Interesting stuff Colin. Is the story about your cousin true? How long we're they married? He sounds like a whole story himself frankly!

It's a difficult area this. To get started in journalism I actively sought to work for my local newspaper - did so for two months for free - and it helped when it came to applying for things as it showed my enthusiasm to become a journalist and taught me more than I learned at college.

I would encourage anyone who wants to become a journalist to try this, but at the say time it's hard to not look exploitational by offering such a placement.

I believe that anyone who takes up such a role needs to grab it with both hands, and while it will be a lot of work, they should also be savvy enough to think of their CV and make sure they gain the experience they feel they need for the future (wherever that takes us.)

A qualification is very important - but there's nothing better than hard graft and experience (not to mention contacts) to show that you can offer something to an employer. Having The Guaridan on your CV can't hurt either. Can it?

Will this be their sixth agency in five years then if they move the account again? Don't think it's a reflection on Big at all. Or a surprise that it's happening again.

Great piece Dan - and you're spot on. Sometimes online blogs are written to provoke a response - but I wonder if the worst possible outcome (I mean for 'poor' Samantha and not the Daily Mail) were considered before doing so. It's hard to be cynical isn't it?

I'm curious to see how much of a change this will mean. It's no doubt important, but some people I'm talking to don't believe it will mean a major change - and to quote someone from Google I spoke to recently - 'we're the only site that wants to get people off our site and onto others as quickly as possible'.