THE national media spotlight is on York this week, as the tabloids and broadsheets descend on the city for Royal Ascot.

It's going to be five days of flat caps and "all the trimmings" if the boys on Fleet Street have their way, but the Evening Press has been keeping the London writers busy.

Alan Lee, racing journalist of the year at The Times, gave the paper a particular mention, branding last week's double page etiquette guide "splendidly self-mocking".

He wrote: "In instructing its Yorkshire public what not to do if meeting The Queen at the races, it warned: a cheery: "How do, missus?' followed by a bone-crushing handshake won't cut the mustard."

There was more in The Independent, where the Evening Press featured heavily in the paper's double page preview of the five days of Ascot.

Our interview with Maltings pub owner Shaun Collinge, who said Her Majesty would be welcome in the bar as long as she stuck to real ale, was evidence that "untrammelled enthusiasm for modernity is not, however, universal in York".

Writer Christopher Hirst revealed: "After all, the city is capital of a county famous for its dourness." Saturday's front page revealing how police officers would "zap security threats" to The Queen was also evidence of a local press which had "worked itself up into a fine old tizzy", said Hirst.

"When the darts strike, a five-second, 50,000-volt charge causes the suspect's muscles to contract uncontrollably", Press reporter Chris Greenwood wrote.

Hirst's considered reaction? "Some racegoers may suffer the same reaction when their next credit card bill arrives."

Tweed and trouble at t'mill aside, York can swallow the putdowns from afar as easily as a bottle of Bollinger on the champagne lawn.

Updated: 10:59 Tuesday, June 14, 2005