Rob Bailey's blog

In case any of you have missed it, the Press Complaints Commission met on Wednesday to confirm that it will fast-track its closure to provide a "clean break" for the industry. There are a some striking similarities to the FA's decision to axe Fabio Capello: it comes at a crucial time, there will be a long debate over the qualities a successor requires, and there is no hope of a quick permanent solution.

Here are the teams for the print news day on Thursday for years one and two. Ian and myself will be joint editors of the two newspapers, but each edition will have its own news editor and production editor. We'll hold a briefing at the end of Wednesday's conference, so please come along armed with story ideas.

Each team will produce a 16-page newspaper, based on The Times.

Professor David Nutt, the UK's former leading government adviser on drugs who was sacked by the government in 2009 after making controversial claims about the risks of ecstasy, LSD and cannabis, is to give a lecture at Canterbury from 6pm to 7pm on Wednesday, January 25. This would be a fascinating event to cover, and could be particularly useful for those of you looking for an issue to cover for the Public Affairs feature in your NCTJ portfolios.

The story leading Medway Messenger's website this lunchtime is a cracker by our own Alex Maitland. It tells how his flatmate - a kickboxing champ - managed to foil some car thieves in Medway last week. The story also leads page 5 of the Medway Messenger's Monday edition. Great work.

Getting your first byline is a Champagne moment for any journalist - so celebrations are in order for our Qandeel Warrich, Laura Garcia and Lizzie Massey who had their feature about a cancer survivor who sailed around the UK to raise awareness about bone marrow donation published by KentOnline today. It's a great example of how to sniff out a story and turn it into a compelling narrative. Brilliant work.

Anyone working on copy for their portfolios or for publication is always welcome to come and try out ideas on me - but I thought it might be helpful to dedicate some time for looking at your work in more depth and giving tips on tighter writing, intros, story structure etc. I'll make sure I'm in my office between 2pm and 4pm every Wednesday (unless it's a news day) for copy clinics. Bring some written work with you that we can go through. 

Former foreign secretary David Miliband did not disappoint yesterday, with a Q&A at Canterbury which included discussions of political islam, human rights, tuition fees and the Eurozone crisis. I'm looking forward to seeing how you report it. In the meantime, here's how I’ve done it…

The Guardian is launching a fascinating, and some might say reckless, experiment online. It is opening its news lists and editorial conferences to its readers, and inviting them to have a say on what are the most important issues of the day and how they should be covered. The Guardian openly admits this could lead to stories being stolen by rival titles. It is also aware of potential legal pitfalls, as much of what is said in a news conference would be unprintable for a cocktail of reasons.

They say journalists never let the truth get in the way of a good story, but the same might now be true of politicians. Was an illiegal immigrant allowed to stay in this country because he owned a cat, or wasn't he?

Here's the rather bleak view of former Independent on Sunday editor Ian Jack, who wrote in The Guardian on Saturday that newspapers could soon become like "artisanal cheese". He says national newspapers could become a fetishised luxury product rather than a daily habit. Why? Because, unlike the cheese, they are being consumed with less relish...