I can think of nowhere that needs the congestion charge so much as Cairo. The city centre is in almost permanent deadlock during daylight hours and both the noise from horns and the fumes from exhausts are overwhelming. Crossing the road is a skill not for fainthearted pedestrians. At the current rate of growth the whole city will grind to a halt before too long. So, should we send Ken off to the Egyptian capital, along with his C-zone? Of course, the Egyptian capital would need to improve its public transport system, increasing substantially its tube lines and quadrupling the buses. It would all be horribly expensive, but maybe Ken could get his friend Hugo Chavez to subsidise it all?
All this is idle fantasy, but this evening at the American University of Cairo I will be taking part in discussions on the future of this amazing city and its cultural and media life. And I hope London might have a few lessons to learn from it all as well!
Jonathan Fryer 