There are now endless ways of assessing the status of British novelists—the Booker prize, the Whitbread, the Richard and Judy test and so on. But what about the writers who tend to be overlooked in this credit system? One of the most prominent to have slipped through the net is Hilary Mantel. She has taken none of the major prizes, but her novel Beyond Black, described by AS Byatt as "a terrible and swirling horror-comedy," was published to rave reviews last year. Moreover, Mantel appears to be particularly esteemed by her fellow writers. A Prospect research team has done a painstaking tally of the "books of the year" lists produced by newspapers at the end of last year. We discovered that, next to Booker veterans Ian McEwan and Julian Barnes, Mantel was the novelist most mentioned by her fellow authors.
Atlantic Monthly goes wonky
The appointment of a new editor at the Atlantic Monthly, one of America's oldest and most august political magazines, may signal a deeper shift in values. After a laborious search involving 200 hours of interviews with 80 candidates, James Bennet, a New York Times middle east correspondent, landed the job, which had been vacant since the late Michael Kelly's departure in 2002. The appointment comes in the wake of other gradual but significant changes for the Atlantic. The magazine recently relocated from Boston to Washington DC and has recruited a new crop of policy-minded writers, suggesting a shift from the magazine's old-fashioned, literary Yankee liberalism to a more wonk-oriented approach. Another recent appointment—former Economist deputy Clive Crook—suggests a swing to the free-market right, though the magazine is no friend of Bush. Rumours persist that the National Journal group, which owns the Atlantic, wants to start up an Economist-style political weekly, using the Atlantic's staff. Meanwhile, the Atlantic's literary tradition has been somewhat hived off, with short stories going to a separate edition.
But don't sound the death knell for narrative journalism just yet. The US's post-9/11 appetite for strong foreign reporting will give Bennet, a foreign policy buff, an opportunity to beef up the magazine's coverage of world affairs—already exemplified by the long-form reportage of writers like James Fallows and William Langewiesche.
Rate your MP here
Schrödinger taught us that the act of observation changes what is observed. He probably wasn't thinking of MPs. But according to theyworkforyou.com, a website that produces MP "league tables" based on a range of criteria, its ratings are starting to affect members' behaviour—and not necessarily for the better. The claim is that some MPs are tabling lots of parliamentary questions or contributing to minor debates simply to rise up the website's tables. Evidence is anecdotal at the moment, but the number of anecdotes is rising.
So what to do? Like any good scientist, the team behind the website have decided to gather better data. Any system of ranking will introduce incentives, but they want to alter the way their ratings are calculated to help produce better incentives—and, with luck, better MPs. And they want the readers of Prospect to help. They are looking for new methods for rating that are fair and abuse-proof—the proportion of emails an MP replies to within two weeks, for example. But before you pull out your thinking cap, bear in mind that some measures of quality (how well your MP dresses, say) are difficult to quantify. Suggestions by email.
Berlusconi
Another Berlusconi story to keep you going until April's election (see Erik Jones). Back when Berlusconi was trying to get his hands on Mondadori, the Italian publishing house, he invited its head, Arnoldo Mondadori, to sup at his villa near Milan. During the meal he plied his guest with food, wine and charm. As the hour drew late, the publisher said that he should go, but had no car: could he call a cab? Berlusconi told him to look under a napkin: he found a set of car keys. "It's a Ferrari," said Berlusconi. "Just keep it."
Chatham
Will Chatham House, the foreign policy think tank, be able to attract a big hitter to replace Victor Bulmer-Thomas, who is leaving at the end of the year? He is said to have done a good job but Chatham House still feels like an institution past its prime, associated more with retired ambassadors than new thinking. How about a reverse takeover from one of the young upstarts, such as Charles Grant's Centre for European Reform? The latter needs a new office, why not in St James's Square?
New man at the FCO
Jack Straw faced a tricky man management job in early March. In Brussels for a meeting of EU foreign ministers, Straw told Peter Ricketts, Britain's wily and personable Nato ambassador, that he had got the top civil service job at the foreign office. But Straw's next appointment was in Paris at the British embassy presided over by John Holmes—the unsuccessful candidate. Still, with embassies closing and the FCO budget now less than a third of DfID's, Ricketts will not have an easy ride.
