Staff at The Guardian and The Observer are howling with madness. They are also pushing for a strike in protest at the possible sale of the Obs to Tortoise Media.

They have already said so in an indicative ballot, today they vote again in a more formal, more legal poll.

In that vote, 93% said they were willing to down tools.

We will get the results of this vote later, but there is not much doubt about the strength of the feeling.

Hacks say the union has been extremely active in drumming up support to stop Tortoise, the media venture set up by former Times chief James Harding.

It may not help Harding that he is journalistic royalty, a former director of BBC News who is married to a daughter of insurance tycoon Sir Mark Weinberg.

Guardian types – frightfully chippy of them though this may be – have pondered whether Harding is one of their own, and concluded not.

(Absolutely no one who works at The Guardian has inherited wealth or sent their children to private school. Ever.)

Where is Guardian editor Kath Viner on all this? Well, once she saw the level of staff opposition, hiding in the background, some think.

Which might make it easier for her to later say she thought it was a bad idea in the first place.

Some other exec might just have to take the blame here.

All of which is entertaining to rival media groups.

A somewhat bitchy piece in The Standard has it that the Guardian should be on the up, fighting Donald Trump, rather than itself.

By this telling, it should be enjoying a commercial boom as it becomes the central point for leftwing opposition to Trump there and the Tories here. A powerful force keeping Keir Starmer and co honest.

(It does seem possible that this government might care more about a strike at The Guardian than the one by farmers.)

We’ve said here before that The Tortoise bid has merits, assuming Harding has actually got the £25 million he has pledged to invest in the paper. (People doubt this, but he surely couldn’t have got this far without it.)

Logistically, it is far from obvious how to split two such intertwined businesses – The Obs relies heavily on Guardian resources.

That aside, it is possible The Observer might have found a new lease of life under different owners.

It is very hard to see how that deal, or any other deal, can get traction given the level of staff opposition.

This may be a shame. In the longer run, what is in the best interests of The Observer, starved of investment, and without a digital expression of its own?

Perhaps its future would be served by merging with a digital newsroom that can pump out podcasts and the rest, with a flagship paper once a week.

At some point, Guardian management, who have plainly already decided that The Observer is a non-core asset, might have to stand up to the staff and tell them: tough.

It doesn’t look like this is going to be that moment.

Please send candidates for press release of the day to: Simon.english@roxhillmedia.com