Race | The Lead

Pristine beaches, poisoned water: Blackpool let down by water companies

Raw sewage was released into open water on the Fylde Coast more than 1,500 times in 2022. The result is Blackpool's hard-fought status as a safe place to swim is in jeopardy.

By Louisa Gregson

Hidden prehistoric settlement unearthed at new homes site in Bispham

Experts from the University of Salford, drafted in to inspect the area, found evidence of 'low-level occupation of the landscape'

By Michael Holmes

Two men charged after wounding and violent disorder in Blackpool

Ethan Miles and Peter Waite the latest to be charged after disorder in Blackpool

By Luke Beardsworth

Funeral date set for murdered Blackpool toddler Damion Russell over a year after his death

Mystery still surrounds the reason for the 13-month delay in burying the infant

By Paul Faulkner

Residents in Thornton urged to wash home-grown produce due to potential contamination from chemical plant

Wyre Council and the Environment Agency are investigating whether a chemical called Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) has contaminated local gardens and allotments

The fall and rise of Blackpool as a cinema town

Cinema was once an important piece of Blackpool’s allure of affordable glamour, with seventeen movie theatres operating in the town at its peak. Now, almost a year after the final Odeon has gone dark, the local council is opening a nine-screen multiplex of its own.

By Antonia Charlesworth Stack

Security pulled back, CCTV off and water disconnected ahead of Warbreck House fire

The owner of the site, in Bispham, has blamed Blackpool Council, the government and United Utilities. But many of their claims are contentious

By Michael Holmes

Blackpool Victoria Hospital staff failed to properly examine heavily pregnant woman before giving her drug

Giving the heavily pregnant mother the drug was proved to be negligent - but it was deemed insufficient to prove a connection between the negligience and complications suffered during birth

By Michael Holmes

Scaffolding up as The Grand Theatre restoration begins

A £450,000 project to restore and repair The Grand in Church Street is up and running

By Ed Walker

Hopes of commercial Blackpool Airport flights given boost

Labour's Louise Haigh vowed that if there is demand, then the possibility can be investigated

By Shelagh Parkinson

'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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