It turns out you can buy friendly coverage from Channel 4 journalists for roughly £40. With the rail strikes continuing for another day, Channel 4 News‘ Cathy Newman feared her planned trip up to Leeds would be derailed. Imagine the horror. As luck would have it, the LNER’s Head of Customer Relations was on-hand to save the day, upgrading Newman to first-class for her entire journey, and even ensuring her train departed a minute early. An early Christmas miracle – one which Newman had to share with her 241,000 Twitter followers…

Unfortunately, when Cathy realised it wasn’t a great reflection of her journalistic talents to lap up a train company’s PR stunt in the middle of a strike, she deleted the post. At least any company looking for a Channel 4 puff piece in future know how much it costs. A standard ticket from King’s Cross to Leeds costs £34.80; first class costs £76. Cough up £41.20, pour her a coffee, and Cathy will sort your PR out…