Red Ken rumbled over his 'Pravda Lite' paper

* Proof that the capital's politics can be more entertaining than our national shenanigans. London mayor Ken Livingstone has been sucked into a delightful 80s-style row about his "Soviet-style editorial techniques" on a publicly funded community rag.

Red Ken is the subject of a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority from one Lee Rotherham, a sergeant in the Territorial Army and Tory drum-banger hoping to stand against the incumbent in next year's mayoral contest.

Rotherham spat his pint across the room after reading the latest edition of The Londoner, officially an apolitical newsletter but known to the capital's right-wing residents as Pravda Lite. He claims it is riddled with bias in favour of The Newt and has compiled a foaming dossier to this effect.

The word "Mayor" appears 21 times, Rotherham chokes, while there are 10 additional "variants of 'Ken Livingstone'". Warming to his task, he adds: "If there was any doubt about bias, 29 Across in the crossword rather spells out the hidden agenda. It reads 'Fidel Castro's Island Republic'."

Ken's spokeswoman is "really not sure it's something we'd want to comment on," although she insists that The Londoner "is subject to the same legal constraints as other newsletters of elected authorities".

Rotherham informs Pandora that he has mailed the offending publication to Russia, where it is being "inspected by former Soviet dissidents". He adds: "I'm sure it will bring back terrible memories for them."

A bit like Ken Livingstone does for Thatcherites, then.

* BBC journalist Martha Kearney, Newsnight's enchanting resident expert on egg-throwing (having been inadvertently struck by a yolky projectile during an election broadcast), is to leave her post as the programme's political editor. In two months she will clean her desk and depart for Radio 4, to present The World At One.

Any mourning over the popular Kearney's departure is tempered by colleagues' relief that her disappearance averts this weekend's planned strike by Beeb hacks over forced redundancies. The likes of Natasha "fashion disaster" Kaplinsky, supposed to be presenting the Oscars, had to decide whether to cross militant picketers.

One of Kearney's colleagues comments: "We're sad. She's been here 13 years, so it's a big shock. But they needed to get rid of two reporters for cost cutting. In the nicest possible way, that's one of them gone. She's our sacrificial lamb."

* The comedian and international swordsman Russell Brand has accepted a straight acting role in ITV's serial-killer drama Cold Blood.

Initially a one-off pilot casting Matthew Kelly as the murderer of eight women and a child, it has been commissioned for a full series. "Russell has an absolutely straight role," an ITV source tells Pandora. (Difficult to have a funny one.) "He's in one episode alongside John Hannah and Jemma Redgrave.

"People will be surprised, but Russell's an actor and this is what he wants to get into. We're chuffed, but he wouldn't have got the part unless he was suited to it."

The channel will make an official announcement this morning, when it will hopefully be clearer whether Brand ends up sporting a goodie's smile or a body bag.

* Michael Meacher's challenge to Gordon Brown's Prime Ministerial aspirations may prove less of a starter than his previous tilt at power.

Twenty-four years ago, Mike stood against Roy Hattersley to become deputy leader of the Labour Party. The records, from the People's History Museum in Manchester, show the ill-fated Meach was supported by John Prescott, Clare Short and Harriet Harman.

"Did I really!" comes Short's surprised reply when I call. "I can't remember the circumstances. I can only presume it was more of a vote against Hattersley; he was seen as a hardened right-winger." Meach won't have Short's vote this time: she's independent and doesn't get one.

Harman, who hopes to become Gord's deputy, seems strangely reluctant to return messages on the matter.

* Just imagine the fun one could have aboard a nuclear submarine! The big-haired Kali Mountford, bag carrier to the Defence Secretary Des Browne, has spent the past fortnight trying to pressgang her fellow MPs into walking the plank onto a Trident sub.

On offer: a tour of the Faslane naval base, sailing overnight into the icy depths off west Scotland, followed by holiday snaps with the Doomsday weapon.

Alas, this weekend's trip - which eerily coincided with Stop the War's anti-Trident demo in London - has plummeted to the seabed. Not because of concerns about letting certain members of the Commons anywhere near operational missile technology, but due to a lack of support from parliamentarians.

Says a nice chap in Mountford's office: "No Tories or Liberals signed up for it. Perhaps they're scared."

pandora@independent.co.uk

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