Trivialising unpaid internships helps masquerade free work as an annoying, if inevitable, first rung on the career ladder. Because of this we risk the practice becoming the norm and contaminating other career fields until it is an utterly essential part of 'working' life.

I am a final year journalism student at the London College of Fashion, and in my fourth year of unpaid internships. I have worked for free at seven publications: national newspapers, magazines and a local London paper. Sometimes I have had travel expenses, but mostly I have had to pay.

Liberal Democrat headquarters continue to recruit at least nine unpaid interns three times a year, despite Nick Clegg’s championing of a campaign to...