Hilary Benn MP will be the guest speaker at the next Newspaper Conference quarterly lunch on July 21.

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will be grilled by political journalists representing more than 40 local media titles at the House of Commons lunch.

It will be chaired by the Yorkshire Evening Post’s political editor Mark Hookham and administered by the NS.

Lunches are held throughout the year to give London-based regional press political editors and lobby correspondents a chance to quiz prominent members of government directly.

Sports journalists are invited to a pre-season debate on the future of football on TV later this month.

Panellists include former England and Arsenal star Martin Keown and Trevor East, head of sport at Setanta Sports.

The debate is open to all members of the Sports Journalists’ Association and other sports writers. It starts at 12.30pm on July 24, at Arsenal FC’s stadium.

Proceeds from the lunch will go to ChildLine – for more details e-mail SJA honorary secretary Steven Downes at [email protected].

The Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom is holding its AGM this weekend.

It starts at 10am on Saturday and at the National Union of Journalists HQ in Gray’s Inn Road, London. For further details e-mail [email protected].

A south-coast charity is £4,720 better off after receiving a donation from the Gannett Foundation – the charitable arm of Newsquest’s parent company Gannett.

The British Military Powerboat Trust will use the money to buy a new engine for a 25ft motor boat.

Once work is completed, schools, organisations and charities will have better access to the Solent and Southampton Water, in Hampshire.

A new free video games magazine is to be launched next month.

Fidget will be distributed around the shops, bars, clubs and games stores of Edinburgh.

Its sister website fidgetonline.com has just gone live with the magazine being prepared in time for the Scottish capital’s ‘Interactive Festival’.