FOI Friday: Children at risk, data lost in the post, unsolved murders and the not-so-smart motorways

Criminals avoid jail despite dozens of crimes < Get WestLondon Criminals in London are escaping jail sentences for serious crimes, despite dozens of previous convictions for similar offences. A burglar in London was not given a custodial sentence at a court appearance in June 2014, despite 33 previous burglary offences and 58 total previous convictions,

FOI Friday: Roadworks hell, hidden art, naughty nurses and bedblocking patients

Plagues of roadworks < Get Surrey Dismay has been expressed over a ‘plague’ of roadworks on a stretch between Bramley and Guildford in the past three years. Information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that more than 860 individual projects were carried out on the A281 from 2012 to 2014 – an average

FOI Friday: Most frequent ambulance callout addresses, affordable homes, benefits families moved hundreds of miles, and fire crews freeing kids from cars

52 visits to one address by ambulances … and just two patients taken to hospital < Dundee Telegraph Ambulances were called out to a Dundee property a staggering 52 times in just ONE year it has been revealed. And on just two of those occasions somebody was taken to hospital by paramedics. The figures, from

The 12 days of Local Pressmasness 12: Great front pages

And it was all going so well. 11 days, 11 numerically-themed pieces which look at different aspects of the regional and local press. And then I get to day 12 – it should be the easiest of the lot, 12 great front pages. I didn’t want to do just 12 front pages I liked –

FOI Friday: Lasering planes, worst days to die in hospital and reasons for refusing council houses

The day of the week you’re most likely to die in hospital < Surrey Mirror PATIENTS are far more likely to die at East Surrey Hospital on a Monday than any other day of the week, according to figures obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request. The figures highlight an apparent sizeable disparity between

Newspaper campaigning in a click-to-sign age: Why speaking truth to power is more important than ever

With print circulations going down, and tools online making it possible for anyone, anywhere to launch a campaign, how does a local newspaper ensure its campaigns still get attention and, most importantly, get results? Simple: They innovate. And in this age of austerity, areas outside of London have perhaps never needed a campaigning voice which

Hillsborough: Front pages which make you proud to be a regional journalist

To be in Liverpool yesterday was to witness something remarkable. The most outrageous wrong righted after 23 years. The truth revealed, but justice still to be done. Proof that if you believe in what you’re doing, you should keep fighting, even when the whole world appears to be against you, determined to keep secrets under

When a picture tells a thousand words (and makes a great front page)

Proof Twitter has changed the newsroom (sort of)

There was a time when you’d only find out if the editor was happy with the paper you’d worked on the night before once you’d got into the office. Anyone who has been on the newsdesk of a morning newspaper will know the sinking feeling caused when you listen to the radio headlines first thing

MC Hammer, his flamboyant pants and the Northern Echo

If I did a headline of the week competition on this blog (which I don’t) then this would be my winner this week: The story goes like this: “A teenager used a stolen bank card to go on a spending spree, including buying pants to make him look like MC Hammer.” And just to be