Executives of the Thomson-owned Belfast Telegraph are energetically trying to trace the source of a rash of fake Telegraph billboards which have appeared in the city over the past few days. The posters, which are changed every day or so, are convincing copies of the genuine article except that they give a somewhat misleading impression of the paper’s stance on the South Atlantic adventure.

The first appeared early last week and proclaimed: “Penguins Capture the Task Force.” This was followed by another, which read: “War is good for business, says British Junta.” Yesterday’s requisitioning of the QE2 was billed as “Refloated Titanic joins Task Force.”