisi?

Let's move on to a more urgent question, “Can rentier states like Iran and Egypt do better?” My answer is, “Yes, they will.”

* Cartoon by Joe Heller.