McGillivan's blog post was actually quite funny and imaginative but he'll regret writing it as it has undermined his credibility. What I'm interested in is whether Harries genuinely pulled the serialisation because of the blog post or because of the pressure from Rangers fans!?!?

Chant14992 do not do a masters. Instead, spend that year networking - LinkedIn (groups in particular) is a good place to start. And well before that year's out, you'll have a good new job. And if you've done the Masters, fine, start networking now. The more people you know, the more un-advertised opportunities will come your way.

Send me your CV - one of our clients (financial PR) is looking for an account exec and a social media exec ('entry level'). Adamgordon@socialmediasearch.co.uk

The economy isn't relevant Judy. This practice has existed in the good times and the bad and in all industries - not uniquely in PR/marketing.

Also, if these students are all doing as good a job as your teams, why are they at Uni?

You either take on the internship at the terms offered or you don't. No-one's forcing anyone to do anything, are they Judy?

I don't understand why this is even an issue. There's no 'scandal' here. Phil, no, you wouldn't expect your daughter or son to work at McDonald's for free but with the greatest of respect to McDonald's, I don't think flipping burgers or dispensing Coke is considered the same quality of work experience as an internship in a PR agency. I should say here that I don't hire free interns so that's not why I'm defending this practice. Why I'm defending it is:

1) Being awarded an internship is a privilege 2) Working for free is part of proving your commitment to your own development and future career 3) I can't see how anyone's "riding roughshod" over interns. Surely no-one's forcing them to work for free?

The argument about this being unfair to impoverished students isn't all that valid as far as I'm concerned. My wife worked a full time job all the way through University.

One thing I would like to see happening is far, far more people going straight into marketing companies from school. There's no need to go to University in many cases.