Benn finds the answer to all Iraq's problems - a spin doctor

Blairite Benn has agreed to invest almost £5m in a programme to help with Iraq's "Emergency Public Administration" and already called in a private consultancy firm, Adam Smith International, to help the war-torn country. Pandora learns that they are now planning to send out a PR man to assist the new Iraqi government with focus groups, opinion polls and media relations.

While the identity of the new spinner is being kept under wraps, the trade magazine PR Week tips the Financial Times journalist James Drummond for the job. Drummond is currently discussing the possibility of taking a year's leave of absence from his job as a hedge fund reporter in Britain. "It's all very up in the air," he tells me yesterday. "The elections in Iraq aren't until December so we really don't know what's happening yet."

Yesterday, as Baghdad was dealing with more insurgent explosions, the DFID said: "We're working with the Prime Minister and President's offices in Iraq as well as the communications directorate. Communicating to the public is a key element of open government which is what we are encouraging."

And if that isn't New Labour guff, what is?

* Kate Moss's "Primrose Hill set" has barely been out of the papers recently, what with allegations of wife-swapping, threesomes and drug use. So it is refreshing that Moss's best friend, Sadie Frost, seems more concerned with condemning celebrities who seek publicity than with the press itself.

Posing for the cameras at the launch of Amnesty International's "Protect the Human" initiative, Frost - who used to be married to Jude Law - told Pandora she disapproves of famous folk promoting themselves through their charity work.

"We need to remember it's not just about that - it's really about the graft," she explains. "So many people just put their face to a cause and don't actually do any of the hard work behind it. Often, they aren't even very aware of what the cause is. Charity work's about more than just a photo opportunity".

Frost plans to embark on some of her own next February, when she will join her sister on a trip to Africa to help build houses. "I wouldn't mind getting my hands dirty," she adds.

* In a long and distinguished career as a trouble-maker, the rap artiste 50 Cent has had brushes with the law for narcotics and gun possession. Now he's come up against a more formidable authority still: the British broadcasting watchdog, Ofcom, who are cross that he has taken to swearing across our delicate airwaves.

Having been pelted with bottles of urine (and a camping chair) on stage by an unappreciative audience at the Reading music festival, he was provoked to use the words "piss", "pissing" and "fuck" on Radio 1's lunchtime chat show. Several listeners complained, and Ofcom has agreed that "an apology should have been offered" by the presenter, Jo Whiley.

The hip-hopper has just completed a tour entitled "Anger Management" so perhaps next time he'll be able to apologise for himself.

* Remaking any classic film is a risky business, but usually the stars of the original movie at least wait until they've seen the new version before they start complaining.

Not so with May Day - a Nicholas Cage vehicle based on the Scottish hit, The Wicker Man. First its director, Robin Hardy, called in lawyers to have his name taken off promotional material. Now The Wicker Man's star, Christopher Lee, has stuck the boot in, too. Having been asked to take a role in May Day, he's refused.

"I've told them I'm having nothing to do with it", he tells me. "I just think what's the point of remaking a great film? Making a classic Scottish film in America, having my character played by a woman - it's just pointless". And clearly a sensitive subject.

* A late entry to the political arena for the 71-year-old rocker Ronnie Carroll. He has just been registered as the leader of a new political party, called Make Politicians History, backed by the eccentric activist Rainbow George.

"We had a launch party in Northern Ireland recently," George tells me. "And Van Morrison showed up to lend his support, so we've got celebrity backing. We intend to field candidates at all major elections in future. In fact, I've placed a bet on winning 33 seats at the next general election, whenever that is."

The launch coincides with a move to revive Carroll's musical career, with a new album, Back on Song. "We're hoping it'll be in the charts for Christmas," adds George.

That'll be an uphill struggle: Carroll's last chart success was in 1963.