Taj Ali is a writer with a focus on class and socio-economic inequality. His work has previously appeared in the Huffington Post, Metro and The Independent.

Angelo Boccato is a London-based freelance journalist. His work has appeared in publications like the Columbia Journalism Review, The Independent, and Open Democracy. He co-hosts the podcast Post Brexit News Explosion.

Shahed Ezaydi is a freelance journalist based in London, covering politics, race, culture, and social issues. She has written for gal-dem, The Face, Dazed, Glamour, and more. She's currently working on her first book, The Othered Woman: How White Feminism Harms Muslim Women.

Sian Norris is a freelance journalist and writer specialising in human rights. Her work has appeared in the Observer, the Guardian, the i, the New Statesman, openDemocracy, and Byline Times. Sian's book Bodies Under Siege: How the far right attack on reproductive rights went global is published by Verso in June 2023. She was the founder of the Bristol Women's Literature Festival. 

Marcus Ryder is the Head of External Consultancies at the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity. He is also the Chair of RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), the author of "Access All Areas - the Diversity Manifesto for TV and Beyond" and the Editor of "Black British Lives Matter".

Dean Wilson has been the Daily Mirror Cricket Correspondent since 2006, covering England teams at home and abroad. He is an experienced broadcaster who regularly contributes to the BBC and was a producer on the Sky Sports documentary on England’s Black cricketers “You guys are history”. Dean lives in London with his wife and two daughters. 

Naomi Evans is an author, teacher, speaker and activist. In 2020 she founded the anti-racism platform Everyday Racism alongside her sister Natalie which has accrued over 200k followers. In July 2022 Penguin published their first book “The Mixed Race Experience” and in July 2023 a children’s book entitled “Everyday Action, Everyday Change” was published by Hachette. Naomi’s work has been featured in Red Magazine, the I newspaper, BBC news and Grazia. She currently works part time as a DEI lead in a large secondary school and is writing her first fiction book. 

Jessica is a journalist based in West Yorkshire. She writes about social inequalities and injustices in the UK, with people at the heart of every story. You can find more of her work here. 

Thea is a former BBC journalist now working freelance across commercial and editorial projects. She specialises in sustainability and social affairs, and illustrates in addition to writing. 

Eve is a Bristol based freelance writer who specialises in gender, inequality and social justice issues. She has previously written for Madrid No Frills.

Michael is an award-winning journalist living near Blackpool whose previous roles include investigative reporter, news editor and production editor in the regional and national media

Shelagh is the local democracy reporter for Blackpool.

Dr Naomi Elster is Director of Research and Communications for a cancer research charity. As a scientist she was involved in getting a new breast cancer therapy to clinical trial, and as a journalist she covered science and women’s health, for which she was co-recipient of a national award. She campaigned for abortion decriminalisation in Ireland and led a mental health-themed creative magazine. She is passionate about the potential of research to improve lives, healthcare disparities, and gender equality.

Jess McCabe is a deputy editor at Inside Housing magazine. She focuses on housing, sustainability and diversity. 

Ruby Deevoy is one of the UK’s few dedicated cannabis and psychedelics journalists. Bylines include The Independent, The Mirror, The Times, The Sun, The Express, The Metro, Evening Standard, Stylist, Woman & Home, Top Santé, Natural Health, Red, Platinum, Chat! and others.

Maddy Howell is a freelance journalist and community specialist with focuses on features and profiles within music culture, feminism, and social affairs. Her work delves into the inspiration and emotion that bring art to life, and the ways in which communities form and thrive in modern culture.

James Hawes is author of The Shortest History of Germany, which is available in over 20 languages, and The Shortest History of England, which made #4 in The Times. He is currently writing The Shortest History of Ireland.   

Daniel Harper is British-Iranian multimedia journalist and photographer, specialising in topics such as migration, human rights, LGBT+, geo-politics, climate change and community. Since graduating form City, University of London with an MA in International Journalism Daniel has written for and published by outlets such as Euronews, Mailonline, Insider, Are We Europe and JSTOR among others.

Megan Warren-Lister is a freelance reporter. She covers social justice and has a particular interest in women's health. 

Sashy Nathan is a lawyer specialising in international human rights, crime, digital rights and regulatory law. He is the co-founder of the social justice law firm, Commons and works in communications, public affairs and emerging political technologies at 89up.

Duncan Morrow is Professor of Politics and Director of Community Engagement at Ulster University in Belfast.  His interest in public policy and peace building extends back several decades, including a decade as CEO of the Community Relations Council, a Commissioner responsible for implementing the early release of political prisoners on Northern Ireland in the Good Friday Agreement, and work for the Scottish Government on tackling Sectarianism and Hate Crime.

John Lubbock is journalist and filmmaker concentrating on UK politics and the energy transition.

Chris Webb is the Labour MP for Blackpool South. 

BBC Local Democracy Reporter covering Wyre Borough Council

Rachael Pells is a freelance journalist and author who writes regularly about science and research, among other things. Her book, Genomics: How genome sequencing will change our lives is published by Penguin.

Lian is a senior multimedia reporter for Rappler.com, one of the few independent media outlets available in the Philippines. She covers human rights, justice, corruption and international law. Currently in the UK as a Chevening scholar, she has been given express permission to write for The Lead. You can read her Rappler work here.

Matt Foot is a criminal defence solicitor, specialising in representing protesters and victims of miscarriage of justice. As a campaigning lawyer he co-founded Justice Alliance, to protect legal aid, and Asbo Concern. He has written for the Guardian and the London Review of Books. He is co-author of Charged - How the Police Try to Suppress Protest by Matt Foot & Morag Livingstone (Verso 2022). 

