diff --git a/blocks/rss_client/block_rss_client.php b/blocks/rss_client/block_rss_client.php
index 1b05f64f33f..196bf94fc87 100644
--- a/blocks/rss_client/block_rss_client.php
+++ b/blocks/rss_client/block_rss_client.php
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 <?php //$Id$
 
+// Developer's debug assistant - if true then the display string will not cache, only
+// the magpie object's built in caching will be used
+define('BLOCK_RSS_SECONDARY_CACHE_ENABLED', false);
+
 class block_rss_client extends block_base {
 
     function init() {
@@ -71,7 +75,7 @@ class block_rss_client extends block_base {
             $courseid = $this->instance->pageid;
         }
 
-        //if the user is an admin, course teacher, or all user are allowed - 
+        //if the user is an admin, course teacher, or all users are allowed
         // then allow the user to add rss feeds
         if ( !isguest() && (isadmin() ||  $submitters == SUBMITTERS_ALL_ACCOUNT_HOLDERS || ($submitters == SUBMITTERS_ADMIN_AND_TEACHER && $isteacher)) ) {
             $output .= '<div align="center"><a href="'. $CFG->wwwroot .'/blocks/rss_client/block_rss_client_action.php?courseid='. $courseid .'">'. get_string('block_rss_feeds_add_edit', 'block_rss_client') .'</a></div><br />';
@@ -86,7 +90,7 @@ class block_rss_client extends block_base {
             foreach ($rssidarray as $rssid) {
                 $rssfeedstring =  $this->get_rss_by_id($rssid, $display_description, $shownumentries, ($numids > 1) ? true : false);
                 $output .= format_text($rssfeedstring);
-                if ($numids > 1 && $count != $numids -1) {
+                if ($numids > 1 && $count != $numids -1 && !empty($rssfeedstring)) {
                     $output .= '<hr width="80%" />';
                 }
                 $count ++;
@@ -124,9 +128,10 @@ class block_rss_client extends block_base {
         require_once(MAGPIE_DIR .'rss_fetch.inc');
         
         // Check if there is a cached string which has not timed out.
-        if (isset($this->config->{'rssid'. $rssid}) && 
-            isset($this->config->{'rssid'. $rssid .'timestamp'}) && 
-            $this->config->{'rssid'. $rssid .'timestamp'} >= $now - $CFG->block_rss_timeout * 60) {
+        if (BLOCK_RSS_SECONDARY_CACHE_ENABLED &&
+                isset($this->config->{'rssid'. $rssid}) && 
+                    isset($this->config->{'rssid'. $rssid .'timestamp'}) && 
+                        $this->config->{'rssid'. $rssid .'timestamp'} >= $now - $CFG->block_rss_timeout * 60) {
             // If the cached string is not too stale 
             // use it rather than going any further
             return stripslashes_safe($this->config->{'rssid'. $rssid});
@@ -138,17 +143,18 @@ class block_rss_client extends block_base {
             // By capturing the output from fetch_rss this way
             // error messages do not display and clutter up the moodle interface
             // however, we do lose out on seeing helpful messages like "cache hit", etc.
-            ob_start();
+            
+            error_reporting(E_USER_NOTICE);            
+            //ob_start();
             $rss = fetch_rss($rss_record->url);
-            $rsserror = ob_get_contents();
-            ob_end_clean();
-
+            //$rsserror = ob_get_contents();
+            //ob_end_clean();
+            
             if ($rss === false) {
                 if ($CFG->debug && !empty($rsserror)) {
                     // There was a failure in loading the rss feed, print link to full error text
-                    print '<a href="'. $CFG->wwwroot .'/blocks/rss_client/block_rss_client_error.php?error='. urlencode($rsserror) .'">Error loading a feed.</a><br />'; //Daryl Hawes note: localize this line
+                    return '<a href="'. $CFG->wwwroot .'/blocks/rss_client/block_rss_client_error.php?error='. urlencode($rsserror) .'">Error loading a feed.</a><br />'; //Daryl Hawes note: localize this line
                 }
-                return;
             }
 
             if ($shownumentries > 0 && $shownumentries < count($rss->items) ) {
@@ -159,8 +165,15 @@ class block_rss_client extends block_base {
                 $feedtitle =  stripslashes_safe(rss_unhtmlentities($rss->channel['title']));
             } else {
                 $feedtitle = stripslashes_safe($rss_record->preferredtitle);
-            }          
-                        
+            }
+//            print_object($rss);
+            if (isset($this->config) && 
+                    isset($this->config->block_rss_client_show_channel_image) && 
+                        $this->config->block_rss_client_show_channel_image &&
+                            isset($rss->image) && isset($rss->image['link']) && isset($rss->image['title']) && isset($rss->image['url']) ) {
+                $returnstring .= '<div class="rssclientimage"><a href="'. $rss->image['link'] .'"><img src="'. $rss->image['url'] .'" alt="'. $rss->image['title'] .'"/></a></div><br />';
+            }
+
             if ($showtitle) {
                 $returnstring .= '<div class="rssclienttitle">'. $feedtitle .'</div><br /><br />';
             }                        
@@ -169,6 +182,7 @@ class block_rss_client extends block_base {
                 $item['title'] = stripslashes_safe(rss_unhtmlentities($item['title']));
                 $item['description'] = stripslashes_safe(rss_unhtmlentities($item['description']));
                 if ($item['title'] == '') {
+                    // no title present, use portion of description
                     $item['title'] = substr(strip_tags($item['description']), 0, 20) . '...';
                 }
         
