It was ‘unfunny irony time’ at the Society of Editors’ conference yesterday afternoon.

While delegates continued to listen to expert panellists debating the future of the Press Complaints Commission, the closure of three historic newspapers was announced in the West Midlands.

There has to be, of course, a post-mortem into the ugly events of phone-hacking; the delicate tightrope between state intervention and self-regulation is relevant subject matter for all editors.

But it meant little to Mike Lockley, editor of the Chase Post and Stafford Post, nor to Ross Crawford, editor of the Sutton News, both now dealing with their own and staff’s futures just a month before Christmas.

The paradox was a microcosm of the niggles from every regional editor I spoke to that the entire SoE conference had been dedicated to ‘a modern media charter’, when this was mainly a dilemma for the national titles responsible for Milly Dowler-style outrages.

As former regional editor Neil Fowler said in his Guardian Lecture at Nuffield College, Oxford, last week: “If there isn’t a news industry to be ethical about, we are somewhat missing the point.”

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It was great to see delegates living up to the journalists’ reputation of searching out and exploiting free alcohol.

As they came out of the last session yesterday, there was a complimentary glass of wine for anyone who wanted to listen to a presentation by RAF plastic surgeon Demetrius Evriviades, explaining how he and his team treat military patients.

All injured UK servicemen are treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, and the hospital’s charity was raising awareness and therefore publicity for the site and the extra funds needed.

An impressive 72 glasses of wine were handed out to thirsty editors. Only 17 stayed to listen…

Those that did were all astonished at what Wing Commander Evriviades told them about reconstructing patients literally blown apart by IEDs in Afghanistan.

Plenty of real stories for any switched-on editor to take back to their papers, even if some of the pictures may have put them off their dinner.

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Talking of food, what was going through Bob Satchwell’s mind when he arranged the seating plan for last night’s annual Gala Dinner?

One of the most prestigious guests was Air Vice Marshal Andrew Vallance, CB, OBE, not only a former Vulcan bomber pilot but now the secretary of the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee.

That’s the body that arranges the DA-Notice System – providing state advice to the media about defence information that could be damaging to national security. Spooks, spies and secrecy to me and you.

And who does Mr DA-Notice get to sit next to? Yep, the formidable Irina Demchenko, UK Bureau Chief of RIA Novosti, the Russian International News Agency.

Now we all know the Cold War is over, but Bob… come on, please! It was nearly the equivalent of placing our Falkland Island delegates next to the Argentine ambassador.

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Snippets from the Gala Dinner itself…

Best dressed guests: Mr and Mrs Doug Melloy, making the Rotherham Advertiser shine at dinner with perfect outfits of stunning ankle-length dress and kilt, socks and all the trimmings.

The food: unlike the fantastic fry-ups for breakfast at the Runnymede Hotel, last night’s three-courses were poor. Salty carrots, pools of gravy.

The speaker: Attorney General Dominic Grieve was pretty good, competing with Ken Clarke for the best words spoken throughout the whole conference. Commenting on the strenuous efforts at searching for that elusive ‘modern media charter’, his advice was simple. In summary: “You could do worse than starting with Articles 8 (privacy) and 10 (expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights.” Hmmm. Problem solved?

The raffle: The Venerable David Meara, Rector of St Brides, Fleet Street, had come along to say grace. He also won a bottle of vintage champagne by signing a banknote to put in a raffle raising money for the Jounalists’ Charity. But there were jovial catcalls from delegates when they learned Rev Meara had only put in a crumpled fiver. Quick as a flash, the Rector Meara announced: “Ah, but I put two fivers in.” Yeah, we believe you, Rev.

Dyson at Large returns on Wednesday November 23 with another regional newspaper review