working my proper hours...

Meetings on Wednesday and Thursday in Swansea were really successful.

First up the Stand up for Journalism public meeting captured a mood amongst journalists at the failure of companies to provide them with the resources to do their job properly. Former BBC political correspondent Nick Jones was brilliant and amusing in highlighting the attacks on public service broadcasting, the understaffing and under-resourcing of newsrooms and the culture of spin which is distorting so much news coverage. Kate Carr, chair of the union's Wales Council and a rep at the BBC outlined the campaign against the current job cuts and one of the new reps at the South Wales Evening Post highlighted the problems faced by journalists trying to take on more work with fewer resources. Inevitably much of the discussion focused around churnalism and I spoke about the disputes at Milton Keynes, Coventry and the Stand up for Journalism campaign which was challenging this corporate-dominated model of journalism.

Thursday we did meetings with members and potential members at the South Wales Evening Post as the union builds its presence there. Our membership has doubled in the past year.

Last night i suffered an agonising 90 minutes at White Hart Lane as Tottenham nearly threw away their advantage in the UEFA cup game with Slavia Prague.

Today I've had meetings with Tim Gopsill, the editor of The Journalist and then attended the meeting of the Journalist Editorial Advisory Board to discuss the future direction of the publication. Integration is coming to the NUJ too - and let's hope our discussions aren't nearly as tortuous as those at The Guardian/Observer or the BBC!

Given today is Work Your Proper Hours Day for once I'm going home - having issued a statement telling everyone else to!