@@ -198,7 +212,6 @@ class block_rss_client extends block_base {
         if (!empty($feedtitle) and ($feedtitle != '<a href="'. $rss->channel['link'] .'"></a>')) {
             $this->title = $feedtitle;
         }
-        $returnstring .= '<br />';
         
         // store config setting for this rssid so we do not need to read from file each time
         $this->config->{'rssid'. $rssid} = addslashes($returnstring);
diff --git a/blocks/rss_client/config_instance.html b/blocks/rss_client/config_instance.html
index 52fb04fa89c..7ba45531c28 100644
--- a/blocks/rss_client/config_instance.html
+++ b/blocks/rss_client/config_instance.html
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <table cellpadding="9" cellspacing="0">
 <tr valign="top">
     <td align="right">
-        <?php print_string('block_rss_display_description_label', 'block_rss_client') ?>
+        <p><?php print_string('block_rss_display_description_label', 'block_rss_client') ?></p>
     </td>
     <td>
             <?php 
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 </tr>
 <tr valign="top">
     <td align="right">
-        <?php print_string('block_rss_shownumentries_label', 'block_rss_client') ?>
+        <p><?php print_string('block_rss_shownumentries_label', 'block_rss_client') ?></p>
     </td>
     <td>
         <input name="shownumentries" type="text" size="5" value="<?php
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
 </tr>
 <tr valign="top">
     <td align="right">
-        <?php print_string('block_rss_choose_feed_label', 'block_rss_client') ?>
+        <p><?php print_string('block_rss_choose_feed_label', 'block_rss_client') ?></p>
     </td>
     <td>
         <?php 
@@ -55,9 +55,9 @@
             if ($rssfeeds = get_records('block_rss_client')) {
                 foreach($rssfeeds as $rssfeed){
                     if (!empty($rssfeed->preferredtitle)) {
-                        $feedtitle = $rssfeed->preferredtitle;
+                        $feedtitle = stripslashes_safe($rssfeed->preferredtitle);
                     } else {
-                        $feedtitle = $rssfeed->title;                    
+                        $feedtitle = stripslashes_safe($rssfeed->title);
                     } 
                     $feedoptions[$rssfeed->id] = $feedtitle;
                 }
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@
     </td>
 </tr>
 <tr valign="top">
-    <td align="right"><p><?php print_string('uploadlabel'); ?></td>
+    <td align="right"><p><?php print_string('uploadlabel'); ?></p></td>
     <?php 
         $title = '';
         if (!empty($this->config) && !empty($this->config->title)) {
@@ -101,13 +101,13 @@
     </td>
 </tr>
 <tr valign="top">
-    <td align="right"><p><?php print_string('block_rss_client_show_channel_link_label', 'block_rss_client'); ?></td>
+    <td align="right"><p><?php print_string('block_rss_client_show_channel_link_label', 'block_rss_client'); ?></p></td>
     <td>
-        <?php if (isset($CFG->block_rss_client_show_channel_link)) {
-                        $selected = $CFG->block_rss_client_show_channel_link;
+        <?php 
+                if (isset($this->config) && isset($this->config->block_rss_client_show_channel_link)) {
+                        $selected = $this->config->block_rss_client_show_channel_link;
                 } else {
                        $selected = '0';
-                       $CFG->block_rss_client_show_channel_link = 0;
                 }
                 $options = array ( '0'  => get_string('no'),
                                    '1' => get_string('yes') );
@@ -116,6 +116,22 @@
         ?>
     </td>
 </tr>
+<tr valign="top">
+    <td align="right"><p><?php print_string('block_rss_client_show_image_label', 'block_rss_client'); ?></p></td>
+    <td>
+        <?php 
+                if (isset($this->config) && isset($this->config->block_rss_client_show_channel_image)) {
+                        $selected = $this->config->block_rss_client_show_channel_image;
+                } else {
+                       $selected = '0';
+                }
+                $options = array ( '0'  => get_string('no'),
+                                   '1' => get_string('yes') );
+
+                choose_from_menu ($options, 'block_rss_client_show_channel_image', $selected);
+        ?>
+    </td>
+</tr>
 <tr>
     <td colspan="2" align="center">
         <input type="submit" value="<?php print_string('savechanges') ?>">