Naila Aroni is an artist and writer from Nairobi, Kenya. She is really excited about cultivating and advocating for Black joy through her work. She likes to write about Africa's creative economy and African diasporas and migration.

Tom Copley is London's Deputy Mayor for Housing and Residential Development, and oversees the Mayor’s two affordable homes programmes, including ‘Building Council Homes for Londoners’ – the first City Hall initiative dedicated to council homebuilding.

Cherry Casey is a freelance journalist who specialises in child welfare, with a particular interest in how policies on housing, education, drugs, online safety and more are shaping young people's lives.

Shikhar Talwar is a freelance journalist whose work focuses on politics and human rights, with a specific interest in racism. 

Precious Adesina is a London-based journalist, radio host and public speaker with a particular focus on the intersection between arts and culture and social politics. She is regularly published in The New York Times, BBC, Financial Times, The Economist, and cultural magazines including Kinfolk, i-D, RA Magazine, and many others.

Sam Rushby has campaigned for justice following the deaths of his father, mother and sister during the contaminated blood scandal. He is happily married and lives with his wife and two children. 

Paul Faulkner is the local democracy reporter for central Lancashire. 

Ella is a freelance journalist specialising in worker's rights, youth culture, social affairs and lifestyle. You can find her work in Tribune Magazine, Huck Magazine, Novara Media, VICE, Dazed, metro.co.uk and The Lead.

David Renton is a barrister at Garden Court and the author of Against the Law: Why Justice Requires Fewer Laws and a Smaller State. 

Gary Allen is a Labour and Co-operative Party Councillor for Victoria Ward in Hartlepool. 

George Gillett is a psychiatrist working in south London, academic researcher at King’s College London and a freelance writer. He has written for the Guardian, New Statesman, Spectator and Independent, among others. He tweets at @george_gillett and his writing can be found at www.georgegillett.com.

Hannah Fearn is a freelance journalist specialising in social affairs. She was comment editor of The Independent for seven years, and has previously worked for The Guardian, Times Higher Education and Inside Housing. She has a special interest in inequality, poverty, housing, education and life chances.

Jack McGovan is a freelance journalist and writer based in Berlin, focusing on climate, politics and animals. His work has appeared in a range of mainstream and independent outlets, including The Guardian, WIRED and Sentient Media.

Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah CBE is founder of the Ella Roberta Foundation and a WHO BreatheLife Ambassador, based in Lewisham, South London. Rosamund became a clean air advocate after her 9-year-old daughter, Ella, died in 2013 from severe asthma. Rosamund spent several years campaigning for a second coroner's inquest into Ella's death to determine its link to air pollution. Rosamund is also a teacher, lecturer and an Honorary Fellow of the British Science Association. 

Sarah is founder and co-director of Staffordshire Association For Black Lives Equality CIC (SABLE). Sarah works on many collaborative projects and initiatives, specialising in inter-hierarchical models of engagement to ensure equitable pathways and practices. Sarah is from Stoke-on-Trent and directs the city’s largest free event - the Six Towns Carnival.

George Francis Lee is a writer, editor and journalist from the North West. He is a co-founder of STAT Magazine, a non-profit publication focused on left-field art and culture across the North West of England. His work can also be found in The Big Issue, The Independent and The Mill.

Eleanor is a writer, poet and creative, who has lived in Liverpool for over ten years, where she spent time working within the homeless sector and researching the sex industry. She recently launched an exhibition raising awareness about child criminal exploitation in Blackpool. Most of her work explores themes around poverty and social mobility. 

Boyah J. Farah is an author, their writing has been featured in The Guardian, Harvard Transition, Scheer Intelligence at KCRW, Grub Daily and Truthdig. He is the winner of Salon's best essay of 2017. His essays have also appeared in Harvard's Kennedy School Review, Pangyrus magazine, and The Huffington Post.

Minnie is a writer and campaigner specialising in migrants’ rights, climate change and social justice.  After working in both the European and UK Parliament for 5 years as a political advisor, she went on to lead campaigns at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants. 

Andra Simons is a Bermudian writer and performer living in London, UK. He studied theatre in Toronto, Canada. Andra’s first collection of poetry, The Joshua Tales (Treehouse Press) was published in 2009 and Turtlemen (Copy Press) in 2021. Andra has held workshops and lectured at various universities in the UK. He has also been published in several magazines, journals and anthologies as well as performed at numerous events, venues and festivals. Andra is the current Writer-in-Residence at the University of Greenwich. Photo ©Ajamu.

Tanja Bueltmann is a historian of migration and diaspora and holds a Chair in International History at the University of Strathclyde. Her research is focused primarily on Scottish, English and German migration, but she has recently also looked at migration in the context of Brexit. Brought up in Germany and a student of history at Bielefeld University, Tanja also brings her personal perspective on Vergangenheitsbewältigung, having been educated in Germany at a time when there was a particularly robust public discussion of how to deal with Germany’s Nazi past. 

Ellie Mae O'Hagan is the Head of Engagement at Good Law Project. She previously worked as a strategic communications consultant and ran the Centre for Labour and Social Studies. 

Alan Leveritt is founder and publisher of the Arkansas Times, published in Little Rock, Arkansas, since 1974. He is a native Arkansan and lives and farms on his great-grandparents' farmstead outside of Little Rock. He dropped out of college in 1974 and started the Times on $200. 

