Lowe's big tease

As his one-time deputy Keith Perch recently noted, Mike Lowe was one of the great 'personality editors' of the 1990s, bringing his unique style of journalism to first the Gloucester Citizen, then the Derby Evening Telegraph, and finally the Bristol Evening Post.

After leaving Bristol following a management shake-up at the paper in 2005, Mike forged a new career as a lifestyle magazine editor, but the recent departures of Paul Horrocks from the Manchester Evening News and Marc Reeves and Steve Dyson from the Birmingham Post and Mail gave Jon Slattery the chance to dust off his contacts book and give him a call for a feature about what happens to ex-editors.

The interview, published in the current print edition of Press Gazette but not available online, is a great read, not least Mike's revelation that he once entertained "3am fantasies of assassinating the man (or woman)" who forced him out of his job.

But the really tantalising gem is the bit where Mike reveals he has recently been approached to return to editing on a major regional title.

He said: "I had a phone call from a headhunter only this week inviting me to apply for a significant regional editor's job. It took me about 20 minutes to realise that I wasn't remotely interested. Life moves on."

So which "significant regional title" was it? Well, the only one I can think of that is currently vacant is the MEN. If Mike, a lifelong United fan, was not tempted by that one, then it's clear that nothing is going to lure him back into regional journalism.