Happy Friday! We're marching into March and 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 7 March 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 start with international aid cuts, and how it is short-sighted from the government to scale back on its commitments to providing humanitarian support and relief. The UK must not bow to Trump's tactics, argues our Westminster Editor Zoë Grünewald.
Our exclusive report exposed the concerns about what's happening to children after they receive home-education, Hannah Fearn spoke to parents who say their child's needs meant they had nowhere else to go and researchers at Manchester Met have early findings which link home-education with a higher risk of unemployment and becoming a 'NEET' (Not In Education, Employment or Training) in later life.
Battle for Kyiv director Oz Katerji penned his thoughts on Nigel Farage - who has been on the airwaves increasingly in the past week. Oz exposes how Farage, and Reform, are attempting to cosy up to Trump and Putin all at once.
We also heard from William Elisabeth Cuthbert on the challenges faced by disabled people in navigating an increasingly ableist system. Writing from personal experience Will also speaks to those who are forming online communities and bonds to help navigate life.
And leasehold is no stranger to anyone who has been following The Lead for a while now, Ella Glover digs into the proposals to change up leasehold which are coming down the tracks in our latest edition of The Lead Untangles.
In The Lead North then Leigh Jones reported on 700 jobs lost for Teesworks as BP pulled the plug on the hydrogen green energy plant, in Blackpool we spoke to NHS staff about how 'corridor care' is becoming normalised and in The Southport Lead then Jamie Lopez explored the hospital consultation currently underway about the future of the A&E there.
Some The Lead parish notices too:
- Natalie Morris returned from maternity leave this week (whoop!) to join our National Editors team. You'll be reading more from Natalie very soon.
- 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.
Useful links
- See all our newsletters on Substack and read the full archive of them
- Our local titles are The Blackpool Lead, The Lancashire Lead, The Southport Lead, The Calderdale Lead and The Teesside Lead - all on Substack and providing in-depth news and features every Wednesday and Sunday, direct to thousands of inboxes.
- If you're able to support us with a subscription, you can do so via Substack. There's monthly, annual and founder options available. It helps ensure we can keep covering stories beyond the usual headlines, going deep into topics you care about and may be surprised to see covered too.
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