Race | The Lead

The Turner Prize is just the start of Blackpool’s cultural ambitions

Arts leaders in Blackpool are working with the local authority to draw up a five-year Cultural Plan - so now is the right time to set out big aspirations.

By Laura Davis

Fylde general election hustings to be held in Lytham

The Lancashire Lead is teaming with The Lancashire Post and Blog Preston to give you the chance to quiz the candidates to be your next MP

By Ed Walker

Police promises to handle any further Blackpool disruption robustly

“If there are outbreaks of disorder, we will robustly investigate any offences committed to ensure those responsible are brought to justice."

By Luke Beardsworth

Job cuts drive at Blackpool Victoria Hospital but most applications are being declined

Some 56 applications had been received by the time the original four-week window closed earlier this year, but 40 were refused “for various reasons”

By Michael Holmes

Metropole asylum seekers need more than 'board and lodgings'

Blackpool charity share how they've organised trips out for those within the hotel - as one of the town's two MPs calls for the government to stop using the Metropole Hotel

By Ed Walker

The changing face of Blackpool's Grange Park

Grange Park is one of hundreds of housing estates built after the Second World War. Life has changed in the decades since; here The Blackpool Lead speaks with residents past and present

By Antonia Charlesworth Stack

Paul Maynard defends parliamentary investigation into him at Blackpool North and Fleetwood hustings

Housing, immigration and Conservative scandal all topics of discussion at our hustings event in Cleveleys

By Luke Beardsworth

Appeal after man suffers bleed on brain in Blackpool disorder

Police want to speak with the man in the images after another man was left in hospital

By Luke Beardsworth

Why did Blackpool riot?

Some, but not all, in Blackpool chose to respond to a wicked act in Southport with violence instead of support. But the search for answers as to why isn't straightforward

By Michael Holmes

Voices and stories of Blackpool's young homeless to be heard

Poet and spoke word artist Nathan Parker teams up with Streetlife to bring stories from the streets to life

By Ed Walker

'Ringleader' who attacked police and made vile racist and xenophobic rants jailed

Footage released by police shows John Robinson during his arrest as he played a 'key role' in the disorder on Saturday 3 August in Blackpool town centre

By Ed Walker

Controversial blackface memorabilia to form part of new museum collection

Bought by Blackpool Council as part of a private collection, the new Showtown museum collection includes a photograph and flyer from the 1920s showing the offensive practice of 'blacking up'.

By Michael Holmes

“Is anywhere in the world safe?”: Asylum seeking women on far-right riots

The Lead speaks to three asylum seeking and refugee women about their experiences of the violence seen across the country in the past week.

By Lauren Crosby Medlicott

Condemning violence alone won’t stop the far-right – Britain must reject xenophobia once and for all

Anti-immigrant rhetoric isn’t acceptable in any form. Ceding ground on this issue sets a ticking time bomb.

By Diyora Shadijanova

Exclusive: Laurence Fox seen on flight to Ireland as Starmer vows crackdown on far-right

The former actor was seen on a Ryanair flight to Cork on Saturday, 3 August as the Prime Minister slammed far-right activists "whipping up action" and "running away".

Riots show why British Jews must reject fake solidarity from the right

From rioters to ministers, the far right has long wooed British Jews for its own ends. It’s time to see it for what it really is.

By Em Hilton

By targeting "multiculturalism", the British far right launches an attack on all of us

For years, the extreme right and its legitimisers picked off minorities one by one. Now they're unveiling a wider war.

By Diyora Shadijanova

A mom arrested over a birthmark? Hospitals must be held accountable for medical racism

A Nepalese mother was arrested in an NHS hospital because staff mistook a common birthmark for child abuse. Structural racism in medicine needs to end, and only structural upheaval can end it.

By Leah Borromeo

From Sherlock Holmes to Line of Duty, Britain loves copaganda

How the nation’s long love affair with police stories continues to shape our relationship with policing today.

By Leah Cowan

Blackpool's £65m Multiversity project means second forced upheaval in three years for one business

Omasan and his business have been by Blackpool’s ambitious development projects, which have delivered blow after blow to his trade

By Rachel Howarth

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