Message from Jemima: I'm off!

The end is nigh! Well for Jemima anyway.

I've become very fond of our smashing little Brighton branch since I joined three years ago, but I'm finally moving to London this autumn so I'll be leaving the role of chair. I'm sure you all know this, but the branch has been almost entirely dependent on the hard work and dedication of Adrian Colley, our very diligent branch secretary, without whom there would be no Brighton branch.

As it is, we've got a record number of branch members, a very respectable diary of meetings, speakers and parties over the past four years - and now a great opportunity for some fresh blood to take over from both myself and Adrian.

We really want the branch to keep going because the work of the NUJ is more relevant than ever. But it can't happen without your help - the branch can't run by itself! Even if you just fancy posting a few pieces on the branch blog each month, that would be a great help - http://www.nujbrighton.org.uk , just in case you missed it the first 300 times.

I'll still be chair of the NUJ's new media council; we're working hard to try and recruit in an area that is becoming more and more central to all our jobs and there are hundreds of complex issues to unravel; not least the challenges of citizen journalism, web copyright, the demands of increasingly multi-skilled roles. That will all keep me out of trouble.

Work-wise I'm freelance now, still writing about digital publishing and the media industry - mainly for http://www.paidcontent.org if that's of any interest!

My own site is at http://www.jemimakiss.com and you can always email me at jemima@jemimakiss.com if you need my help, and if no-one else can help. And if you can find me. (Or was that the A-team? I forget).

Thanks, anyway, for the fun and support over the past >three years and very best of luck to all Brighton members, both at work and at leisure. And please invite me to the Christmas party.

Jemima

No September meeting

There is no meeting in September as I shall be abroad and Jemima is not around so there is no one to do the mailout or stage the event. The annual meeting, where all posts are up for election, WILL go ahead some time in mid-October.

Ex-Argus man's Iraq talk

Former Evening Argus reporter Rory McCarthy discusses life in Iraq on Tuesday.

He'll be talking about his book on the conflict Nobody Told Us We are Defeated: Stories from the new Iraq, at the Guardian Newsroom, 60 Farringdon Road, London, from 7pm.

Tickets are a fiver and obtainable, if you rush, from reply@guardian.co.uk

Middle East ceasefire march

From Sussex Action for Peace:

TWO WEEKS AGO WELL OVER 500 PEOPLE MARCHED IN BRIGHTON AGAINSTISRAELI WAR CRIMES IN PALESTINE AND LEBANON - WE MUST KEEP UP THE PRESSURE ON THE WARMAKERS. IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE IN LEBANON NOW!

Saturday August 19, Palmeira Square Hove 1 pm. March to Brighton Pier via seafront. For more information contact 07854 188565

August Searchlight

August copy of anti-fascist mag Searchlight available. Includes articles on England fans at World Cup in Germany - and how there's nothing to be complacent about.