Garvan Walshe is an entrepreneur and democracy activist. He is founder of Article7 Strategies and Chair of Unhack Democracy. In Brussels he’s a research associate at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies and Head of Communications at the European Policy Centre.
 

Martha is a writer, curator and filmmaker. She is currently working as a freelance journalist for The Lead, amongst other publications, as well as curating progressive cinema programmes at a number of film festivals. Living between Italy and the UK, having worked in a variety of European countries, Martha’s focus is on feminism, art house cinema and left-wing politics from across the continent. 

Daisy Steinhardt is a Bristol-based freelance journalist, interested in human rights and cinema. 

Nathaniel Cole is a Co-Founder of Swim Dem Crew. He is a writer, researcher and workshop facilitator working across masculinity and RSE for young people.

Olly is a freelance journalist covering politics, culture and social movements and documentary researcher.

Jon is a freelance writer and the organiser of campaign group Right To Roam - a group fighting for free, fair and informed access to land and water throughout England.

Adam Wagner is one of the UK’s leading human rights barristers and the UK's pre-eminent expert on COVID-19 laws. He was described in the House of Lords as ‘the only person in the country who can make sense of this variety of regulations’. He practises from Doughty Street Chambers.

Philippa Nuttalll is an experienced journalist based in Brussels focusing on climate, energy and biodiversity. She was previously Environment Editor at the New Statesman and has written for the Financial Times, Prospect and the New Scientist.

Adele Zeynep Walton is a British Turkish journalist, specialising in global inequality, politics and popular culture. She has written for The Independent, the i, Dazed, VICE, Metro, The Big Issue, Jacobin, Open Democracy, Tribune, Huck, gal-dem, The New Arab and more. Adele is also DAZED's first ever political book columnist.

Maxine Harrison is a freelance journalist and writer with a special interest in diversity and culture. Maxine's work has appeared in The Independent, Business Insider and Refinery29 UK. You can follow Maxine on Twitter @BlessedIsM and visit her website at www.remireports.com. 

Ellie Broughton has over 12 years' experience writing about mental health and wellbeing for titles including The Guardian, the i paper, the Huffington Post, Lifehacker, patient.info, Stylist, The Independent, Refinery29 UK and Vice UK. 

She specialises in topics including emerging modalities, depression in chronic conditions, therapy efficacy, bias and psychoanalytic ideas. 

Franklyn Addo is a community activist and writer based in Hackney. He is the author of A Quick Ting On Grime. He also writes on issues including police brutality and the criminalisation of culture in many publications, from The Guardian to Cambridge University Press. Beyond writing, Frankly manages violence reduction programmes and is frequently instructed as an expert defence witness in court cases concerning ‘gangs’, technology and social media, and youth culture. 

Chantelle Lunt is a writer, lecturer, PhD research and activist. She has a professional background in policing and public services, teaches at LJMU’s School of Education and is currently researching the post-16 educational experiences of care leavers.

Hilary is a freelance journalist and editor who grew up in Bolton. She launched Buzzfeed (Scotland) and Edinburgh Live before becoming Head of Audience at PinkNews.

Sam Bright is an investigative journalist and the author of two books: Fortress London: Why We Need to Save the Country from its Capital, and Bullingdon Club Britain: The Ransacking of a Nation.

Mike is publisher of The Lead. He is the founder and CEO of 89up, Europe's first and biggest impact agency for civil society and non-profits, as well as publisher and owner of Little Atoms, an award-winning magazine distributed globally and a podcast and online magazine enjoyed by a global audience of millions.

Chaminda Jayanetti is a freelance journalist specialising in social affairs - housing, welfare and public services. He regularly writes for the Observer, Politics Home and Byline Times.

Mic Wright is a journalist and media critic based in Norwich.

Katie Hignett is a freelance journalist based in London. She has a background in health, science and anthropology, and has written for publications including Forbes, Metro.co.uk and Newsweek. Her investigative work on pandemic preparedness for HSJ was recognised as "Excellence in Reporting Coronavirus" by Press Gazette.

Kimberly McIntosh is a writer and researcher with a focus on racial justice and inequality. She has written for a range of publications including the Guardian, the Washington Post, the Independent, the Metro and Vice and discussed her work on BBC Radio 4 and 5 Live, BBC News and Sky News. 

Robert Palmer is the Executive Director of Tax Justice UK, an organisation which campaigns for everyone in the UK to benefit from a fairer and more effective tax system. 

John Urquhart is the founder of Cytgord Cymru and second elected general secretary & founder of Harmony Party UK. They are non-binary and a resident of Ely.

Faiza is an economist, writer, and commentator. She is the author of a range of materials and publications covering the most salient social and economic debates of our times, including inequality, austerity, immigration, youth unemployment and social mobility. Faiza has over 15 years of experience researching the trends and consequences of inequality, as well as designing policies and campaigns to address the causes of inequality and exclusion.

Dr Malaika Cunningham is Artistic Director of The Bare Project, a theatre practitioner and a democratic theorist. Her research explores the role of participatory theatre spaces for political discourse, exchange between strangers and imagination. She has also written on political engagement, participatory arts, and co-productive policy-making. In her research, she brings together her practice as a theatre maker and her academic background in political theory. She completed her PhD in summer 2020 at the University of Leeds as part of Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity.

A polar research vessel. 

Jessica Taylor Price is a writer originally from Chicago, IL.

