Watch out for a lot of Africa and Bob Geldof in 2005. Blair's Africa commission reports in spring and the summer sees Live Aid's 20th anniversary. The BBC plans to add an Africa dimension to most of its output (including EastEnders), culminating in a five-part Geldof special on Africa in July. And expect lots of commission rows. Geldof is determined that his old mate, Independent journalist Paul Vallely, should write the commission report (mindful that the only similar work that anyone recalls, the Brandt report, was written by journalist Anthony Sampson). But Gordon Brown's treasury, which is running the commission, is rather less keen on Vallely.
David Blunkett competition
What was David Blunkett's error? If it was abuse of power, then that is simple, and bad. If it was having an affair which led to children and then imploded that is sad but not bad. In between is much grey. Should a politician's life match his public comments? Blunkett stands for responsibility and social discipline (though he has spoken little about sex). That is consistent with caring about your children. But is it consistent with taking up with a freshly married woman and losing your cool when she ends it? If not, is the action a blemish against character—a personal dissonance? Or is it a bigger political hypocrisy? These days we are happier with the idea that politicians can recommend behaviour which they may not follow to the letter. But public and private cannot always be neatly fenced off. If the Budd inquiry finds Blunkett at fault in even just a minor way, he will still remain endangered thanks to his own reputation for mercilessness. This Jeffrey Archer-meets-William Shakespeare tale could not, as they say, have been made up. So for Prospect's Xmas competition we want you to write a rejection letter from a commissioning editor replying to a play, film or book proposal based on the story so far—explaining why it is too implausible. Best ones will appear on our new website. Email us by 12th January.
End of Le Monde as we know it?
Edwy Plenel, until recently editor of Le Monde, got his big break in 1985 by exposing how the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior was sunk by French agents. The young leftist Plenel had broken with a tradition whereby the French press simply toed the French government line. Sales of Le Monde rocketed. Plenel became a media star, his journalistic methods spawned a new school of journalism and in 1996 he became coeditor. It worked well until 2003 and the publication of The Hidden Face of Le Monde, which accused the paper of abusing the public's confidence. Instead of investigating scandals, the book asserted, it was covering them up in order "to control the pressure points of society." Le Monde has not recovered from the blow. Valued at €200m, it has reported debts of €130m. A hand is being held out by Arnaud Lagardère, arms manufacturer and owner of Hachette, which owns 245 other newspapers and magazines worldwide. If accepted, his money would increase the control the arms trade already has on French papers—Lagardère's armaments rival, Serge Dassault, recently bought Le Figaro. This would be the final irony, since Le Monde's rise came from Plenel's investigation into the sinking of a ship trying to halt French nuclear arms tests.
Think tanks
Who will replace Mark Leonard at the Foreign Policy Centre? The FPC is only semi-independent from government, but is influential. David Clark, ex-Robin Cook adviser, has been sounded out but is unavailable. Anand Menon at Birmingham University is also on the list. Meanwhile, what is going on at the IPPR? It has just published a paper on national electronic markets very similar to, and by the same author as, one published by Demos in 1996.
Online at last
After an embarrassing series of glitches, hiccups and hold-ups, Prospect's new website (www.prospect-magazine.co.uk) has finally gone live. We're sorry for the delay, but we hope you'll agree it's been worth the wait - the new site is a vast improvement, offering a more sophisticated search engine, a simple article cross-referencing system, a new interactive version of the List, a fresh design and much more. Let us know what you think.
The euro means war
Euroscepticism in the US could be about to get a big boost. Alan Greenspan leaves the Federal Reserve in January 2006 and one of the hot favourites to replace him is Harvard professor Marty Feldstein, famous for his 1997 essay in Foreign Affairs which warned that The Euro Means War. Feldstein enjoys guru status at the White House, where they take seriously the elderly Milton Friedman's prediction that the euro will fall apart within the next 15 years.
