According to the survey, Business was found to be more credible than government or media in 13 of the 18 countries surveyed in 2007.

Publius was delighted to have the opportunity to deliver a lecture on a similar subject in the Abbey Theatre last week, as an opener to the final few days of the Abbey's superb production of School for Scandal. It occurred to us that there is a good reason scandals aren't what they used to be, and revelations of payments to high politicians can actually be followed by a rise in their poll numbers. To be scandalised, outraged at a scandal, requires that people feel betrayed. And you can't be betrayed by someone you don't trust.

Throughout the West, trust in institutions is at an historic low - including media, government and business (Enron? Hellloo? ). That 'Business' ranks higher in surveys of 'opinion leaders' may suggest a skew of sample more than anything else.

And that the "nding about trust comes from Edelman - most recently noted for operating 'fake blogs' or '"ogs' for clients including Wal-Mart - is apparently meant to be swallowed without irony.

PAPAL CHILDRENSWEAR IN AISLE 9 No, it's not your diseased imagination. That voiceover in the McConnells-produced ads for Tesco Ireland is in fact the one and only one-man content machine that is David McWilliams.

It's possible we might be approaching some sort of critical mass with the McWilliams brand. It's hard to recall a precedent for a single personality in a single week appearing in (drumroll please):

Davos' World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders list, an article in the New York Times on Ireland's shortage of suburban school places and housing and Tesco Ireland.

Publius admits that we are not above a certain murderous envy at this point. And we weren't even born with the local begrudgery gene.

"Hey - it's what out-of-work TV presenters do", McWilliams tells Publius.

WAITING, WAITING AIB still has the advertising community on tenterhooks waiting for a decision. Tayto have narrowed down their selection process to Cawley Nea/TBWA and DDFH&B.

Chemistry, Publicis QMP and McCann-Erickson have been eliminated.

AND SO IT BEGINS Fox apparently has decided it's not a fan of the whole video-sharing milieu. Taking its example from the slow but inexorable legal Leviathan of the record companies that began suing individual downloaders for taking down unmonetised songs in the 1990s, the entertainment behemoth earlier this month quietly served subpoeanas on YouTube and LiveDigital, another video-sharing website.

In this case Fox wants to learn the identify of the person who uploaded episodes of '24' and 'The Simpsons'.

In the case of '24', the episodes appeared on YouTube before they were actually aired on Fox, suggesting the culprit is an insider.

Fox-parent-News Corp-owned MySpace itself has been the target of several lawsuits over copyright infringement, including from Universal Music Group. The move could be the first salvo in a long round of anti-copyright-infringement lawsuits against individuals by the film and TV studios. Mind what you upload.

'UNRULY' JULIE STRIKES BACK Last year we brought you the bizarre saga of former Wal-Mart marketing supremo Julie Roehm (right), sacked by the mega-retailer for alleged misconduct involving a competitive agency pitch, Lychee martinis at swishy New York clubs and a bit more sex than conservative bosses in Bentonville, Arkansas might have liked. Roehm quietly filed suit last month. Court docs reveal what the compensation deal looks like for one of the world's top marketing jobs.

Roehm, who was hired in January 2006, had a base pay of $325,000, a signing bonus of $250,000 and annual stock and other incentive bonuses of up to $300,000.

TIPS, BRIBES & ABUSE all welcome at rdelevan@tribune. ie