very organisation makes mistakes. I know as a newspaper we sometimes get things wrong but we hold up our hands and make corrections. My editor's policy is that people tend to forgive cock-ups if you're honest about them.

It seems, though, to be a different story at Wycombe District Council, who appear to prefer to spin their way out of trouble when things go wrong.

A slip up by a council spokesman brought the cynical nature of the public relations industry to light this week.

A fax was accidentally sent to this newspaper from the council while I was on holiday.

It was only a few lines long but its contents perhaps reveal a lot about how public relations work in local government.

The Free Press had printed a story about a blunder by district council officials leading to a new mobile phone mast will be built against the wishes of nearby residents even after planning permission was refused.

The story obviously caused a few ripples in the press office and led to the fax between one council spokesman and a senior member of the authority.

The most striking paragraph in the fax, written in relation to the mast story, said: "Whilst external relations made every effort to play down and manage the story, the fundamental facts of the case are unfavourable."

So there you have it in black and white.

Does this mean that if the Free Press has an important story about the council which is in the public interest and that shows it in a bad light, the spin doctors will try their best to dilute it.

I also wondered what they meant by 'managing' a story.

It sounds like some phrase out of Labour's much criticised Millbank public relations machine.

Translated from public relations speak, it really means that they were hoping to avoid a major embarrassment on the front page of this newspaper.

I think most people would be disappointed to hear that the council seems to be more interested in preventing a PR disaster then holding their hands up and admitting in this case they had basically made a major mistake.

This rogue fax is part of council's effort to monitor the media in the area.

I presume we won't be fortunate enough to find another in the tray this week.

That's a great pity because I'm sure council taxpayers, who help pay for these external relations professionals, would be very interested to hear more on how they try to wriggle out of any holes their masters may have dug.

By the way, I would like to thank my colleague, Geoff Perfitt, for standing in for me last week at short notice.

Unfortunately he wasn't credited for his excellent effort and in his piece the reader may have got the impression that I had already had at least one wife.

Unlike Geoff, I have not yet had the pleasure of being married.

As I told you, we are happy to admit it when we make a balls-up.