In the end the winner was Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency, but a little-known fact is that Hugo Chávez was also in the running for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Venezuela’s president was one of an incredible 199 people on the short list for the award. According to Australian bookmaker Centrebet, Chávez had odds of 80-1 to win. Long odds, perhaps, but a whole lot shorter than Tony Blair’s at 500-1 or George W Bush’s at 1,000-1. It’s doubtful that this will encourage a rapprochement between Washington and Caracas.