Jobs For (All) The Boys

Hot on the heels of Ana Palacio’s appointment as a vice-president of the World Bank comes the news that Jose Maria Aznar, the Great Helmsman himself, is to join the board of directors of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. What could all of this mean, are we about to be treated to a Spanish version of The Sun (it’s El Sol Wot Won It!)? Maybe The Times is about to serialise “The Enigmas of the 11th March Bombings”. The Dear Leader has had to live off proceeds from his book and from a few lectures in Washington for the last couple of years, so maybe Rupert is helping him out with a bit of extra income. It’s hard to see what he brings to the company; I can't imagine him running the length of the newsroom shouting "Hold the front page!". He has not, as far as I’m aware, got a great deal of business experience. But with Ana Palacio in the World Bank, and former economy minister Rodrigo Rato directing the IMF, at least we can see there are some beneficiaries from Aznar’s embrace of the Bush administration and the neo-conservative agenda.