Her bylines have appeared in Bleacher Report, Teen Vogue, ESPNW, and Northeastern Global News. She is currently a freelancer specializing in women’s rights, environmental issues, and literature.

Jess lives in the North East with her husband.

Jennifer Sizeland is a journalist, writer and former assistant producer. She writes about the media industry, mental health, women’s health, the environment, sustainable travel and parenting.

Rachel is an experienced journalist and editor who has worked for titles across the North West, and written on a freelance basis for several national titles. She is also a journalism lecturer at The University of Salford. 

Writer, journalist and former music industry professional.

Andy West is the author of The life Inside: A Memoir of Prison, Family and Philosophy  (Picador 2022). His writing has been published in The Guardian, Aeon, 3AM Magazine, and Huck.  He is philosopher in residence at HMP Brixton in London.

Omid Shams is an Iranian writer in exile, a member of Danish PEN and a PhD law academic at the University of Portsmouth specialising in freedom of expression, modern and indirect methods of censorship. He cooperates with human rights organisations and media outlets such as Justice for Iran and IranWire on documenting the human rights violations in Iran. 

Oliver Somer is a freelance journalist.

Joana Ramiro is a journalist, writer, broadcaster and political commentator. 

Lauren Crosby Medlicott is a freelance journalist who focuses on features about social justice and human rights.

 Chris Stokel-Walker is a UK journalist who writes for WIRED, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New York Times and more. He is the author of TikTok Boom: China's Dynamite App and the Superpower Race for Social Media, YouTubers: How YouTube Shook Up TV and Created a New Generation of Stars, and The History of the Internet in Byte-Sized Chunks.

Nels Abbey is a British-Nigerian writer, broadcaster, media executive and satirist. Before moving into media, he worked in financial services for the US investment mammoth BlackRock. His first book Think Like a White Man (Canongate, 2019) is a widely praised eviscerating satire of modern racial discourse and politics in the corporate world. His upcoming book The Hip-Hop MBA (2024) explores what the world can learn about cut-throat capitalism from the business of Hip-Hop. Nels is a regular contributor across the spectrum of major news and media organisations including the Guardian, Foreign Policy, Financial Times, The Metro, The Independent, Channel 4 News, CBC News(Canada) and several flagship BBC shows including Newsnight and Question Time. In 2020 Nels co-founded the Black Writers Guild.

Sofia Akel is an award-winning cultural historian, creative consultant, writer, host and lecturer specialising in Black British history. She is also the founder of the non-profit, Free Books Campaign. Her work has been featured in national and international press, including BBC 1Xtra, Channel 4 News and ITV News. Sofia also lends her talent to documentary film, TV, audio and music videos with credits including; Creative Archival Consultant (Dirt in the Diamond by Jords, Tribeca Film Festival 2023 select), Race Equity Specialist (Teardrops by Kano, nominated for a UKMVA), Researcher and Casting Consultant. Her debut book exploring Black British history will be released in 2025.

Natalie is a journalist, podcast host, and the author of Mixed/Other - she specialises in social justice, inequality, lifestyle, health and wellbeing, and everything in-between. When she's not writing and editing for The Lead, you can find her work in the Guardian, Metro, Stylist, gal-dem, the Independent, and others. Mancunian living in London.

Dimi is a journalist and an editor, including at The Lead. He is a co-founder of  +972 Magazine, and his writing has appeared everywhere from The New York Times to Haaretz and from Foreign Affairs to the London Review of Books. He also spent some time as a senior editor at Newsweek, but he doesn't like to talk about it much. Dimi is also a facilitator with background in conflict mediation and currently focusing on journalism and trauma. 

Chris is a freelance writer and translator. He specialises in language, literature, and the intersections of climate and culture.

Jenni Ratcliffe is an emotive nature and travel writer living as a nomadic boater on the UK waterways system. 

Hannah Hiles is a freelance journalist and writer based in Stoke-on-Trent, with a strong interest in heritage, regeneration and culture. She is a former senior journalist at The Sentinel/ Stoke-on-Trent Live and the Birmingham Mail, and has also worked in communications for Keele University and Ceramics UK. 

Bethan is a freelance features writer and producer specialising in pop culture. She loves asking people way too many questions and gets her ideas from conversations at the pub or listlessly scrolling through social media. You can find her work in Vice, iD, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29, Metro UK, Pink News and now, here at The Lead.

Shaista Aziz is a journalist, writer, and campaigner. She’s a columnist for Hypen and writes regularly for The Guardian. Her writing has been published by The New York Times, The Times, CNN, Huffington Post, Gal-dem, Globe and Mail, and more.  Shaista presented a critically acclaimed BBC TV documentary on what it means to be young, French and Muslim, following the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack.

Barrister and rights activist, specialising in migration, equality and international law. Practising law from Doughty Street Chambers since 2000.

Jumi Akinfenwa is a freelance journalist specialising in music and culture. Her work has been featured in The Guardian, VICE and gal-dem amongst others and in 2020, she was listed as one of MHP’s 30 to Watch and PITCH Magazine's Superpeople.

Adam Barnett is UK News Reporter at DeSmog. He is a former Staff Writer at Left Foot Forward and BBC Local Democracy Reporter. Adam has reported for The Guardian and written for Politics.co.uk and Little Atoms.

​Rosemary Richings is a writer, editor, and public speaker specialising in disability and neurodiversity-related subject matter and the author of Stumbling Through Space and Time: Living Life With Dyspraxia. Rosemary's writing has been featured in Travel + Leisure, Broken Pencil Magazine, Happiful Magazine, and many other print and digital publications. 

