Nobel prizes

Outwidth our immediate household, this week promises to be one of the most exciting in the Scandinavian calender - and not because both Zadie Smith and Gwen Stefani were in town last night. Not together, obviously. According to today's paper, by the way, when it was suggested to Zadie during her public talk that there wasn't enough humour in Norwegian literature, she replied by saying that this might be because life in Norway isn't very funny. No kidding! No wonder she's a Booker-nominated writer with such powers of perception.

I digress. The excitment is due to the fact that tomorrow, some very important people in Stockholm will announce this year's Nobel laureate in literature. Closer to home, some equally important people in Oslo will announce this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner on Friday. Al Gore is apparently the bookies' favourite for his work on highlighting the issue of climate change. The bookies are always wrong however so it might be Bono, Bob Geldof or, most likely, some person most of us have never heard of. I'll keep you posted.