Roger Alton may have left The Observer of his own choosing, but life was not easy for him in the run-up to standing down as Editor - and not just because of the Nick Davies book. There was a second bust-up last July after an over-egged story, aiming again to prove a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. An intense row followed in which The Guardian, The Observer's sister title, attacked the article in its Bad Science column, and Mr Alton was told by Alan Rusbridger, The Guardian's Editor, to publish a full apology (nearly 1,000 words) and write a dossier to explain to the Scott Trust - the ultimate owner - that standards had not slipped.

— Lily Allen's debut bombed on BBC Three with a measly 255,000 viewers on Tuesday night, a bad start for the important relaunch. Five, meanwhile did a bit better with Neighbours - 1 million at lunchtime was well down on the BBC's 2.6million average, but teatime's 2.3million held up well against the 2.7 million that the BBC had been getting. But there is still plenty to do: Five has to increase ad revenues by nearly 10 per cent to make up Neighbours' cost of £30million a year.

— Clearly Tom Moloney, Emap's former chief executive, liked Nursing Times more than we thought. Rumour has it that he is in talks with Dr Foster, the healthcare information company, to take on a top job. Dr Foster was launched in 2001 with its core work being the publication of guides to healthcare services.

— No wonder John Kampfner quit as Editor of the New Statesman amid rows with the title's owner, Geoffrey Robinson, over cutbacks in marketing spending. Circulation has tumbled nearly 10 per cent to 26,208, about a third of The Spectator's 75,633.

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