Neil Arun didn’t want to miss a rare but risky opportunity to embed with an Iraqi police unit, hunting members of al Qaeda. But his employers -- responsible for Neil’s security -- weren’t happy. This film by Richard Pendry nvestigates how a frontline journalist balances risk and reward.
Third year undergraduate Sara Malm's latest iWriter column appears in the Independent's compact edition today (Monday 5 December). It depicts the tough life of a Soho cocktail waitress during the Christmas drinking season. Sara's experience speaks plainly from every sentence and makes me very glad - not for the first time - that I'm not a banker (or 'bawwa' as waitresses apparently call them - you'll have to read the article for a translation of this particular modern insult ). Well done, Sara. This is a superb achievement so early in your career and an excellent advertisement for the Centre for Journalism.
Turn to page 18 of Britain's first and only concise, quality newspaper and rejoice. Our own Sara Malm, editor of the Medwire, has written the column reserved for winners of the iWriters competition. Sara's column is called 'It's a wonderful feeling to scorn the beautiful.' It is an acute, compelling and stylish account of one student's reaction to the release from jail in Perugia of Amanda "Foxy Knoxy" Knox. It is additionally gratifying to see below Sara's byline the description: 'The writer is studying Journalism and the News Industry at the University of Kent.' To read more you will have to get a copy of the i. At twenty pence it is a tiny price to pay to join in celebrating such a tremendous achievement. Huge congratulations, Sara. I'm sure it is the first of many columns for national newspapers. 
Once in a while I read a column and really, really wish I had written it. For weeks I have been looking for the historical analogy with which to illustrate the argument that removing debt from the economy is not the same as taking money out of circulation. Dominic Lawson in today's Independent has found exactly the right example: Frederic Bastiat's advice to the French National Assembly in the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars. In doing so Mr Lawson also offers a compelling antidote to the argument that reduced state spending is inimical to growth. He also offers a powerful incentive to read and reread the history of the French revolution. It inspired Karl Marx too, of course (the revolution that is, not Dominic Lawson's column). 