The feral beast: New-look 'Lady'

Smelling salts at the ready – The Lady is set to announce its new editor.

Four names are said to be in the running: Daisy Waugh, Rowan Pelling, Rachel Johnson and Molly Watson. Whoever it is, the fusty women's weekly is in for a radical overhaul, according to publisher Ben Budworth. "I was astonished by the interest we have had for the post," he adds. "I was expecting applicants from Crochet Today or Jam Tomorrow. It's a hard decision - I wish we could have them all."

A great mystery solved

The great mystery of the expenses story was why it wasn't offered to the Daily Mail or The Mail on Sunday, in theory its natural home. Common wisdom says it was simply an oversight, but now a rumour is circulating that the disk had in fact been offered to Benedict Brogan then political editor of the Daily Mail but that, having just signed a contract to join The Daily Telegraph, he took it with him. Not surprisingly Brogan dismisses the story as fantasy when I call, suggesting that it arose as, by coincidence, the Telegraph broke the story soon after his arrival. We're happy to scotch the rumour.

The third biography

Mystery also surrounds the departure of Iain Martin from The Daily Telegraph. Parachuted in by Andrew Neil as assistant editor in 2006, having been editor of Scotland on Sunday, Martin rose to become head of comment. Now I hear he is planning to write a biography of David Cameron. It's unclear if he has yet secured a deal, though it may not be easy, given there are already two biographies in existence, one by Francis Elliott and my colleague James Hanning, and one by Independent columnist Dylan Jones. Could Martin land the official version?

Snappers snapped

A forthcoming feature on society journalists and photographers for Tatler's 300th anniversary issue has suffered more setbacks. Last week I revealed how the hacks were causing headaches, now it's the snappers. When Richard Young (Express, Mirror) heard Vanity Fair photographer Jonathan Becker was flying in from New York to do the shoot, he was suddenly unavailable. Their rift goes back to designer Nicky Haslam's party when there was a bit of a tussle over Paris Hilton. Girls, girls!

Simpson heads for Suffolk

He famously liberated Kabul, can he now work his magic on Bury St Edmunds? The BBC's foreign correspondent John Simpson is hitting the road this autumn with a one-man show, An Evening with John Simpson. Given Simpson spends much of his time chasing disasters and war zones, let's hope there's no global crisis pencilled in for that week.

Instinctive claimer

Matthew Parris was indignant about MPs' expenses last month. Now he admits to being an instinctive claimer himself: "Yesterday, I decided not to claim for a $5 tip for a porter in Dubai, en route for Afghanistan, though once I wouldn't have hesitated," he notes. How grand!