Jemma Collins's blog

Libel laws are stifling the media’s ability to address public concerns was the message put to students yesterday in an open lecture by Simon Singh.

In the hour long lecture at the Canterbury campus, the acclaimed scientific author and journalist talked about all aspects of the media, from the good, to the bad and ugly.

He said: “How can you have a journalist raising a legitimate concern then finding themselves sued for libel?”

“We think we live in a free country but our libel laws are some of the strictest in the world”.

James Murdoch’s resignation from News International is perhaps a rather effective way of killing two birds with one stone.

In the ever continuing midst of last summer’s phone hacking scandal, the reputation of the company has failed to recover. It’s been just six months since the closure of leading title News of the World and daily hearings at the Leveson Inquiry never fail to keep the flame of accusations alive. It was only this week that speculations arose about the launch date of Murdoch’s new titles the Sun on Sunday; hurried to get on the shelves before a spate of high profile witnesses.

James Murdoch, executive chairman of News International, has stepped down amidst the continuing enquiry in phone hacking within in the media.

In three years’ time I'll be 24. I will have finished my degree and I'll officially be a grown up. Perhaps not unlike any other first year undergraduate, I find the prospect frankly terrifying; all I wish for upon my graduation is to wear one of those stupid hats, walk down the cathedral aisle without slipping on my backside and know I’ve got my dream job ready and waiting.

For the second time in his football career, John Terry was yesterday given the news that he was to be stripped of his England captaincy. Fabio Capello was left unconsulted and will once again return from Italy to find his team a shambles, a mere four months before a major tournament.

With the Occupy London saga supposedly drawing to a head tonight, as the protestors have been called to leave by 6pm, I thought I'd post what I wrote after visiting the site last weekend whilst it still bears relavence. 

DAVID Miliband MP today refused to comment on whether he would make a better Labour Party leader than his brother Ed at a visit to the University of Kent.