By Debbie McGoldrick

Who needs a Nobel Peace Prize when Time magazine awards you its ultra-prestigious Person of the Year honour, alongside Bill and Melinda Gates no less?

You all know by now that Bono shares the cover of Time with the Gateses, the powerhouse Microsoft philanthropists who share his passion for eradicating debt and disease in Africa. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again — Bono’s dedication and commitment for the cause is simply awesome, when one considers how easy it could be for a star of his magnitude to go the other way. (The currently rehabbing Colin Farrell, anyone?)

“Bono charmed and bullied and morally blackmailed the leaders of the world’s richest countries into forgiving $40 billion in debt owed by the poorest,” said Time in its homage to the U2 frontman, who they also said has “made debt reduction sexy.”

The reaction to the tribute? Mr. and Mrs. Gates said they were “honored to be named with our friend Bono,” and that they are “pleased by Time’s recognition that we can solve these problems and that many people must play a part in doing so.”

Bono, Africa’s patron saint, said he “was experiencing an unusual feeling. I think it’s called being humbled.

“There are a lot of people who could be here. What’s really key is, all of us are in agreement that this can be a generation that can end extreme poverty. And by that we mean stupid, daft poverty where 3,000 kids are dying every day of a mosquito bite in Africa. Malaria. We can fix stuff like that. That’s the kind of feelings I’m having right now.”

Bono first met Bill Gates at a dinner in 2002. Gates wasn’t all that keen on the meeting, figuring that Bono could be well intentioned but, at the end of the day, a lightweight on matters of such importance.

“World health is immensely complicated. It doesn’t really boil down to a ‘Let’s be nice’ analysis. So I thought a meeting wouldn’t be all that valuable,” Gates said.

But Bono “really reads this stuff,” Gates added, and thus a partnership that may well change the world was born.

The day job is still going strong — U2 wrapped its 2005 “Vertigo” tour in Portland, Oregon on Monday night, with Kanye West as the opening act. The band will head home for Christmas and the New Year before returning for a series of concerts in Mexico in February, followed by Australia and New Zealand.

Before departing our shores for the holidays, Bono squeezed in a meeting with an old friend — former Senator Jesse Helms, the conservative North Carolinian who’s worked with Bono for some time on issues regarding Africa.

“Bono called us a couple of weeks ago and said he wanted to see his old friend, the senator,” said Helms spokesperson John Dodd.

The odd couple had a meal before a U2 show in Helms’ home state. “It was nothing fancy. They ate in the cafeteria with the roadies and the rest of the crew,” added Dodds.

Many Bono fans might be appalled at the sight of him breaking bread with the arch conservative Helms, but you catch more bees with honey, and making friends with potential foes is how things get done — and it’s a good way of landing on the cover of Time’s penultimate issue, too. Congrats, Bono.