New York
The highlight of my year was undoubtedly interviewing George Clooney. I don’t mean to be star-struck, but in the presence of the square-jawed one my professional façade went Awol. The United Nations is usually a bit short on glamour, but on the day George came to talk about Darfur, a little bit of Hollywood rubbed off on my world. He swept in with an entourage of 50, including the compulsory bossy PR, who kept trying to interrupt and spoil my brief few minutes with George. He was, I can report, devastatingly well briefed on the Darfur peace agreement. ‘What was he like?’ asked Husband, casually, via email. I crossed my fingers, looked heavenward for guidance, and tapped back with great difficulty — ‘that look is so 2006’.
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Ban ki-moon, who takes over from Kofi Annan as UN Secretary-General on 1 January, is not quite up there with George Clooney in the acting stakes. But he does have a certain something. At the annual UN correspondents’ association dinner in December, Mr Ban brought the house down by singing ‘Ban ki-moon is coming to town’. Edith Lederer of the Associated Press and I looked at one another in shock. We had been planning to surprise the audience with a farewell duet to Kofi to the tune of ‘Arrivederci Roma’. Mr Ban stole our thunder — and solo, too. Cometh the hour, we traipsed up and did our bit. Mr Ban was kind enough to congratulate us, but victory was his.
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Thankfully, by the time you read this the Happy Holidays season will be nearly over. The sight of Christmas trees in New York weighed down with every kind of religious greeting will be but an unpleasant aesthetic memory.
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