Sheila Hetherington

What did you find most encouraging?
I find encouragement in children and young people – in their optimism, their expectation of life. I find hope for their future in President Obama's speeches and firm delivery. I find excitement in the images from the Herschel telescope. 

What did you find most discouraging?
The failure of the United Nations – similar to the failure of the League of Nations in the 1930s. The cult of 'celebrity'. The individual quest for money for its own sake. 

Which public figure did you most admire?
Daniel Barenboim. The eloquence of his music-making alone would cause me to nominate Barenboim as one of the most inspirational public figures, but there is much more to him than his extraordinary musicianship. He is one of the most introspective and profound human beings of this century, or of the last – as demonstrated by his Reith lectures in 2006.
     A chance meeting between Daniel and Edward Said, the Palestinian writer and academic, in the early 1990s, led to a deep friendship. During their first conversation, they discovered a shared aspiration for peaceful co-existence between Jewish and Arab people – people who, as Barenboim has said, are both deeply convinced of their right to live on the same very small piece of land. In 1952, at the age of 10, Barenboim had migrated from Argentina with his family to the four-year-old state of Israel, to which Jewish people from all parts of the world were being invited, as a long-dispersed people returning to their homeland. In 1948, Said's family – Christian Arabs – had left their home in Jerusalem as refugees, along with 80% of Palestinian Arabs. (The Saids settled in Cairo. The Barenboims later moved to Salzburg and Paris.)
     Said and Barenboim determined to work together to try to foster and support a spirit of harmony and co-operation. With the help of Said, Barenboim broke new ground by giving a piano recital on the West Bank. Shortly afterwards, they set up a workshop for young musicians from all Middle Eastern countries, in Weimar. Israelis, Egyptians, Jordanians, Syrians, Lebanese, Moroccans, soon established warm and lasting personal relationships, through their passion for music. In 1999, Daniel and Edward founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. Barenboim has said that this intercultural orchestra of young musicians became the most important thing in both their lives, commenting: 'It may not change the world, but it is a step forward'. In August 2003, a month before Said's death, they founded the Barenboim-Said Foundation, to provide musical education in Palestinian territories.
     Since Edward's death, Barenboim has continued his mission for peace in the Middle East, accepting Palestinian citizenship, condemning violence on either side, and declaring that there can be no peace between Jews and Arabs that is only a cessation of war: there can only be a peace of genuine co-operation as with music, 'sound starts off with nothing and then grows'. 
     His New Year wish for 2009 was published in the Guardian:
     'I wish for a return of King Solomon's wisdom to the decision-makers in Israel, that they might use it to understand that Palestinians and Israelis have equal human rights. Palestinian violence towards Israel does not serve the Palestinian cause. Israeli military retaliation is inhuman and does not guarantee Israeli security. The destinies of the two peoples are inextricably linked, obliging them to live side by side. They have to decide whether to make it a blessing or a curse.'    

Which public figure did you least admire?
President Bush.