The Dispatch • 6th August 2025

Councillor Simon Morrall says he's a Conservative. The party says he's not

“You’re not a journalist, you’re a political activist”. I’m on the phone to Simon Morrall, councillor for Frankley Great Park. He is not very happy. “I'm being completely honest with you, I don't trust you, [...] I'm very confused about why you're doing a hit piece on me.”I’m confused too, which is the reason I’ve phoned up Cllr Morrall in the first place. Recently at The Dispatch, we invited readers to send us their questions about Birmingham. Having already answered our first — ‘who lives in t...

1st August 2025

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HR Magazine • 18th July 2025

JLR cuts hundreds of UK jobs: Lessons in handling voluntary redundancies - HR Magazine

Jaguar Land Rover’s plan to axe up to 500 management jobs in the UK should remind employers about their duties surrounding voluntary redundancies, HR commentators have said.

Leaders of the British luxury car manufacturer announced that about 1.5% of its staff in the UK would be affected by job cuts as part of a voluntary redundancy round for managers, Sky News reported yesterday (17 July).

HR Magazine • 18th July 2025

Sainsbury's scraps staffroom snacks: How HR can encourage physical wellbeing - HR Magazine

That leaders of Sainsbury’s plan to remove unhealthy snacks from staffrooms should encourage initiatives to improve physical wellbeing in the workplace, HR leaders have said.

The British supermarket chain is set to remove free crisps and biscuits from its staffrooms and instead offer items from an approved ‘light meal’ option, including soups, porridge and bread.

Press Gazette • 4th June 2025

Google 'handling stolen goods' with Youtube theft of paywalled news articles

Youtube channels are using AI to steal words and photographs from paywalled news content and reproduce articles wholesale without the consent of publishers.

The practice has been highlighted by freelance journalist Rob McGibbon after a first-person account of his estrangement from his late father written for the Daily Mail was lifted wholesale and reproduced by the Youtube Channel: “The World News.” Youtube is part of Google, which made at least £20bn in UK advertising revenue last year.

Schools Week • 16th May 2025

Benefits cuts threaten school-readiness target

Ministers have not assessed the impact savage cuts to disability benefits – plunging 250,000 more people into poverty – will have on their school-ready metric, part of Labour’s education opportunity mission.

Sir Keir Starmer has set a target that 75 per cent of children will have a “good” level of development by the time they...

Schools Week • 25th April 2025

79 schools withdraw from breakfast clubs trial

Many schools cite inadequate funding, raising concerns about the viability of the full rolloutMany schools cite inadequate funding, raising concerns about the viability of the full rolloutAlmost 80 schools named just months ago as trailblazers for Labour’s flagship free breakfast clubs have dropped out, with many saying the funding is inadequate.

The government announced 750 “early adopter” primary schools had opened breakfast clubs this week, providing 30 minutes of free childcare and a “hea...

Schools Week • 4th April 2025

Outsourced contract rises hit school catering budgets

Hard-pressed schools are warning of extra pressures from the rising cost of outsourced contracts as companies grapple with national insurance hikes, minimum wages and food costs.

Caterers say they may have to stop serving smaller schools or make redundancies, and that a return to the school m...

Schools Week • 28th March 2025

Oracy Commission chair 'reassured' about curriculum review

The chair of the Oracy Commission has said he is “reassured” the issue will be “woven into” the curriculum review’s final report, after the interim document failed to mention it.

Labour announced in 2023 that its curriculum and assessment review would embed “digital, oracy and life skill...

Schools Week • 28th February 2025

Excluded children: Councils failing in duty to find places

Councils across the country are routinely failing in their legal duty to provide full-time education for excluded pupils within six days, a Schools Week investigation has found, with some youngsters waiting two years for provision.

Schools Week • 14th February 2025

‘We can’t run at a loss’: Heads snub flagship breakfast clubs

Primary schools invited to trial Labour’s flagship free breakfast clubs have pulled out or are having to take a financial hit after being told that the basic funding rate is just 60p per pupil.

Up to 750 primary schools will be funded as part of a...

Schools Week • 4th February 2025

Head scores victory as Google agrees to delete school reviews

A deputy headteacher who created a petition to remove Google school ratings and reviews for educational institutes has won a victory against the tech giant.  

Justin Cowley, who works at Mendell Primary School in Bromborough, Wirral, sent a letter to Google this month demanding...

Schools Week • 24th January 2025

More duties? Some councils have no home education staff

Proposals to give councils more power to check on pupils not in school will be “significantly insufficient” unless they get funding to build capacity – with some “hollowed-out” authorities having no dedicated home education officers.

Labour’s schools bill will give councils...

