Piaras Kelly has a sensible post about the hypocrisy of the media when it comes to public relations, politicians and spin. He points to two stories in the Irish press. In the first a government minister is lambasted for a "PR gaffe" in which he posed for a photo call pointing a gun at the camera. The second story criticises the government and politicians for spending so much on public relations advice.

So let's get this straight. According to many journalists you're wrong if you don't know how to work with the media but you're also wrong if you try to get professional help to do it?

I get annoyed by this whole debate about political spin. It's simple. Politicians are forced into "spin" because that's exactly what the media does to them. If the media could be trusted to report stories truthfully and without bias (spin) then the politicians wouldn't need to resort to it.