 Count Binface is an intergalactic space warrior, leader of the Recyclons from Sigma IX and a part-time politician on Earth. His hobbies include invading planets, dominating inferior species, and Lovejoy. He is officially London's 9th choice to be mayor.

Samir Jeraj is a journalist and author with a focus on social issues. He is co-author of The Rent Trap, a book on private renting in the UK and reports on housing, migration, and homelessness. Samir is a policy correspondent at the New Statesman and commissioning editor at Hyphen. 

Zoe Gardner is an independent migration policy researcher and campaigner who works in the UK and across Europe to promote rights based and effective migration and refugee policies. She has held policy and communications positions at the European Network on Statelessness, JCWI, Asylum Aid, the Race Equality Foundation and the European Council on Refugees & Exiles.

Jamie Lopez is a freelance journalist operating in the North West. He has previous experience at local newspapers and was UK journalism's first ever dedicated regional cost-of-living reporter.

Frances was the launch editor for Cheshire Live and spent time as a senior editor at the Stoke Sentinel and StaffordshireLive. She has also worked as a freelance reporter for Big Issue and culture magazine The Skinny. 

Hirra Khan Adeogun is co-director of climate change charity Possible and formerly headed up their Car Free Cities programme, where she was a key campaigner for London’s ULEZ expansion. She is passionate about designing anti-oppressive and sustainable futures, and regularly shares her expertise with the public including in The Guardian and gal-dem. 

Natalie is a journalist, broadcaster, and the author of Mixed/Other - she specialises in social justice, inequality, lifestyle, health and wellbeing, and everything in-between. When she's not writing and editing for The Lead, you can find her work in the Guardian, Metro, Stylist, gal-dem, the Independent, and others. Mancunian living in London.

Padraig Reidy is editor of Little Atoms. He has also written for the Observer, the Irish Times, the Guardian, Prospect and the New Statesman. 

Alice Taylor is a British journalist based in Albania. She is news editor at EURACTIV and their Albania and Kosovo correspondent. She also covers the region for DW, BBC, and occasionally The Times Before Albania, she lived in Malta where she was a columnist in local media and worked for award winning investigative platform The Shift News. She is also a board member at the Ethical Media Alliance and she teaches and speaks on media freedom and ethics.

Danielle Evans is an Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University and the author of short story collections, The Office of Historical Corrections and Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self. Her first collection won the PEN American Robert W. Bingham Prize, the Hurston-Wright award for fiction, and the Paterson Prize for fiction; her second won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and The Bridge Book Award and was a finalist for The Aspen Prize, The Story Prize, and The LA Times Book prize for fiction. She is the 2021 winner of The New Literary Project Joyce Carol Oates Prize, a 2020 National Endowment for the Arts fellow, and a 2011 National Book Foundation 5 under 35 honoree. 

Daniella Peled is Managing Editor at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), an NGO working in two dozen countries experiencing conflict, crisis and transition around the world. IWPR's current Ukraine Justice Report project focuses on in-depth reporting and analysis of judicial processes taking place across the country and internationally. 

Nick is a journalist and author of The Great Post Office Scandal. His latest book is Depp v Heard: the unreal story.

Katharine is an investigative journalist and editor, focussing on climate reporting and environmental injustice, racism, disability rights, the care system and violence against marginalised groups. She is part of a European collaboration on environmental journalism, most recently co-editing a nine country investigation into the harms and risks of asbestos. Katharine also writes fiction and non-fiction. Her debut novel, The Low Road (Unbound, 2023) follows the real life and the lost history of Hannah Tyrell, born in her Norfolk hometown, in the early 19th century to an unmarried mother. She was later transported to 'Botany Bay' in 1828. 
 

Sabir Zazai OBE is the chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council. He arrived in the UK in 1999 after fleeing the conflict in Afghanistan. Sabir previously led the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre, a charity that once assisted Sabir through his own journey as a refugee. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow for services to community.

Antonia Charlesworth Stack is a writer, editor, and activist from Blackpool. She is the former deputy editor of Big Issue North magazine and current editor of hyper-local arts and culture website Blackpool Social Club. She is also founder of Reclaim Blackpool, a campaign for women’s safety in the town, and a contributing author to Lancashire Stories, an anthology of short fiction inspired by the county.

Sarah is editor and founder of The Northern Eco, focusing on inspiring readers with actionable environmental news from the North of England. She has also worked for The Guardian, Google and the Northern Echo. 

Lead Editor (North), Ed is an experienced senior editor with more than 15 years experience in UK regional publishing.

Diyora Shadijanova is a Senior Editor at The Lead.

Dimi Reider is National Editor at The Lead.

Serena is a news editor at Dazed and a columnist for Prospect. She has previously written for Vice, Refinery29, Huck, i-D, British Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Grazia. 

Dhruti Shah is a multi-award winning journalist. Formerly a staffer at BBC News specialising on the social beat, she is now a freelance wordsmith with features appearing in The Guardian and New Arab among others. She's the author of Bear Markets and Beyond: A Bestiary of Business Terms, offers herself up as a brainstorm buddy, and loves magical mystery tours. 

The Secret Paramedic is a veteran paramedic in the UK. He's writing anonymously to sidestep NHS guidelines on speaking to the press. 

Yas Necati (they/them) is a writer and performance poet who explores queer and trans identity, diaspora identity, mental health, recovery, community and resistance. They also campaign for queer rights, run workshops with campaigners, and perform as their drag act alter-ego, Turkish pop star Tarkan. You can find them at yasnecati.co.uk and @yas_necati on social media.