Schools Week • 11th January 2025

Headteachers demand Google delete school reviews

A deputy head has rallied scores of leaders to fight back against Google school reviews after claiming parents face a “search engine lottery” when trying to check school performance.  

The tech giant announced in 2019 that it would no longer let people leave reviews on schools, which were d...

Birmingham Dispatch • 29th November 2024

Rachel is a victim of domestic violence. Why won’t West Midlands Police help her?

Funny and full of affection was how Rachel* first described her new romance. She met her new partner, Steve*, in 2005 at work and a year later began a relationship. She says he was an inveterate teller of jokes. “He was so funny and so quick off the mark,” she said. “I was happy to have met him”.

They married in 2007. Rachel was pregnant with their first son, and believed they had developed a strong bond. Within a year of the marriage, however, the relationship deteriorated. “He started drinking heavily and had become increasingly aggressive and abusive,” she said. “This was behaviour he had never previously exhibited with me.”

Big Issue • 11th November 2024

Solving the housing crisis with £50,000, eco-friendly tiny homes

Tiny homes may be the next fix for the UK’s housing crisis – and university students from across the country are joining forces to bring them to a town and city near you.

Homefolk, a youth-led social enterprise, was first set up in 2021 to find a sustainable solution to the housing crisis. Over 30 students from the University of Sheffield, the University of Glasgow and Queen Mary University of London will begin work to create affordable and sustainable ‘tiny home villages’ in urban areas.

Daily Star • 29th October 2024

Mad Vlad orders strategic nuclear weapons training exercise amid Ukraine war

Vladimir Putin has launched a rehearsal massive exercise of the country's nuclear artillery in a simulation of a retaliatory strikes as tensions continue to spiral with the West over Ukraine.

Big Issue • 28th October 2024

Just 5% of private rentals in London are affordable to low-income earners

London is home to an estimated 2.7 million private renters – around 30% of the capital’s population. More than 400,000 private renters in London – approximately one in seven – rely on LHA to cover their housing costs.

The loss of privately rented homes makes it harder for boroughs to prevent and relieve homelessness, including through using such properties as temporary accommodation.

Daily Star • 26th October 2024

Guests wake to find 'ghost of girl' staring down at them at 'most haunted hotel'

Dark figures, ghosts, and ghoulish voices have been reported at a haunted hotel in Tennessee.

Daily Star • 24th October 2024

Boy dies after 'falling in love' with Game of Thrones-inspired chatbot

A boy has died dead after allegedly received a message from a Games of Thrones affiliated chatbot telling him to "come home", according to a lawsuit by the grief-riddled mother.

Big Issue • 18th October 2024

Labour told to end policies causing deaths of thousands of homeless people

A vigil was held to remember those who died while homeless and rough sleeping as charities call for the reversal of cuts to welfare and housing. The Museum of Homelessness (MoH) held the vigil to remember those who died while homeless across the UK in 2023. The vigil took place outside Downing Street. 

The charity is calling on the Labour government to reverse policies that have caused thousands upon thousands of preventable deaths in recent years.

Big Issue • 16th October 2024

London's Elizabeth Line named Britain's best new building at Stirling Prize 2024

Chowdhury Walk is part of an ambitious programme of new generation council housing by Hackney Council. The development features 11 new two, three and four bedroom dwellings, seven of which are for social rent. A public thoroughfare has also been created for pedestrians and cyclists, providing the community a new way to cross the neighbourhood. 

In particular, the homes are built on a plot previously occupied by garages and ad-hoc parking – a nod to Labour’s housing policy to turn neglected br...

Big Issue • 16th October 2024

Government spend on housing at highest level since records began

Government spend on housing has increased to its highest level since records began due to housing benefits, according to a landmark report. The report, the UK Housing Review 2024, known colloquially as the UK’s housing ‘bible’, notes that subsidies should shift away from housing benefits back into investment to creating more social housing.

Government spending on housing in 2021/22 was £30.5bn compared to £22.3bn in 1975/76 – not adjusted to inflation. However, out of the £30.5bn, only 12% of government spending is used to build or improve homes. The rest, or 88%, is used to provide housing benefits.

Big Issue • 15th October 2024

More than 1,400 people died while homeless in the UK in 2023

The Museum of Homelessness’ Dying Homeless Project uses a rigorous verification process to arrive at the final figures, including analysis of information from coroners’ enquiries, media coverage, family testimony and freedom of information requests to verify details of each case.

The lack of effective frontline services, the MoH argues, contributes to an epidemic of “deaths of despair”, which includes deaths from alcohol, drugs and suicide. These makes up 47% of deaths of homeless people whe...