AS BOY GEORGE IS TO GAY RIGHTS, SO BOB GELDOF IS TO DEVELOPMENT

When he's not busily praising George Bush for his vision (What was it? "Clinton talked the talk and did diddly squat, whereas Bush doesn't talk but does deliver", wasn't it, Bob - certainly has delivered now; delivered the World Bank into the hands of Wolfowitz), Bob Geldof trumps around the world shouting. Clearly, he thinks that this is in some way helping the cause of fighting poverty, but... does it really? Take, for example, the other night: Geldof went to the British Press Awards[MediaGuardian - free account required]. A fine moment to request a bit more attention for Africa from the UK nationals? Or a chance for an embarrassing tirade setting the cause back a few more feet in the struggle for attention? Have a guess.

For example, The Independent had given Bob a full page to write about Africa the previous week. A good opportunity to get in touch with key opinion formers, surely? But was Bob happy? No, of course not.

Without pause he then launched an attack on [Indie editor Simon] Kelner, accusing him of mistreating a comment piece written by the former Boomtown Rats singer.
The article, published on March 11, was allegedly intended to be the splash but appeared on page 5.
"Simon promised me the front page the other day and what did I get? Page 5... What fucking happened?" asked Geldof
Well, Bob, if you'd actually read the paper, you'll have seen that the Indie had splashed instead on the story that Britain had gone to war on the basis legal advice which barely covered a single side of A4 - a story that has implications for Africa and, indeed, the rest of the world and, sadly, slightly more newsworthy than 'Geldof shouts about Africa. Again'. And the Independent did find space to include a front page mention of the Geldof piece, actually deviating from its usual design rules to fit it in:

But if treating friends badly was a start, he was to get worse:
Then turning on the Daily Mail he raged: "The Mail: your coverage of Comic Relief was a disgrace."
When one journalist protested at what seemed to be a rant against everyone apart from the Sun, Geldof responded: "Do you know what it [the G8] is, you twat?"
Referring to a physical punch-up between former Mirror editor Piers Morgan and TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson at last year's awards, Geldof added: "You will have a Clarkson moment in a fucking minute if you want it."
His list of targets exhausted, Geldof ended his guest appearance with a plea for better coverage of war and famine-stricken Africa, with the G8 summit in Gleneagles the starting point: "If Rebekah [Wade, Sun editor] and these guys can do it, then why not everyone?"
Yes, The Sun is Bob's new best friend - for some reason, he's happy to cosy up to Dominic Mohan and Rebekah Wade; just a few days after Wade's Sun started a racist campaign against gypsies; despite all the hate-filled coverage of immigration she and her team have been responsible for. Yeah, Bob, they were very supportive of Band Aid. Because it was a celebrity story. Not because they give a shit about Africa.

music music development africa poverty bob geldof