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Donald Trump migraines, Southport's community response + a misleading political claim

Our round-up of what you can read from The Lead's Substack this week - and what our writers and editors have been focused on
 

January 24 2025, 10.23am
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Happy Friday! We hope for those in the line of Storm Eowyn you're doing okay out there. Each Friday we'll bring you our picks from what we've published each week as The Lead's week that was digest for the week ending Friday 24 January 2025.

A reminder we're publishing over on Substack now so this site acts as an archive and we'll publish this digest each Friday. Our email newsletter lands in tens of thousands of inboxes each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with in-depth storytelling, incisive writing on topics not always making the headlines, our commitment to news and features across the North of England and more. It's free to receive the emails, and if you can please do support us with a paid subscription to ensure we can keep bringing you news and features on topics you might not see covered in the same depth elsewhere.

We begin with an international feel to The Lead in the past week - as we took a look at what Donald Trump had to say as he officially returned as US President, and Westminster Editor Zoë Grünewald drilled into what it meant for the UK, and the Labour government too. Plus six themes we took away from his speech - including some worrying trends and signs.

Staying with the international theme and we welcomed backed founding editor Dimi Reider for his reflections, thoughts and analysis on the ceasefire in Gaza. Dimi's been covering this topic in-depth for years and he also looked at what the Israel-Palestine situation would mean back here in the UK and within the Labour party too.

A community was prepared to have to relive the horror of last summer's attacks. But Axel Rudakubana on Monday changed to a guilty plea and was sentenced this week. Editor of The Southport Lead, Jamie Lopez, speaks to those who were preparing for the trial within the Southport community. This weekend's national edition of The Lead will see Zoë Grünewald drill into what the government announced on Tuesday - as part of the public inquiry into Southport - and Jamie in the weekend edition of The Southport Lead will have further reaction from community leaders and the town. Sign up to receive The Lead and The Southport Lead direct to your inbox to read them first.

Over to Teesside and Leigh Jones keeps a careful eye on Metro Mayor Ben Houchen. And also the Tees Valley Combined Authority. When Mr Houchen was asked to attend a meeting in the place of another Mayor the 'announcement klaxon' went off - claiming he had been appointed to the government's Clean Energy Sector Council. He hadn't

Some The Lead parish notices too:

  • Thanks to everyone who took part in our reader survey - there was some great feedback and things for us to reflect on as a team. We're commissioning some new features and long reads for the weeks ahead, so we're taking your ideas and feedback onboard.
  • We're on Bluesky, as well as X, so do give us a follow to be notified of new stories going live. Our piece about why we're staying on X, despite everything, is a good read.
  • If you're a freelance journalist, or have a story tip, our pitching guidelines have all been updated and are over on our Substack.

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