Ignored by the party leaders? Maybe local journalism needs to come off the fence

Local journalism has long been proud of its impartiality when it comes to covering elections. But in failing to see that it’s possible to offer endorsements while still providing balanced coverage, aren’t we effectively making ourselves irrelevant in the most important local conversation of all? An investigation into the access afforded to local journalists by

FOI Friday: Prisoner complaints, police redundancies, thefts from bars, dangerous dogs and ‘kebab crimes’

‘Kebab crimes’ in Scarborough < Scarborough News There’s a saying that a pint and a fight are the ingredients to a great British night out, but an investigation has unearthed the shocking crimes committed in Scarborough’s pizza shops and curry houses by rowdy revellers after they’ve sank one too many. Scarborough’s ‘kebab crimes’ include bloody

FOI Friday: Jollies in Cannes, guilty police, empty homes, naughty soldiers and road rage incidents

So does a trip to MIPIM pay off? < Brixton Buzz £20,000 was taken by Lambeth Council from four property developers to help fund the trip to Cannes by four council employees. A Freedom of Information Request shows that although “conversations took place” at MIPIM World back in March, no actual deals were reached following

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: Nightmare roadwork roads, self service checkout crimes, cost of PFI and student disciplinary offences

The roads dug up more than 600 times in a year < Birmingham Mail Road repairs in Birmingham are causing traffic chaos with some routes being dug up almost every day for the past FIVE years, the Birmingham Mail can reveal. Workmen have had to carry out maintenance on Birmingham’s Broad Street three times a

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

FOI Friday: Air gun attacks, stressed out students, pauper funerals and troubled families

Bedroom tax rent arrears < Wolverhampton Express and Star Out of 3,803 Sandwell people affected by the removal of the Government’s spare room subsidy, 2,432 have now fallen into rent arrears. But the Labour-led council has not yet evicted anyone for falling into arrears as a result of what has become widely known as the

FOI Friday: Teachers causing concern, prisoners on Facebook, school place fraud and teenage career criminals

Teachers on the ‘concern list’ < Basildon Echo ALMOST 170 teaching staff are on a council list showing there are concerns about their working in schools. They are not barred from working, but schools will be aware of the list of concerns, compiled by Essex County Council. A total of 23 teachers and 14 other

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 –

The 12 days of local Pressmasness: 6 criminal Grannies

If Christmas is all about giving, then it’s only right we celebrate the Freedom of Information request which keeps on giving – the one about old people and the crimes they first commit. It’s a bit like The Snowman, or Only Fools and Horses – a repeat which can be guaranteed to turn up at