As I'd blagged my way into yet another Bread & Butter party last week, it struck me how much of a downer it must be to have received a proper VIP invitation, and then end up rubbing shoulders with a lowly scribe like myself. It must be a feeling shared by many attendants at this week's World Economic Forum at Davos.

Because, this year, there'll be no Bono or Brangelina; no Naomi Campbell or Norman Jay - just lots of dour-faced politicians and struggling business execs. Imagine scoring a place on the world's most desired guest list, and then getting stuck with Gordon Brown.

So even if the snow is good, the lack of slebs and rock stars must be taking out most of the fun of solving the world's problems and, this year, ‘Shaping the Post-Crisis World'. No wonder Barry O. decided to stay at home. And who's to argue with the Leader of the Free World? I, certainly, am staying put.

I'm still keen on ideas for getting out of the current mess, though, and Alfredo Pastor, Professor at IESE and former Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, is offering up his at Ateneu. No Bono there either, although perhaps a lowly UJ scribe.