--- a/frontends/src/jp/base.py	Sat Mar 31 18:23:06 2018 +0200
+++ b/frontends/src/jp/base.py	Sat Mar 31 18:40:54 2018 +0200
@@ -355,7 +355,12 @@
         pubsub_group.add_argument("-n", "--node", type=unicode_decoder, default=u'', help=node_help)
 
         if flags.single_item:
-            pubsub_group.add_argument("-i", "--item", type=unicode_decoder, help=_(u"item to retrieve"))
+            item_help = (u"item to retrieve")
+            if not flags.item:
+                default = defaults.pop(u'item', _(u'last item'))
+                if default is not None:
+                    item_help += _(u" (DEFAULT: {default})".format(default=default))
+            pubsub_group.add_argument("-i", "--item", type=unicode_decoder, help=item_help)
             pubsub_group.add_argument("-L", "--last-item", action='store_true', help=_(u'retrieve last item'))
         elif flags.multi_items:
             # mutiple items
@@ -516,6 +521,8 @@
             self.parser.error(_(u"argument -s/--service is required"))
         if C.NODE in flags and not self.args.node:
             self.parser.error(_(u"argument -n/--node is required"))
+        if C.ITEM in flags and not self.args.item:
+            self.parser.error(_(u"argument -i/--item is required"))
 
         # FIXME: mutually groups can't be nested in a group and don't support title
         #        so we check conflict here. This may be fixed in Python 3, to be checked