WITHOUT further ado, I'd like to introduce the latest addition to The Champion newsroom.

As you've probably already noticed, it's coming up to Christmas and - in between working on stories for our special Christmas Champion, due out next Wednesday - we spent a carefully considered few minutes putting up and decorating a tree for the newsroom.

Unfortunately, unlike the beautiful creation our colleagues downstairs at Linedancer Magazine came up with, our tree came without anything to stand it on, meaning we've had to use typical editorial ingenuity instead.

Look carefully at the shot above and you'll spot that not only is the base a cunningly-disguised waste paper bin - that single strand of tinsel has everyone fooled - but that it's stood in front of a concrete pillar because tying the two together using the Christmas lights was the only way to stop it from falling over. Health and safety people look away now; in a way, The Champion building itself is somehow structurally integral to our tree!

One of the kinder members of our production team described the result of our efforts as "having all the elegance of a car crash". Personally, I actually think it's quite arty, in the same way that Tracey Emin's unmade bed was considered art. Everyone enjoyed a celebratory mince pie in its honour, with the notable exception of me, because I'm working on a feature on the joys of not eating mince pies.

Merry Christmas.

P.S: A special mention should go to Edge Hill University lecturer Marc Stanton, who not only read my article about how disagreed with his views on the future of local newspapers, but actually went to the trouble of ringing me up about it.

In the interests of fair play, I ought to point out that he was keen to stress he believes in quality regional journalism, agrees that newspapers and websites can and should compliment one another and that I should pop over to Edge Hill in Ormskirk for a friendly natter and a coffee.

Consider my cap doffed.

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