From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

Perks of the nursing job. Which senior media figure recently had a medical problem requiring the assistance of a nurse (who was also as graphic designer) during their recovery — the nurse asked the chief for a media job, and apparently landed one. As with most media companies, there have been some redundancies of late, and it seems not everyone involved in this rumour is happy that the nurse got a job when others are losing theirs. “Wonder who is going in order to create the vacancy?” our source pondered. If you know more about this tip, keep Crikey in the loop.

News Limited fail. Speaking of media gossip, we’ve heard that someone high up at News Limited “does not have the poise and grace” of their predecessor and “recently ranted and raved on the profit and loss forecasts”. An insider reckons this person should be challenging the forecast sales figures — or there might be more redundos. Guess who?

Another one we can’t name … We hear a certain mayor has “pushed through a small improvement scheme” in a street, “which puts 20 more car spaces in front of property he owns, whilst making the cycle lane more dangerous”. Not a good idea to piss off the cyclists, that’s our advice.

Horseburgers all round. You might have noticed the Brits are in a lather that they’ve been eating horse dressed up as beef. Remember the good old days when Mum fed you “chicken” which seemed a lot like rabbit? Well, Crikey is calling on our butchers to tell us if there’s any meat substitution going on in present-day Australia. What exactly is in that stupidmarket mince? If you’re a meat industry insider, let us know the inside story — and you can stay anonymous.

Crikey kills astrology. Tips recently brought you the sorry tale of the SA government funding an “astrology presentation” for staff — the presenter reckons horoscopes allow people to “excel personally and professionally”. That sounds like a load of Taurus to us. Well, here’s an update from a mole from the department in question:

“An email was sent out the day after the original Crikey Tip was published advising that this had been cancelled and would be rescheduled to a future date. That’s government jargon for cancelled indefinitely. Well done to Crikey and the tipster for aiding the fight against nonsense dressed up as science.”

*Heard anything that might interest Crikey? Send your tips to boss@crikey.com.au or use our guaranteed anonymous form