The Feral Beast: Evans above: Sayle gets Times obit

Which brave night editor signed off The Times's loving obituary of the journalist and adventurer Murray Sayle on Monday?

In the second paragraph, we learnt he made his mark "during the great years of The Sunday Times under Harold Evans". What does that make the subsequent 29 Murdoch-owned years, one wonders. Sayle's answer would have been unequivocal: he was one of Murdoch's fiercest critics. Alas, there wasn't room in the 2,161-word piece to expand on this.

Rumers rife at 'The Guardian'

Editors at The Guardian were so startled to find John Prescott tweeting about the fashionable singer Rumer that they graciously invited him to write a music column. Under the sneering headline, "Is this the new John Peel?", they let Prezza merrily prattle away, admitting he knows little about Rumer. But what of his editors at the paper? Surely they must know she isn't Rumer Willis, daughter of Bruce? Embarrassingly, the picture illustrating the piece was of the wrong one.

'Prospect' of change

The tension gets even more unbearable as we wait for a chuff of white smoke to emerge from Prospect heralding a new editor. Further to my report last week that a woman is favoured, two male names have now been whispered in my ear, Dominic Lawson and Toby Young. Lawson would clearly be a safer choice, given his 10 years editing The Sunday Telegraph and five years editing The Spectator, while Young would, well, at least have a novelty value.

Is there an app for a paper war?

The Times and The Daily Telegraph went head to head by launching their iPad applications on the same day last week. The Times is charging £9.99 for a 30-day period, while the Telegraph's is completely free, thanks to a sponsorship deal with Audi. One-nil to the Telegraph, then. Expect a lot more skirmishing now the former Telegraph editor Will Lewis has defected to News International, taking senior allies Chris Lloyd and Rhidian Wynn Davies with him.

Emin between the covers

Sighs of relief at the offices of High Life magazine, the British Airways in-flight glossy, which has been guest-edited by Tracey Emin for the October issue. Editor Kerry Smith says she stipulated there was to be no swearing before handing over the reins. Happily for Smith, the Emin issue is entirely offence-free. "Tracey was so involved in the whole process," says Smith. "I should have taken the month off." Probably just as well she didn't.

Cameron beats Wills to top spot

Cotswold Life has relegated the Prince of Wales to third place in its top 100 locals. He is pipped by David Cameron and, worse, Prince William. "A controversial selection," concedes the mag, "but our view is Prince William is more important to the long-term survival of the monarchy than his dear old dad."