The feral beast: Prospect good for Skidelsky
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Your support makes all the difference.Beady-eyed readers of Prospect will be wondering what has happened to contributor Robert Skidelsky, who hasn't written for over a year.
This is particularly odd given he's got a book to plug, a timely biography of economist John Maynard Keynes. It seems the Tory peer has had a bust up with genial editor David Goodhart, although he reassures me that it is all behind them. "Yes there was a small amount of tension over a Christmas copy deadline," says Goodhart when I call, "as there is with most contributors from time to time. But I saw Robert at his book launch and we have more than made up. We agreed he would write again soon." Meanwhile Skidders has been writing for rival monthly Standpoint. Will he ever come back? We're on tenterhooks.
Not quite Pukka Jamie interview
As any glossy magazine editor will tell you, the biggest headache is landing a cover star. So you have to hand it to David Rowan, editor of Conde Nast's Wired, for bagging Jamie Oliver for the February issue. Although, er, has he? On closer inspection, we see the superstar chef hasn't exactly revealed all in an interview, but given a couple of quotes about how he has just discovered phone apps. Cue a big article on phone apps with Oliver's quotes tacked at the start, and ta-da! Full marks for effort.
Phil's flying into PR headwind
Having edited the News of the World for five years, Phil Hall is now a PR hot shot, specialising in crisis management. Just the man then to take on Globespan, the troubled airliner that went into administration last month, leaving 4,500 passengers stranded overseas. One PR firm gave up representing the beleaguered firm after just 24 hours, but Hall is made of sterner stuff, and has been spinning furiously for it since Christmas Eve. He is so dedicated, in fact, that when we rang to wish him a happy birthday on Friday, he was toiling late into the night, and seemed somehow less than effusive. Happy birthday Phil.
Shy 'Times' hides its true colours
Who will The Times be backing in the election? The "chumps" at The Sun came out in support of Cameron during the Labour conference, but its higher brow stablemate is keeping us guessing (or so they imagine). Editor James Harding has been bonding with Tory high command: he was one of very few journalists to be invited to Afghanistan with William Hague and George Osborne last week. How many more straws in the wind before they come clean?
Sundays not good for business
You might have thought competition for the post of Sunday Times business editor would be intense and fierce following John Waples's surprise departure for a career in PR. But three weeks on and an appointment has yet to be made. I'm told one business hack from The Times considered a likely contender has ruled himself out as he doesn't want to work the unsociable hours demanded by a Sunday paper. How grand.
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