I'm not surprised that printers are unhappy at the prospect of paper price increases, but it's equally unsurprising that rises are on their way. The paper industry is still in a mess.

Among the gallons of red ink spilt among our industry suppliers of late, much attention has been focused on the German press manufacturers, and the future for them. But Heidelberg's losses last year of €249m are dwarfed when you look at what's happened at merchanting giant Paperlinx, which posted a beyond eye-watering loss of A$798m, or £415.5m in real money, in the year to August 09.

The word on the street is that there will be blood and hair on the walls if these increases don't stick. "Something big is going to happen", say insiders, and I can only imagine that will mean swingeing cuts to branches and service levels.

Can only hope that a more stable model will emerge from all this in the end.