As a thoroughly modern, cool, exciting (and very modest) company, Inspiring Interns spends a lot of its time browsing the Twittersphere, keeping a beady eye out for industry developments, potential clients, friends anything useful or interesting.

After weeks of economic cut doom and gloom (you can see our report on how the Chancellor’s cuts will affect graduates here) the most current graduate forecast isn’t (surprise, surprise) looking any brighter.

The knock-on effect of recession means graduates aren't just competing for entry-level jobs against experienced workers: they’re now competing against them for internships too.

While the concept of today’s graduates doing internships is a much-debated issue, a more worrying trend established in the US appears to be gaining headway this side of the pond: interns (or their parents) who pay large sums of money to secure unpaid work placements.

Yesterday (22 Sept), The Times published a letter from a number of groups arguing that all unpaid internships are exploitative.