As expected (see earlier post) President Bush plans to name Robert B. Zoellick, a career diplomat and trade negotiator, to head the World Bank, seeking to dispatch the leadership crisis that has gripped the institution under Paul D. Wolfowitz.

An unknown faceless bureaucrat is an infinite improvement on Monsieur Wolfowitz and is likely to cause less damage to the third world poor.

There was an article in today's Telegraph about phrases that like really bug us all.

There were also readers views on the most annoying phrases. Many readers shared frustrations over the misuse of "forensic" and "literally", while management jargon such as "downsizing", "brainstorming" and "thinking outside the box" also received plenty of nominations.

There is now A Daily Telegraph Infuriating Phrasebook. Amongst the references are

"It's not rocket science".

"Up close and personal".

"To die for".

"Pushing the envelope".

"Only £1,999.99".

Different words annoy different people. My own pet hates are "holistic" and "you know" after every statement.

Humour and Pigs.

As they say humour is a funny thing. I don't know why certain things appeal and others appall. I did however like the anecdote on Radio 5 last night. A truck driver was going merrily about his driving and was passed by a lady driver coming from the opposite direction. As she passed she pulled down her window and shouted 'Pig'. The driver replied 'Bitch' and continued his journey. Two hundred yards further on at a bend in the road he was derailed by a pig on the road.

Education and Mr Johnson

The suggestion by Mr Johson, a contender in the Labour Party Deputy Leadership stakes, that public schools should lend teachers and facilities to the state sector in return for charitable status misses the point.

Mr Johnson's contribution puts the onus on public schools to improve state education and like so many earlier interventions in Education is at best irrelevant. The responsibility for the state education sector rests unequivocally with the Government of the day. Instead of avoiding this responsibility they should be properly funding state education so that class sizes and the school environment matched that in public schools.

A political tale of Poetic Justice or was it Revenge.

At one time Nora Goss was a Labour Party Councillor and became under the Labour Administration of the day Mayor of Southampton. Subsequently there was parting of the ways and Councillor Goss joined the Liberal Democratic Party. Thereafter she was nominated by the Lib Dems for a further stint as Mayor but the Labour Party were having none of this and vetoed her appointment

Earlier this month the result of the local elections for Southampton City Council resulted in The Conservative Party obtaining the same number of seats as Labour and the decision on who should be the ruling party depended on the minority Liberal Democratic members. They decided to sit on their hands except for Mrs Goss who broke ranks and voted for the Conservatives. There must have been some consternation in Labour ranks but revenge disguised as political justice is sweet particularly when one has to wait some years to administer the act.

I am ashamed to note that in spite of previous promises my last blog was on 3 April 2007. I have been away on holiday a couple of times, the last occasion being best part of a month in Ireland, but there is no excuse for my indolence.

Of more importance is the speculation that Prime Minster Blair may be the replacement for Paul Wolfowitz as President of the World Bank. I think not. Ever since the inception of the World Bank the United States have been the major shareholder and have always nominated a United States citizen for the post of President. The most famous previous President(1968-1981) was Robert Strange McNamara. It is fanciful to suggest that US policy will change now.

In any case and even though the position carries a substantial salary and perks it would presumably not be attractive to Mr Blair given the millions he can now earn doing less onerous things such as speaking on the US circuit.

That the arch Neo-Con Wolfowitz has been ousted from the World Bank should however be celebrated. His economic philosophy, if followed, would have heaped more misery on the poorest in the Third World. He was of course the architect of the disaster that is Iraq and one can only hope that he is not allowed back into any position of influence to bring further disaster to the World.