Watch out for Brownian motion on social applications of the internet. Brown is surely right to believe that amid all the furious networking there must be ways of channelling altruism via the web—for example, with a "just-in-time" national volunteering database that makes it simple and convenient to find someone near you in need of the kind of help that you can offer, even at short notice. The country already seems to be awash with volunteer schemes, many of which barely get off the ground. Last year, Rod Aldridge launched V, a state-backed youth scheme with an impressive-looking website, www.vinspired.com, but little national presence. What is required is a single national website brand for adult and youth volunteering which can only be created with national advertising—like that for 118 118. After using its cheque-book to help establish the brand, the state should probably step aside and leave the organisation of such a website and its real world application to the patchwork of existing voluntary organisations. There would, of course, be security issues with such a database linking volunteers and the needy, but that should not be an insurmountable problem.
Kerouac is back
Beat aficionados will be trembling with excitement at one of Penguin's September offerings—the first ever uncensored publication of Jack Kerouac's On The Road "scroll," complete with absent paragraphs and an opening typo that, according to the book's breathlessly respectful introduction, "suggests the sound of a car misfiring."
The publication of the Kerouac scroll, written in a three-week creative frenzy, is an important event, but also a sign of our times: with profits falling, the publishing industry is aping its counterparts in the music world and turning to repackagings of back catalogues. Penguin usually excels at this—combining an enviable backlist with slick designs—but even its efforts sometimes reek of desperation. Witness August's launch of a second series of "My Penguin" titles, featuring blank covers on to which you can draw your own ideas. Why budding artists can't just be creative in sketchbooks isn't mentioned; instead, a website featuring specially scrawled covers by heroes of pop culture is promised. "Ever wondered what Razorlight Johnny Borrell's interpretation of The Great Gatsby would look like, or how Ryan Adams has been inspired by Dracula?" the press release gushes. Not a question, you might have thought, Penguin should ask too loudly.
Gordon's girl
Worries in the art world that Gordon Brown is a bit of a philistine may be misplaced. A reader kindly reminds us that Brown's book of choice on Desert Island Discs in 1996 (when Sue Lawley rudely pestered him about whether he was gay) was Ernst Gombrich's 1950 The Story of Art. The sisterhood, though, are still muttering about Brown's cut in the number of women in the cabinet (despite the elevation of Jacqui Smith) and about the nine-men, one-woman, No 10 policy unit team. The team in full is: Dan Corry (captain, plus localism and constitution); Stewart Wood (Europe and culture); Greg Beales (health); Nick Pearce (education, youth and strategy); Michael Jacobs (environment and energy); Geoffrey Norris (economy and business); Matt Cavanagh (home affairs and defence); Joe Irvin (housing and unions); Katharine Raymond (drugs and equalities); and Justin Forsyth (aid and development).
Nick Pearce's move into government means a new boss is needed for the Institute for Public Policy Research—and the current favourite(s) will please the sisterhood—it is two women, Lisa Harker and Carey Oppenheimer, who have been doing a job share at the treasury and want to continue at the IPPR. Other candidates include the head of another think tank and a journalist.
A miffed Sloane
Twenty-five years after The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook was published, Atlantic Books has recruited Peter York, its co-author, to write an updated version. Sloane Ranger II: Cooler, Faster, More Expensive, which aims to capitalise on the re-emergence of the Tories, is to be published this autumn, with journalist Olivia Stuart-Liberty as co-author. But not everyone is thrilled about this. Ann Barr, York's co-author on the original, is understood to be distinctly miffed about the way that York alone has come to be credited with inventing the concept of the "Sloane Ranger." And if the current project is anything to go by, she may have a point: sources close to the book say that York's contribution so far has been virtually nil, and Stuart-Liberty is doing all the work.
Flusfeder's flutter
In his article "Poker's face-off" in last month's Prospect, David Flusfeder drew attention to the recent legal wrangling about whether poker should be classed as a game of luck or skill, and described his unsuccessful outing at last year's Main Event in Las Vegas, the game's biggest tournament. Flusfeder took part in this year's Main Event in early July, and was markedly more successful, coming 321st out of a field of 6,358—a result that earned him a healthy slice of the prize money. Asked if his success was down to skill or luck, Flusfeder modestly admitted to having a "big slice of luck" on day one, when he went all-in on a hand and could easily have gone out of the tournament. But after that, he adopted a "patient but aggressive" approach which bore fruit against attacking players. Overall, he puts his skill-luck ratio at "70-30."
Ronald Cohen—the new Bernie?
On the face of it, it doesn't look good. As a founder of the British private equity business, Cohen was closely involved in successfully lobbying Brown's treasury after 1997 for favourable tax terms for private equity financiers. He also loves to muck in on policy debates in the treasury. Yet Cohen is one of the biggest individual donors to Labour (like the Democrats and Wall Street, Labour is increasingly funded by liberal high finance).
Now that the tax deal has become controversial (see p52), Cohen has distanced himself from it (to the chagrin of ex-colleagues), arguing that the benefits should be restricted to smaller venture capital-style private equity deals. But surely he is a one-man case for the state funding of political parties?
Malloch Brown
The knives are being sharpened for Mark Malloch Brown, parachuted into the government as number two in the foreign office. Although a would-be SDP election candidate back in 1983, his views are far closer to mainstream Labour than some of the other new outsiders in government (notably ex-CBI chief Digby Jones). But his elevation over other junior ministers in the FCO has not made him friends there, nor did his comments to the Telegraph about the Bush regime or his boss, David Miliband. There is much, rather hypocritical, muttering about "poor political judgement" and "not knowing the rules of the political game." And the final straw for Malloch Brown's critics is that he apparently asked for, and was granted, a grace and favour apartment—something normally reserved for senior cabinet ministers. How long before he is pushed out by jealous time-servers?
Curio competition
Last month, we asked you to suggest policies to help Gordon Brown butter up Prince Charles. Suggestions included the reintroduction of blood sports and the enforced wearing of tweed, but the eventual winner was Robert Emmett's elaborate scheme to enclose all Cornwall beneath a huge Eden-project style dome (organic, of course).
This month and next, we're able to offer readers a limited number of free memberships at the new Wellcome Collection's members' club. To enter, simply tell us about a modern custom likely to seem as bizarre to future generations as the more obscure elements of an anthropological museum. Answers, as ever, by email.
Hamas martyrs Mickey Mouse
On 25th July, the Social Market Foundation debated a "crisis" in British children's television. Thanks partly to new restrictions on advertising, it seems we may soon be suffering a dearth of home-grown programmes for children, forcing the import of steadily more content from overseas. Just how much this may damage the next generation's sense of Britishness remains to be seen; but one series we're unlikely to be importing is Tomorrow's Pioneers, a children's show on Hamas-TV that has recently been making global waves via the internet.
