Veteran Broadcaster Alistair Stewart resigned earlier this year, following a spat with former political advisor and spokesman for the Institution of Civil Engineers, Martin Shapland, on Twitter. After 40 years in the business, Stewart’s career came to a sorry conclusion.

When I first arrived at the CFJ, I had the pleasure of meeting Tim Luckhurst, the former Head of Centre. He told me about his career in journalism, in Washington, Iraq, Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland. Just before the two-hour entrance exam, he spoke about the importance of free speech and democracy, and declared “I will defend to the death your right to offend me”. These words or similar ones, are often accredited to Voltaire, but may in fact have originated in the works of Evelyn Robinson-Hall.