To our friend in the North

YES, it’s that time of year again. The time of year when hard-pressed hacks traditionally begin their labours with the phrase, ‘it’s that time of year again’ while the really desperate ones – the ones who find themselves with a whole column to write for publication on Christmas Eve and nothing but a measly book token yet to show for their pitiful attempts at present-buying — resort to the old trick of filling up the blank space with a ‘Dear Santa’ letter.

I suppose you could even think of it as the inky trade’s get-out Claus, ho, ho, ho.