Untitled Books

A charitable donation plays well in the US where a culture of philanthropy is more established

Tony Blair must be wondering what he has to do to get a positive headline. In the same week that his old comrade Rupert Murdoch handed over $1m to the less deserving – one might feel – Republican party, his decision to donate the £4.5m advance and subsequent earnings from this forthcoming memoir A Journey to the British Legion's Battle Back Challenge Centre was met with a chorus of derision. "'Guilty' Blair gives £5m book cash to troops," was a typical headline.