Its not that onerous or time consuming to read the news and keep abreast of developments, so I'd do it anyway. At some point you are going to have to learn current affairs, so the sooner you get into the habit the better.
I'd recommend reading the BBC News website. It has a good library of past articles and background material. The other recommendation would be something like an up to date Microsoft Encarta - a good investment anyway - I bought it (about 40 quid - maybe cheaper on ebay) for my preparation and still find use for it three years later.
When I went for all my interviews, I'd done a fair amount of bookwork and could tell you about some pretty obscure affairs from strange places. I'd assumed they were going to say "Tell me about issues in South America" or something like that. In hindsight, I went a bit too far - in my experience you get to steer the conversation by briefing them about what you know and then going into details on your opinions on the issue.
Last edited by VigilantPilot; 22nd Nov 2005 at 14:10.