The Dealer sees that the grand old lady of D’Olier Street –aka The Irish Times – got itself in some hot water with Coillte recently. I gather the newspaper of record fell victim to a ‘fake’ press release which mischievously claimed Coillte was to plant only native tree species from next year. Coillte, of course, has no intention of sundering its longstanding and very profitable association with Sitka spruce and all the other lovely firs – albeit that they border on useless from a biodiversity perspective.

The Irish Times duly issued a correction and full retraction of its apparent scoop.

On reading of this sorrowful tale, The Dealer was minded of Bing Crosby’s classic rendition of The Teddy Bears’ Picnic:

‘If you go down to the woods today you’re sure of a big surprise...’