Leading article: Pucker up

Hundreds of thousands, probably millions, have climbed the battlements of Blarney Castle in the south-west of Ireland to kiss the famous stone that confers the "gift of the gab". But they may have been puckering up for nothing, according to two archaeologists who claim in a new book that the present stone only came into use in the late 19th century and was chosen by the castle owners for health and safety reasons.

This is disturbing stuff – not least because a more sceptical climate towards the tenets of Irish folklore might endanger the leprechaun pot-of-gold tax payments system, a significant contributor to the modern Irish economy. Moreover, we hope this does not put people off the concept of blarney. As America's first televangelist Fulton J Sheen put it: "Baloney is the lie laid on so thick you hate it. Blarney is flattery laid on so thin you love it." Quite right. Banish all doubt and keep kissing the stone, we say.

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