If, despite the mood at the opening session, the Mena House talks end without real progress but the participants want to pretend otherwise, they would do well to recall how this was done by Ramsay MacDonald and Zaghloul Pasha more than 40 years ago. The two men met here in the same hotel to discuss Egypt’s desire for freedom from British rule. Their talks were fruitless because the British Prime Minister was already preparing to resign. This transcript of their talks tells the rest of the story:
MacDonald: “Shall we make an announcement saying that the door of negotiations was left open instead of negotiations have come to an end for one reason or another?” Zaghloul: “I don’t see much difference.” MacDonald: “Oh yes there is. It’s much nicer for people to read that the door is left open than to say negotiations have failed.” Zaghloul: “Right. I agree.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
