Too big for their wellies

Is it possible for Irish rock stars to be too influential? We're starting to wonder. There was that period of speculation about Bono as the new Number 1 at the World Bank, instead of the Wolfie II replacement for Wolfie I. And then there's Bob Geldof's high profile role as a member of Tony Blair's Commission for Africa. We've had some things to say before about Bob: his talent for accidental poetry, but also his very naive embrace of Dubya as a better President for development issues than Bill Clinton.

It looks like neither of them intend to hold back anytime soon. We're pretty sure we heard it on French news last night (our imperfect French prevented us from confirming) that Bono is now a campaigner for passage of the EU Constitution, signalled by his having signed a supporting petition of celebrities assembled by Socialist politician Jack Lang. And Geldof has interpreted his Commission for Africa membership as a mandate to make statements calling for the Ugandan president to quit. You'd think that the dude who helped get rid of Idi Amin and Milton Obote would have some credibility in the bank with Bob, but apparently not.

There's no word yet on whether Bono will become a more controversial figure for his EU embrace, but some Ugandans are annoyed with Sir Bob:

Ugandans march against Bob Geldof
Hundreds of people have marched through the streets of the Ugandan capital, Kampala, to protest at Sir Bob Geldof's call for the president to step down. Launching the UK Commission for Africa report this month, Geldof, a rock star turned campaigner said Yoweri Museveni wanted to be president for life ...
Many of the protesters were draped in dry banana leaves, the symbol of the third term for Museveni campaign. They held placards which read: "Geldof sober up and shut up", "No to drug addicts and Rock Homos".

Now it would be better if the protestors hadn't strayed into the personal in the War on Bob; the spectacle of the know-it-all European telling Ugandans how to run their affairs is damning enough.