Pants publicity may mean Grant cuts

Which? magazine is getting its knickers in a twist about the Marks & Spencer anti-cellulite smalls - a story that's created a raft of bad publicity at the worst possible moment for the retailer's spinner, Andrew Grant.
You'll recall that Grant is Sir Stuart Rose's mouthpiece - but with the arrival of new M&S chief exec, Marc Bolland, Grant is becoming increasingly worried that his biggest client might desert his agency, Tulchan. In fact, City gossips are already suggesting that Simon Rigby, of rival Citigate and Bolland's long-serving City spokesman from his WM Morrison days, might be the favourite to nick Grant's crown jewells. Developing...

The end is Nye

Might Gordon Brown honestly be starting to regret getting into bed with the Goldman Sachs crowd?

The investment bank got its big break in Whitehall via its former banker, Gavyn Davies – who is married to Brown's former private secretary and the current director of government relations, Sue Nye.

Since then, political expediency has forced the PM to start branding the bank as "morally bankrupt", while calling for an immediate investigation into the Goldman's dealings. But any votes he might have won through that bit of spin were more than extinguished by today's gaffe of calling Labour voter Gillian Duffy "bigoted".

And who does the "clunking fist" blame for exposing him to Duffy? Er, Sue Nye.

The butterfly, the caterpillar and the Fox

Here's Sir Richard Branson, running the London Marathon at the weekend. Trotting by his side, is Nick Fox, the Virgin tycoon's loyal PR man - who coincidentally managed to record an identical time to his master (5.02:24). Still, you'd have to be a complete cynic to suggest that Fox got roped into this physical torture - and failed to beat his much older boss - simply to ingratiate himself. Many on Fleet Street remember the mouthpiece as a thrusting City hack. How the predators are tamed!

Merlin conjures up new PR strategy

Parents routinely attempt to bribe their children into compliance by offering treats - such as trips to theme parks and the like. But is Legoland and Madame Tussauds owner, Merlin Entertainments, now looking to do the same with the press?

"With Easter now over and the first signs of summer evident, all of the Merlin Entertainments’ attractions are open and showing off their new season investment," an email to the Fourth Estate begins. "Over recent months we have talked a lot about the breadth of the Merlin offer but there is nothing like seeing it for yourself, so Nick [Varney, chief exec] hopes that we can persuade you, along with your friends and family, to visit one or more of the attractions this year."

The company then instructs hacks to call the group's PR company to arrange the complimentary tickets. Isn't life just grand?

Sindy column...

Another supposed "spat" with Bannatyne. For this week's column, click here.

Big losses at the Graun

The announcement by Guardian Media Group that Andrew Miller will become interim chief exec when Easyjet bound Carolyn McCall enters the departure lounge in July got plenty of coverage in rival titles.

Less well covered was the full contents of an email sent to staff explaining the news - in which (buried at the bottom) was the startling news that GMG is going to lose even more money than even it expected.

Amelia Fawcett, chairman of GMG, wrote: "There is, of course, work still to do, and a degree of uncertainty about the future. Unlike many media organisations, though, the ownership structure we have through the Scott Trust allows us to respond to this uncertainty by taking a long-term view.
"In particular, we have constructed the portfolio in a way that deliberately exchanges short-term profit for longer-term capital gain and financial security. This focus on the long term means that the benefits of the work we’ve done will not be reflected in our headline annual results for the year ended in March, which will be published in the next few months. It is inevitable that the accounting around our restructuring in the last year will create a large paper loss – despite the group now being in a stronger position than before."

Just how much trouble is GMG in?

Tip for Tett

The FT's Gillian Tett today makes the now common mistake, when she says that clients are "risking the wrath of the giant Vampire Squid".
The actual phrase used by Matt Taibbi about Goldman Sachs was "great vampire squid". Surely if you steal other people's work, it's best to at least get it right...