Hiding their odium to share a podium

For once in its benighted life, the Diary has decided to live up to its name. Worn down by the jibes of first Address Book and, latterly, Filofax (which once threatened both Diary and Address Book with premature redundancy, but that’s a tale for another day), the Diary has returned to the fold and, if it can remember how to count the days, will tell you of a real date to remember.

On November 18, the Marketing Society is to hold its annual conference. Nothing so special about that, you might say – it happens every year. Fair point, but it isn’t every year Alastair Campbell addresses the assembled throng. Not every year he agrees to take questions from the floor. Not every year the list of speakers also includes one Andy Duncan, chief marketer of the BBC, who will immediately precede Campbell. The Diary feels that Bonfire Night might be a little late this year…