Ben Clinton is a political activist and freelance journalist. Originally from London, he now lives in East Sussex, working in Comms for the anti-monarchy pressure group Republic. He is also the Campaign Co-ordinator for Labour for a Republic.

Alex Birch is a freelance journalist whose interests lie in gender, disability and pop culture. She has written for The Guardian, Red Pepper and GXRL

Renuka Odedra is a freelance writer from Leicester, who specialises in football. She has written for The Guardian, VICE, Resurgence & Ecologist, Eurosport, Stylist and more. She is also an author who has contributed to Football She Wrote: A Women’s Football Writing Anthology. Her writing can be found on her website.

Joe Fortune is the general secretary of the Co-operative Party, the political party of the UK co-operative movement and sister party of the Labour Party. Joe has been involved with politics for over 20 years and was previously a Labour Party adviser.

Rachel Charlton-Dailey is an award-winning disabled editor, journalist, and activist. She is a disability rights columnist for The Daily Mirror where she guest edited the series Disabled Britain. When Rachel isn't writing, she can be found walking her sausage dog.

Michele Theil is a freelance journalist who writes about race, politics, culture, the internet, and the LGBTQ+ community. 

Jessie (she/her) is the Director of The Democracy Network, a membership organisation seeking to renew UK democracy, so people have more influence over the decisions that affect our lives, more power and resources to improve our communities and more ability to elect and hold our politicians and governments to account. She started her career as founder and then CEO of the award winning A Way Out, a women and young people’s charity.

Paul McNamee is the Director of Labour Climate and Environment Forum. Most recently, he worked in the Mayor’s Office at the Greater London Authority, advising on environment and energy, covering the Ultra Low Emission Zone expansion and the Mayor’s presence at COP27.

Krista is a writer and award-winning social justice activist from Hackney, East London. An expert in child poverty and working in community development for Volunteer Centre Hackney, she's the founder of the Hackney Community Closet, a volunteer-led non-profit focused on empowering families and communities through the gift economy. She is the author of a series of childrens' non-fiction books and is working on her first novel.

Matthew Williams is a Professor of Criminology and is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts in hate crime and hate speech. He advises and has conducted research for TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Google, EE, Deutsche Telekom, The Professional Footballers’ Association, the UK Home Office, and the US Department of Justice. Matthew also founded and directs HateLab, a not-for-profit academic unit with a mission to democratise technology amongst civil society organisations to routinely monitor and counter online hate speech and divisive disinformation.

Omolola Ogunyemi is an author born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria, before moving to the US to study. Her short stories have been published in Farafina and New Writing from Africa 2009. Her latest novel Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions was chosen as an Editor's Pick in the New York Times.

Charlie is an award-winning freelance journalist, book editor, columnist, host, and creative with focuses on features and profiles on identity, culture, lifestyle, travel, media, and social politics.

She is a Managing Editor at Skin Deep, a former Senior Staff Editor at the New York Times and the former Editor-in-Chief at gal-dem magazine. Charlie has written and edited for a variety of publications, including the Guardian and Observer, Dazed, and the Financial Times.

Simon Speakman Cordall is a freelance journalist in Tunisia.

Ella Sinclair is a freelance journalist based in London focusing on race, racism, politics and social justice. She has written for gal-dem and The Voice. Find her on Twitter. 

Dr Natasha Hirst is a deaf freelance photographer and journalist, specialising in social justice and disability equality. She was a co-researcher on the groundbreaking "Legally Disabled" project with Cardiff Business School. English is her first language and she also uses British Sign Language. She is also president of the National Union of Journalists.

Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi is an independent investigative journalist. Her work has been twice shortlisted for The Orwell Prize for political writing and she was a 2020 Stuart Hall Fellow at Sussex University. As a 2010 Churchill Fellow she reported on the plight of people seeking asylum and work across Europe.

Senior Editor (North) for The Lead. Experienced regional newsroom editor, leader and journalist.

Ammaarah is a writer, educator and organiser. She writes about topics relating to gender, racial and reproductive justice.

Leah is Partnerships Editor at The Lead and is a multi-award-winning documentary director and journalist with roots in international current affairs. Their film The Mortician of Manila, the story of Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs through the eyes of an undertaker, was long-listed for an Academy Award, nominated for a Grierson Award and has won over twenty awards around the world. Formerly at Sky News, Channel 4 News and APTN, Leah's role at The Lead involves forging outreach and partnership strategies and ensuring the sustainability of the project and its initiatives while upholding narrative and journalistic ethics and integrity.

Louisa Jordan is a pseudonym. The author is a community nurse in the NHS, and has asked to remain anonymous.

Eman is a Nairobi-based freelance journalist. 

Aleksandar Brezar is a journalist, editor, and podcast host whose main motive in journalism is to take apart your misconceptions about Eastern Europe and the people who live there. After having lived and reported everywhere from Brussels to Kyiv, he currently resides in Rome. He edits opinion articles at Euronews View. 

Sayo Olukoga is a journalist who’s written for  Black Ballad, Metro and others. She specialises in all things race, culture, media and fashion, and currently works full-time as a producer at GUAP Magazine.

Dr Sam Fowles is a barrister specialising in public and constitutional law, with experience of law in the UK, US, Australia, and at the Council of Europe. He has worked on many of the most significant political cases of recent years. He regularly appears in the media including on the BBC, Sky and Al Jazeera.

