I’ve been teaching the politics specialism at City University’s journalism course and I’ve been pleasantly surprised how much fun it has been.
I was warned before I started that my student would be barely literate, apathetic lumps with just a passing knowledge of British politics. I was surprised how few of them regularly read a newspaper, but I have found them, for the most part, well informed and engaged.
My job is to provide them with insights into the job of a political reporter, which mainly involved me droning on about my scoops and great victories over the forces of darkness. But from time to time I wheel out a special guest. So far we have had Boris Johnson’s policy advisor Anthony Browne, Vauxhall MP Kate Hoey and, just last week, the Labour Party’s answer to Barack Obama, Chuka Ummuna, the prospective candidate for Streatham.
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