For a brief moment, as he put the finishing touches to Hack Attack, his book about phone hacking at the News Of The World, investigative journalist Nick Davies allowed himself to believe the grip of the power elite in Britain had been weakened.

But as he told an audience of around 60 people at the Skeptics In The Pub event, he now recognises that little has changed.

Indeed Rupert Murdoch's fortune has soared since the closure of the toxic newspaper.

That said, Davies' arguments remain relevant. With the HSBC scandal making headlines, he rightly pointed out that the wrongdoing has been known and largely unreported since 2010.

With too few reporters tasked with filling too much space, he said, the newspaper industry is structurally likely to produce PR-driven falsehoods: "The newspapers' agenda is to tell the truth about the world, but they have no idea what the truth is."

Davies was candid on his acrimonious fall out with Julian Assange and why he no longer feels he can trust the Wikileaks founder.

If he was critical about mainstream hacks ("I give them five out of ten"), he was withering about citizen journalists ("I give them two out of ten").

He revealed that although George Clooney is to direct a movie based on Hack Attack, the Hollywood idol will not play the Fleet Street veteran.

"He told me he's not good looking enough."

That's another Nick Davies exclusive.