Whooda thunk it? NUJ treasurer and treasure Anita Halpin, oft to be seen fist thumping on the podium at the union's annual delegate meeting, is now, well, rolling in it after selling a German Expressionist masterpiece for a not-piffling £20m.
While I'm sure the sale was prompted only by the concerns about insuring the painting, had it been installed in the family's modest Victorian terrace in east London, there is more than a little speculation about how she might decide to spend the cash.
While the Guardian's dedicated ground force was on patrol yesterday, one neighbour said they had been en route to return a tin of creosote but had a change of heart. "Sod it. They can buy their own bloody creosote now."
Ms Halpin has gone to ground, unsurprisingly, and I should imagine every NUJ-affiliated hack within a 3,000 mile radius is "just dropping her a line" to recall the happy time they shared a principle/beer/waltz at ADM with her back in 1924. It could be good for union recruitment, anyway.
The NUJ is being besieged with calls, as is the Morning Star, on whose management committee Anita Halpin presides.
But comrades at the 76-year-old Morning Star are believed to work for little more than the glamour and glory of that illustrious publication, so we wait with breath a-bated to see if their staff of 16 journalists benefit from Ms Halpin's windfall.
