The feral beast: Smut fails to arouse interest

A curious lack of interest from all national newspapers in the story of Barry Phelps, the Kensington and Chelsea councillor who resigned last week after he was found to have used his council email to send pictures of young boys with smutty captions.

Although not pornographic, some felt his interpretation of innocent photos in a sexual context inappropriate. The Daily Mail has been scandalised by less, but then, before joining the council, Phelps was a reporter on the paper for 14 years.

Rusbridger faces a tighter belt

Things at The Guardian may have just got tougher for editor Alan Rusbridger, after the appointment of Andrew Miller as chief executive. His predecessor, Carolyn McCall, was happy to indulge Rusbridger's spending sprees, while his salary rocketed to £445,000 and the paper lost £100,000 a day. She saw nothing wrong with giving herself a £143,000 bonus before leaving. But faced with tackling a BP-style haemorrhaging of cash, will Miller think differently?

Nothing bogus about Dacre's diary

Intriguing to see The Sunday Times serialise Adam Sisman's biography of Hugh Trevor-Roper, the historian who initially gave that paper the green light to print the bogus Hitler diaries. Odd because Lord Dacre, as he became, comes out better than the paper, with Rupert Murdoch quoted saying "Fuck Dacre, print". According to the book, Dacre's reservations about the diaries were edited out of his accompanying article. Will that appear in today's extract, we wonder?

Sunday Thunderer ages fast

On the subject of dodgy history, The Sunday Times is suitably vague about its own. Until recently, the masthead claimed it was founded in 1835, but a few weeks ago it changed to 1822. A helpful young man in the archives says 1822 is correct, and is mystified as to where 1835 came from. He has launched an internal inquiry, and is grateful to us for pointing it out. Glad to be of service.

Willetts' happy radio reunion

Science minister David Willetts bravely appeared on the Today programme to discuss government cuts, but it could have been worse. Evan Davis and James Naughtie were the hosts, both of whom are past members of the British American Project, a self-selecting elite designed to promote UK-US relations. Willetts, as it happens, is also an alumnus. How cosy.

For the Record, that's not right

Theatre Record is in trouble. The magazine set up by Ian Herbert, which reprints all the main theatre reviews in full, has issued an appeal for help, and plans to become a charity. Since 2004, it has been edited by Ian Shuttleworth of the Financial Times, who takes a dim view of any critics who make mistakes. He must be teasing, then, in his latest editorial, when he refers to the Times's new theatre critic as Libby Brooks. (It's Libby Purves.)