Hacks have scruples too

Date: 23/05/1996

Journalists on a recent government-sponsored trip to Poland had no qualms about tucking in to the lavish buffets and more-than-adequate accommodation offered by their hosts. Why shouldn't they? After all, it's all useful material for their next acerbic piece about MEPs' junkets.

But even the hardened hacks had to pause for thought when the trip's organisers brazenly handed out envelopes stuffed with money. It was just to cover extra expenses, explained the hosts, a modest total per diem of 450 ecu each.

We all know what happened next, I hear you cry - but you don't. A majority of the journalists did not pour the lot into the nearest bar, as might have been expected, but instead actually tried to give the money back.

The offer was refused, but that did not deter the scribes - they ennobled their profession by opting to give it to a Polish charity.