Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals Foundation Trust correctly identified the national media’s buttock clenchingly embarrassing over-coverage of the royal birth was a public relations open goal par excellence.

Pretty much any old tosh parped out by hospital spinners including the words “royal” and “baby” was guaranteed to be handed to an unfortunate unpaid intern to regurgitate and present as a genuine news story.

In Basildon’s case, it turned out that a baby was born at the hospital at – wait for it – exactly the same time as the royal prince.

Trust chief executive Clare Panniker – who’s got a lot of be getting on with at the moment – was duly sent to maternity for a pic with the tot which was lapped up by, among others, the Daily Mail, Daily Star and ITV news.

It’s stories like this which remind End Game what being a journalist is all about.

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