An Egyptian opposition leader was listing the demands of enraged youth fed up with Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year-rule when he stopped, and chuckled. “Of course it’s impossible. Mubarak is too stubborn,” he quipped.

The 82-year-old Egyptian leader is well known for his obstinacy and aversion to risk, attributes which might have served him well in what he has long seen as his country’s paramount interest – protecting it from Middle Eastern wars and turmoil. Today, however, it is this inflexible attitude that is fuelling his people’s wrath.

Young Egyptians who have shed their fear and taken to the streets, inspired by their Tunisian brethren, are not impressed by the stability on which Mr Mubarak prides himself. To them, Egypt’s political system is tired, sclerotic and belongs to a different era, incapable of responding to the needs or aspirations of its young and increasingly educated population. “Go, go” demonstrators in Cairo chanted on Friday. “The people want to bring down the regime.”