The Word on the Street

LIKE MOST newspapers now, the Financial Times has decided to make some job cuts. The paper has offered staff over the age of 58 the chance to apply for redundancy. The management was surprised to get applications from virtually everyone eligible – about 20 FT veterans. We're pleasantly surprised, in these age-conscious times, that any national paper has so many staff over the age of 58.

ARE THINGS a little tense on The Guardian diary? Perhaps Matthew Norman's number two, Marina Hyde, is fed up with seeing her boss's name bestriding the column each morning. Miss Hyde is certainly getting a lot of placatory mentions: "Marina Hyde rings them to say...", "Marina rings with an enquiry". What can we expect this week? "Marina Hyde speedily types out a paragraph...", "Marina gets paid for doing her job..."?

HIGH-FLYING women in the media rate their stress level at a high of eight out of 10 compared with similarly successful men, who report their stress at 5.2, according to a survey by Barclays. Could be true. But, as its survey was of 600 professionals earning more than £60,000 per annum, we're clearly not talking your average newsroom hackette. The survey claims high-flying media men earn on average £109,000 a year, with women earning "just" £74,000. If only...

AWARD FOR most ingenious subliminal advertising of the year goes to ITV's Cold Feet. Depressed by the imminent departure of his wife and son to New York, Pete said: "There's a cable channel which shows all the [Manchester] United games, so at least I'll be able to send him the matches on tape." The said cable channel, MUTV, is part-owned by Granada. Cold Feet is produced by... Granada. In next week's episode: Pete buys himself an ITV Digital set-top box to cheer himself up.

JOHN HUMPHRYS of the Today programme has obviously outgrown the political interview. He tells Reader's Digest that the one figure from history he would like to have interviewed would be Jesus.