Western detractors of Farouk Hosni, the Egyptian culture minister who failed last month to become the head of Unesco, focused their attacks on his threat to burn Israeli books if they were found in the Alexandria Library.

But in Egypt too, where it might have been expected that the artistic and literary community would have rallied behind a fellow countryman seeking a prestigious international position, Mr Hosni also received vociferous criticism. Here, the minister, who has occupied his position for 22 years, has been lambasted for the sorry state of Egyptian culture.