Al Shorouk columnist Abdullah El Senawy says you cannot bet on a future in a country with ancient rules. What he characterizes as “panic” about protests next month (which are yet to be backed by any heavy-hitting group, he notes) reveals the looming threat of civil unrest caused by the economic challenges the masses face today.

An initiative to see retailers and manufacturers slash the price of key goods and services by 20% for three months is likely to fail, writes Youm7’s Hafez Abou Saada. Prices have spiralled out of control. The government has proven unable redress the situation, which he calls “excruciating.” The culprits: Government officials who do little more than “act as the president’s secretaries.”

The Al Masry Al Youm columnist writing under the pseudonym Newton lashes out against reports that a 14-year-old girl was banned from school by her teacher for not wearing a headscarf.