Emily Kenway is a writer, researcher and former carer. After spending around a decade working on social justice campaigns and policy, her first book, ‘The Truth about Modern Slavery’ (Pluto Press, 2021), showed how exploitation has been politically reframed and why, and was described as a 'powerful treatise' by the Guardian. Her second book, 'Who Cares: the Hidden Crisis of Caregiving and How We Solve It' (Hachette, 2023) was a finalist for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2023 and has been widely acclaimed in the national press. She is currently completing a PhD at the University of Edinburgh, and sits on the boards of the charity National Ugly Mugs, which fights violence against sex workers and Common Wealth think tank which works on democratising ownership of the economy. 

Tom is an award-winning freelance journalist based in the North West. He has worked for the BBC and various brands for Global Radio. 

Sarah is a news and features journalist in the North East specialising in health, people and drug policy. One of the few UK journalists covering the emerging fields of medicinal cannabis and plant-based medicines. 

Oliver Franklin-Wallis is an award-winning magazine journalist, whose writing has appeared in GQ, WIRED, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Times Magazine, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Economist’s 1843 magazine, and many other publications. He is currently the Features Editor of British GQ. Wasteland: The Dirty Truth About What We Throw Away, Where It Goes and Why It Matters is his first book.

Rich Booth is a freelance journalist who has worked across Europe as a news reporter. He was previously news editor at The Independent and an editor in the South West of England. He specialises in live news, travel and climate reporting.

James is an economist and director of the Progressive Economy Forum.

Rosalind Savage is an environmentalist and ocean adventurer. She has rowed solo across the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans to raise awareness of the ecological crisis and has earned four Guinness World Records and an MBE. A former management consultant, Roz has just finished writing The Ocean in a Drop: Navigating from Crisis to Consciousness, published by Flint Books.

Emmanuel is an educator, writer and speaker. He is also the director of the charity program called The Reach Out Project. 

Sabrina is a writer, filmmaker and anthropologist from London. Her first documentary, ‘Kings Of Our Own Right,’ was selected across multiple European festivals, and she is currently in post-production for a documentary about sex workers rights in North Macedonia. Sabrina has written for Girls On Tops, Trippin’ and Wonderland.

Carenza Arnold is Communications Manager at Women for Refugee Women.

Arun Kundnani has been active in antiracist movements in Britain and the United States for three decades. He is a former editor of the journal Race & Class and was a scholar-in-residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library. The Guardian has described him as "one of Britain’s best political writers." He lives in Philadelphia.

From Hackney in East London, Franklyn is a social commentator, journalist, youth worker and rapper whose work revolves around the promotion of social justice and understanding the causes of issues like serious youth violence and the criminalisation of young people. He has written articles for The Guardian, The Independent and Sky News, and has been featured in The New Yorker. His productions include a short documentary on crime-induced trauma for BBC3 and a narrative about the human consequences of inequality for BBC Radio 4's 'Four Thought' programme. 

Nick Dearden is the director of Global Justice Now. He has been a campaigner against corporate globalisation and for global economic justice for over 20 years, including with War on Want, Amnesty International and Jubilee Debt Campaign. He has been a leading voice in the campaign for a People's Vaccine and a key organiser against neoliberal trade deals including the now abandoned EU/US trade deal (TTIP). He regularly contributes political analysis to publications including The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Open Democracy, Red Pepper and Soundings journal.

Niamh Spence is a freelance journalist based in the North West. She has written for The Telegraph, Tyla, LadBible, Entertainment Daily, BBC, The Metro, The Mirror, OK! and Mail Online.

Charlie Duffield is a freelance news, culture and social affairs journalist and audio producer based in London. She has written for Stylist, Prospect, The Independent, Grazia, The i paper, Metro, and others. 

Diyora is a multimedia journalist, writer, and editor based in London. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, VICE, The Independent, DAZED, Huck Magazine, THE FACE, and more. She was previously the climate editor and, before that, the opinion editor at gal-dem magazine. She is the co-founder of hothouse book club, a digital and IRL book club that champions a climate justice perspective.

Sarah Smith is the Labour MP for Hyndburn & Haslingden. 

Dimi Reider is a journalist and an editor, including at The Lead. He is a co-founder of  +972 Magazine, and his writing has appeared everywhere from The New York Times to Haaretz and from Foreign Affairs to the London Review of Books. He also spent some time as a senior editor at Newsweek, but he doesn't like to talk about it much. Dimi is also a facilitator with background in conflict mediation and currently focusing on journalism and trauma. 

Soo is a South Korean reporter based in London, UK. She is a South Korea expert who regularly covers Korean culture/entertainment, including the latest K-dramas, films and K-pop news. She has covered the COVID-19 pandemic at Newsweek and was a long-time travel reporter/editor at the Daily Telegraph.  She is the author of How to Live Korean, available in eight languages (English, French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Slovak).

Azeem is an anti-racism campaigner and former professional cricketer. Following his time as captain of the England under-19s, he played for several first-class county clubs, this included Yorkshire, where he suffered racist bullying. In 2020 he spoke out and pursued legal action. Since then, Azeem has become a cricket coach, and a powerful advocate for diversity and inclusion.

Fred Garratt-Stanley is a freelance writer who specialises in music, culture, and football. He has written for a wide range of publications including GQ, NME, Huck, Dazed, The Quietus, and Vice.

