With customary hypocrisy, the Eurosceptic press today criticised the EU for cutting subsidies that could lead to an increase to the cost of Christmas trees. Apparently, imports of the Danish grown Nordmann fir, which has been the most popular tree in British households since the early 1990s because it retains its needles for longer than other trees, are to drop because a ruling by the European Union to scrap subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy.

About 300,000 Nordmann firs will now be sent to Britain this December compared with the 1.2 million last year.

An interesting story - I hadn't realised that the Telegraph and the Express were in favour of the CAP subsidy! The ingenuity of newspaper editors to shape a story to give the EU a clout never ceases to amaze, but "EU ruins Christmas" is a new one in my book.