Students at the Centre may still be wondering what they want to be journalists for; what they want to do with their skills and knowledge once they leave here. It's a tough choice, and hopefully you will be spoiled for it.  While you're thinking about the good things you do want to do, here is some sobering reading about the harm journalists can do.

Please be advised that for your nctj portfolios, for any work published in a newspaper/magazine you will be required to supply not only the published article but also a print out of your original, signed by your news editor/editor/chief reporter.

Just to remind you that your second and final timed writing test for Reporting and Writing One is Tuesday February 24.

Today's House of Commons Treasury committee was grilling journalists about their role in reporting the financial crisis, including the BBC's Robert Peston who despite his unconventional delivery has been scooping the rest of the pack on a regular basis. What he has to say about reporting is well worth listening to. He says that 'corkers' rarely land on his lap, rather, getting a good story is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, often with hundreds of different pieces.

You'll all be very relieved to hear that your timed writing test has been postponed for a week. I know part of a journalist's skills are to be intrepid in the hunt for stories and information, but you are hereby officially let off. Meanwhile in sunny Whitstable, there has been a terrible slaughter of snowmen: bodies of dying and half-melted humanoids with carrot noses and pebble eyes litter the garden like the aftermath of some terrible ice battle.