June Bellebono is a London-based writer, cultural producer and facilitator. They are the founder of oestrogeneration, a magazine platform highlighting transfeminine voices in the UK, and of Queer Good Grief, a peer support group by and for bereaved LGBTQ+ people. They have written for gal-dem, HUCK and Novara Media, and have organised events for Somerset House, Autograph ABP, QUEERCIRCLE and Museum of the Home. 

Níall Glynn is an economist, researcher and founder of The Working Class Economists Group. He focuses on economic & social networks, economic planning, industrial policy and economic history. Most importantly, he never shuts up about class. 

Richard Smyth is a writer and critic. His work has been published in The New Statesman, The TLS, Prospect, Aeon, Literary Review, New Scientist, The Guardian and The Fence, and his recent books include The Woodcock (2021) and The Jay, The Beech And The Limpetshell (2023).

Jonn Elledge is a freelance journalist and New Statesman columnist. His books includes The Compendium of (Not Quite) Everything: All the Facts You Didn’t Know You Wanted to Know (2021) and Conspiracy: A History of Boll*cks Theories, and How Not to Fall for Them (2022). He also writes the Newsletter of (Not Quite) Everything.

Kevin Gopal is a Manchester-based journalist who grew up near Bolton. He was editor of Big Issue North from 2007 until its closure last year and prior to that wrote widely on business, politics and trade regulation for a variety of publications. He’s also edited obituary pages, covered rugby league games and been a restaurant critic.

Louisa has worked as a freelance journalist for national publications and as a reporter for the Blackpool Gazette, Lancashire Post and Manchester Evening News. She was born in Blackpool. 

Liam is a young reporter from East Lancashire who writes for The Hyndburn Lead, Lancashire Telegraph and The Bolton News. 

Professor Partha Kar is the NHS national speciality advisor on Diabetes and a leader in the use of technology to manage and treat Type 1 Diabetes.

Derek Bardowell is the author of Giving Back, which reimagines philanthropy through a reparative lens and CEO of Ten Years’ Time. His first book No Win Race was a Sunday Times and Financial Times Book of the Year in 2019. Derek is a Thirty Percy Foundation and Mission 44 trustee.

Dr. Mann is Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication. His research focuses on climate science and climate change. He was awarded the Hans Oeschger Medal of the European Geophysical Union in 2012. He made Bloomberg News' list of fifty most influential people in 2013.  He has received the Friend of the Planet Award from the NCSE, the Award for Public Engagement with Science from the AAAS, and the Leo Szilard Award of the American Physical Society. He received the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement 2019 and was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2020. He is a Fellow of the AGU, AMS, GSA, AAAS, author of more than 200 publications, numerous op-eds and commentaries, and five books including Dire Predictions, The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars, The Madhouse Effect, The Tantrum that Saved the World, and The New Climate War.

Jamil Chade is a Brazilian reporter in Europe for several news groups in Brazil and the author of seven books. He has reported from over 70 countries, and uncovered major corruption scandals in Brazil.  He was elected as the best Brazilian foreign correspondent twice - in 2011 and 2013, and  in 2015 he was chosen as one of the 40 most influential journalists in Brazil. Chade was one of the researchers of the National Truth Commission, created by the government of Brazil to investigate crimes and violations of human rights committed during the military regime in the country. 

Margie Ratliff is a co-producer and key participant of the documentary Subject, where she examines her participation in the 2018 Netflix true-crime documentary, The Staircase. She is currently starting the non-profit, Documentary Participants Empowerment Alliance, to bring mental health, legal, counseling, advocacy, and mentorship resources to past, present, and future documentary participants.

Mark Thomas is a writer and performer. He has done this for nearly 40 years. In that time he has won some things, done some things and is a member of the NUJ.

Manasa Narayanan is a journalist who covers politics and technology. She works for the news non-profit the Citizens, and is a researcher and contributor with the Real Facebook Oversight Board. Her work has appeared in outlets like VICE World News, Tech Policy Press and Byline Times. With a postgraduate degree in Political Communication, she continues to research and write about topics at the intersection of politics and technology; more interested in the politics of people and technology than politics of the state. Occasionally she writes essays, and dabbles in poetry.

Kwame's work explores decolonial, environmental and societal conversations and texts and he has exhibited, published and performed at institutions and DIY spaces across Europe, Africa and Latin America. He founded Inkfluent (a multidisciplinary cultural project invested in Pan-Africanism), the Nkabom Festival, Kpaluhi Weaving Village, Portals of Ghana Architecture Research Archives and the Buzanga Books Library. Also a prolific author and poet, Aidoo lives and works in Ghana.

Rebecca. L. Root is a multimedia journalist from the UK based in Bangkok. She covers humanitarian aid, human rights, global health, development and climate, among other things. Her work has featured in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The New Humanitarian, Devex, and others. 

Laura Davis is an award-winning journalist who has been writing about culture for more than 20 years. She is editor of North West arts newsletter Stored Honey and co-presenter of Beatles City podcast.

Liv is an art writer, activist and curator based in the North East. She helps cultural organisations promote the work of womxn, non-binary and LGBTQIA+ artists. 

Zoë Grünewald is Westminster Editor at The Lead and a freelance political journalist and broadcaster. She has worked in and around Westminster for five years, starting her career as a parliamentary clerk before throwing away the wig and entering journalism. Zoë then worked as a policy and politics reporter at the New Statesman, before joining the Independent as a political correspondent. When not writing about politics and policy, she is a regular commentator on TV and radio and a panellist on the Oh God What Now podcast.  

Em Hilton is a Jewish organiser and writer based in London, and co-founder of Na’amod: UK Jews against Israeli occupation and apartheid.