News editor rues missing the deadline

Picture the scene. A plane full of hungover media-buying types and journalists sitting quietly in a plane on the tarmac of Dublin airport. The duty free is safely stashed under the seat in front. The safety demon stration is over and the nearest exits have been checked out.

The hard-working staff of highly popular and successful (that’s enough, ed) radio station Atlantic 252 could relax. Having nursed media buyers and hacks through a marathon Guinness binge for 24 hours – without any of them getting into a fight or pregnant – they could now sit back with a magazine and a cup of coffee.

Then a plaintive cry breaks the hush: “Has anyone seen Conor?” Yes it’s true. A switched-on, highly- respected news editor from another marketing trade magazine is at that moment sitting in the hotel lobby wondering where everyone has gone.

The Diary is sympathetic. We have been trying for years to leave our own news editor in hotel lobbies all over Europe.