THE Margin's man in the castle tells an interesting tale from the recent EU summit. As is the practice on these occasions, a small goodie bag" was prepared for the 1,500 visiting journalists. Included was a bottle of whiskey, a CD and a few other bits and pieces - all designed, of course, to give our visitors a good impression of the State.

The bags were left in the castle overnight before the meeting began and organising officials were relieved to find them all in place whey they returned. That was until they checked what was inside. Some of the bottles of whiskey were missing. And the thoughtful thief had left bottles of Ballygowan in their place. No doubt it all improved the quality of the copy filed by the visiting hacks.