I'd rather have a job wiping David Cameron's a@*e

Yesterday at college I was handed an application form for a work experience at a well-known Scottish tabloid newspaper.

My first instinct was to say “na, no thanks” but then I thought, well, maybe I’m being too hasty here. This is a work placement on a national newspaper, doing proper journalism; writing an article that stands a good chance of being published. Am I being a fool here to turn it down?

But I have always followed my gut reaction to things and I realised that despite this being a great opportunity I just couldn’t bring myself to begin filling in my details on this application form; it just didn’t sit right with me. Maybe I am being complete idiot but at least I am an idiot with some integrity and principles. How can you write for a newspaper or a magazine for that matter, if you don’t believe or agree with what they stand for or what they print? I feel that I would be selling my soul to the devil for just perhaps a glimmer of a chance of getting a job at the end of it. I’d rather do it on my own even if it meant knocking on doors, making phone calls or sending out emails everyday for a year or so to try and get a job. I know that eventually I will get there; I have enough determination and drive.

I’m not cocky or think that my writing is on par with that of the staff of say, the Guardian, and I will be more than happy to work on a local newspaper, but just one whose beliefs I share.

So the application form will remain untouched in my folder. I will keep it as a reminder not to sell out and to stand by my beliefs. Working for a tabloid? I’d rather have a job wiping David Cameron’s arse.