Anyone who is in the least bit interested in the history of publishing will enjoy Tim Kitchen's brilliant First 25 years of Pan Books website. In particular, the covers are sensational. Here is one. The site has scores - all evocative.

Yesterday I encouraged you to bet on our two Man Booker longlist titles. The shortlist is now out and we are very sorry (and fed up) that Claire Messud has not made the cut. However, delighted that Mother's Milk by Edward St Aubyn is still in the running and his odds are shortening.

At the Global Information Summit yesterday in Amsterdam there was much talk of the competition between India and China for leadership in the 21st century. My trivial observation was that India's population will inevitably exceed China's because of its obsession with cricket where the highest score always wins. China's only hope is to take up cricket with immediate effect (and with great benefits to the Wisden Group).

And meanwhile Macmillan India has completely upgraded its very impressive website. We now employ twice as many people in India as in the UK or the USA.