Janine di Giovanni, the war reporter and author, beguiles Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of Col Muammar Gaddafi.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is a fan of Janine di Giovanni, the war reporter and author. Photo: Reuters
By Tim Walker
7:28AM BST 14 Jul 2011
Holed up in a bunker somewhere in Libya, Saif al-Islam still looms large in the mind of Janine di Giovanni, the war reporter and author.
The son of Col Muammar Gaddafi, 39, a chum of Lord Mandelson and Nat Rothschild, made overtures towards Di Giovanni, 49. “Saif was asking around all the foreign journalists in Tripoli about Janine,” says one of her friends at the launch of her book Ghosts by Daylight at Blakes Hotel in Kensington.
“It was well known that he admired her. She’s a beautiful woman. He did attempt to contact her, but, obviously, it’s a difficult situation.”
Di Giovanni, who is working on a book about the Arab Spring, says: “It’s a delicate subject. I can’t really talk about it.”
BBC is taxed by U2
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Having broken its guidelines with the “inappropriate’’ promotion of a U2 album in 2009, the BBC ’s love affair with the Irish rock group is now causing concern among its own employees.
Hugh Milbourn, the assistant editor of The Politics Show and Daily Politics, complains that the BBC failed to mention the protest against U2’s alleged tax avoidance at the Glastonbury festival.
“I was waiting to hear the band’s reaction to the incident but the question was never asked,” he says. “At the very least, you would have thought the BBC would have a duty to allow the band to defend their reputation.”
He adds: “I don’t understand why it is necessary for BBC presenters and journalists to tiptoe around an issue in this way just because the interview happens to be a multi-millionaire celebrity. I am sure a similar approach to political journalism would not escape censure.”
Alice Miles's tears before bedtime
Alice Miles, a journalist, who is a close friend of Tom Baldwin, Ed Miliband’s highly controversial “spin doctor”, has now come to the defence of Rebekah Brooks, News International’s embattled chief executive.
“The first time I met [her], she reduced me to tears,” says Miles, who used to work at News International and is now one of the Labour leader’s biggest cheerleaders,“ in New Statesman.
"I cannot remember now what Rebekah and I argued about — it was late and the wine had been flowing — but I do remember that I and another guest ended up in tears.
“The next day, when I arrived at work, I had an email from Rebekah, asking if I was OK. I realise that this is not an overwhelming weight of evidence but the wicked witch does have a heart.”
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