Humble pie on menu in Daily Mail staff canteen

Egg on face time for executives of Associated Newspapers. The publisher of UK tabloid the Daily Mail has admitted that a laptop containing financial and personal details of thousands of staff, suppliers and contributors has been stolen.

The laptop, which was password-protected but not encrypted,  contained names, addresses, bank account numbers and bank sort codes.

As a fearless upholder of the public interest, the Daily Mail has in the past lambasted "blundering banks" for "misplacing [their] customers' private personal information", and accused the Government of "mind-blowing incompetence" in a front-page headline splash about lost computer discs.

The unfortunate individuals hit by this latest example of mind-blowing incompetence have been advised by the publishing house to contact their banks - blundering or otherwise - and also "consult the Government Website … for advice on avoiding or dealing with identity theft".