AFTER a couple of weeks of debate about the future of a free press we can all still be grateful for its fearless independence, best evidenced by The Independent itself, in Britain, when it hoed into the Barclays Bank controversy with the story ''The City is a massive cesspit''.

The lofty Financial Times' weekend edition managed to move the story about manipulation of the critical interbank benchmark to page 7 by talking about the issue with a degree of cynicism. Everything seemed to be well and truly heading under the carpet.

But if anyone doubts that we need a strong press, take note that it was The Independent newspaper that brought the issue home to the people with its cesspit story. And with that, the highly overpaid chief executive of Barclays Bank resigned.

All power to the press, I say.

Here in Australia, our week continued with disquiet over the fact that the government still seemed to be taking the Finkelstein inquiry seriously, including its recommendation for some overarching regulator to essentially control the freedom of the press.