MAGPIE'S SUDDEN SILENCE BOOSTS SALES OF CHAMPERS ?

Veteran Townsville  journalist , Malcolm Weatherup , whose regular   pungent blog, The Magpie's Nest , pecks far and  wide , causing  many a  flap ,   on   June 25  announced   the   bird would  be  silenced for several weeks  as he  would be  going into hospital at  the end of the month to have  cancer  removed from  his throat  , which would  result in " my vocal cords  going  west " and he would no longer be able to talk . Given  the content  of The Magpie's Nest , he wrote  that  his silence  would  send the sales of  champagne  through the roof in some  parts  of  the city . Weatherup , our readers will recall ,  recently won a defamation  case  against   The Australian  newspaper