Old friends get new jobs

I sent an old friend an email yesterday to ask about a particular policy issue in his country, which I used to follow quite closely but have slightly lost track of recently.

He called me back today, saying that he was rather busy so thought we should just sort it out by phone rather than by email. We had a jolly good conversation, and at the end of it I asked what he was doing now.

I could practically see his grin down the phone. “I’m Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development – have been since December 2012.”

Oops.