Back to Gideon RachmanGordon Brown was physically in Brussels yesterday. But it was clear that mentally he was already travelling to the emergency oil summit which is taking place in Saudi Arabia tomorrow.
At his closing Brussels press conference he kept repeating a single number - $3 trillion. This - Brown claims - is the amount that oil consuming countires have transferred to oil-producing countries as a result of the recent spike in oil prices. As the FT reports today, that is causing huge budgetary and political strains in many consuming countries.
But Brown has a plan. He thinks the oil-producers should take some of that $3 trillion and re-cycle it, by investing in alternative energy projects in oil-consuming countries. This idea sounds so flaky that I assumed I had mis-heard it, when he first outlined the scheme. But no - he repeated it several times. That is definitely what he going to be asking the Saudis to do.
A British official later explained to me that Brown would suggest to the oil producers that they could gain by investing in the industries of the future. Also they would be performing a service to the world economy by re-cycling some of their well-gotten gains in the rest of the world - spreading the oil wealth about a bit.
But - I pointed out - we were also asking the Saudis and the other oil-producers deliberately to make oil less important to the world economy. That would undermine the source of their current wealth. What is in it for them, I asked my official pal? “The ever-lasting gratitude of the British government”, he said smiling slightly.
This blog covers a variety of topics from US foreign policy to European politics and the Middle East - and whatever else happens to be in the news or catch my attention. I joined the FT as chief foreign affairs commentator in 2006, after a 15-year career at The Economist which included stints as a correspondent in Brussels, Bangkok and Washington. I write a weekly column on foreign affairs, which appears in the paper on Tuesdays. Occasionally my FT colleagues contribute posts to this blog.
Geoff Dyer is the FT's China bureau chief. He has been a correspondent in Shanghai and in Brazil and has also covered the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology industries from London.
Roula Khalaf is the FT's Middle East editor. She has worked for the FT since 1995, first as North Africa correspondent, then Middle East correspondent and most recently as Middle East editor. Before joining the FT, she was a staff writer for Forbes magazine in New York. 
James Blitz is the FT's defence and diplomatic editor. He has been the FT's political editor, based in London, and Rome bureau chief. James is a former Moscow bureau chief for the Sunday Times.
Alan Beattie is the FT's world trade editor. He has previously been economics leader writer and spent two years in Washington DC as chief US economics correspondent. Before joining the FT, Alan was an economist at the Bank of England. 
Victor Mallet is the FT's Madrid bureau chief. He is a former Asia editor of the FT, and, in more than 20 years at the organisation, has also worked in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. In 1990 he escaped from Kuwait after being one of the few foreign correspondents there when Iraq invaded. 
Stefan Wagstyl is the FT's eastern Europe editor, co-ordinating coverage of the region. He has also been the FT's bureau chief in Tokyo and New Delhi.
