Kate Ironside was a journalist for 26 years, specialising in politics. She started by reporting local government, spent 13 years at Westminster covering national government and, for 17 years, wrote a weekly column on the European Union. She is now a journalism academic, teaching at the University of Northampton, and a member of the executive board of the Broadcast Journalism Training Council. She studied at the University of Reading, City University and the London School of Economics. She can be reached on Kate.Ironside@northampton.ac.uk