From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

Super protection for big player. Who’s the prominent Rich Lister in the courts seeking a super injunction to protect their secrets?

With God on his side. Well well, can anyone guess who this tip is about? “Which prominent former Rudd advisor, in a tired and emotional state, was overheard recently boasting of turning his political skills to the travails of Australia’s most powerful Catholic?”

New think tank in town? Look out, Gerard Henderson. Prepare for some competition, Institute of Public Affairs. We hear one prominent Aussie is preparing to make a splash with his own think tank next week. Stay tuned; you’ll hear it here first …

Memo to vendors: hide the pot. Don’t try to sell your house using a photograph showing alleged dope plants. This delightfully located two-bedroom home in Adelaide was featured using a picture showing two pot plants with alleged flowering marijuana plants. The police admired the photo so much they dropped by and issued a court date for one of the occupants. The agent selling the place, Arthur Dimitrak, told our colleagues at Property Observer he felt sorry for the accused young occupant. “He should have put his plants in the shed,” Dimitrak noted.

A quiet Friday in the office. Tips has been bringing you the best of the country’s staff Christmas parties of late, and in the spirit of full and frank disclosure it seems only fair to apprise our readers of some of the goings-on at the Private Media (owners of Crikey) party in Melbourne last night. Crikey’s publisher, the effervescent Marina Go, treated us to a tribute song she penned (read her account of the evening here), editor Jason Whittaker won dance floor “best on ground” for his brief but passionate interpretation of Peter Garrett, while media writer Matthew Knott won the quiz in contested circumstances.

Chairman Eric Beecher regaled the troops with an express Xmas speech (apparently the script was pre-moderated by First Dog on the Moon and Bernard Keane), and then displayed admirable fortitude to stay until the end of the night as his staff got progressively merrier. The evening ended with various motley Crikey staffers roaming the streets of Melbourne looking for a karaoke bar. A sad note to the night was struck when Dog realised his backpack had gone missing, prompting an anguished Twitter campaign:

The mystery was solved this morning — a fellow employee had taken the wrong bag home:

If you’ve got any gossip from staff Christmas parties, or truly wonderful or awful gifts from the boss, please share them. And you can stay anonymous for the top-shelf gossip!

Abbott amid the dreaming spires. Tony Abbott is mixing it with the dons of Oxford, visiting his alma mater Queens’s College to deliver a speech. We count on our brilliant academic moles to pass on tips about his speech and what else he gets up to. Keep Crikey in the loop.

Now that’s a tip. As you can probably imagine, Crikey‘s letterbox does get some interesting mail from time to time. Favourite topics include Jesus, Serco, interesting YouTube videos from the Asian region, bullying, and who is sleeping with whom. We don’t usually run the more “out there” submissions, but this one ticked our fancy: “You may wish to try the pizzas at [name withheld] but don’t look at the vegie garden as I do not have it set up properly yet.” We admire the tipster’s chutzpah.

*Do you know more? Send your tips to boss@crikey.com.au or use our guaranteed anonymous form.