Excited to announce that I’m joining the Times’ lobby team as a political correspondent at quite an interesting moment! Westminster people let’s grab coffee and northern contacts please stay in touch, have a feeling there’s going to be plenty to chat about 👀

It’s been a busy, fun 24 hours in Makerfield. But to echo the words of this long-suffering cleaner, it’s time for us all to piss off (me to bed!)

Belfast riots: Mobs burn immigrant homes in modern-day pogrom www.thetimes.com/article/84bb...

Belfast riots: Mobs burn immigrant homes in modern-day pogrom

African carers, Ukrainians and a Romani family were among those forced to flee as masked men with hit lists and petrol bombs went door to door targeting foreigners

thetimes.com

A video taken by a Ugandan carer, Sumayah, who was stuck inside her home in Belfast for 4 hours last night as the street came under attack by gangs of masked men “It was so, so, so terrifying,” she told me, adding: “The person they are targeting is looking after their mother or granny”

Reform has suspended a Sheffield councillor, elected May 7th, over images of swastikas & Mein Kampf reported by the Sheffield Star. The Times had reported antisemitic comments by this candidate on Aprl 22nd but the party did not act pre-election www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Sheffield Reform UK councillor 'brought party into disrepute'

Reform UK say Sheffield councillor Nathaniel Menday has been suspended pending an investigation.

bbc.co.uk

Live on Sky News this morning with @sophyridge.bsky.social discussing local elections in the north west where Labour are expecting a battering and the impact of the Golders Green stabbings on Manchester’s Jewish community still reeling from October’s synagogue attack

A firm run by a Labour council appointee once convicted of defrauding BBC Children in Need received almost £1m in public contracts despite failing to pay staff the minimum wage, The Times can reveal. @constancekampfner.bsky.social Tom Duffy and me in today's paper. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Fraudster who breached low pay laws won government contract

Asif Hamid, who went on the run after conning Children in Need, reinvented himself as an entrepreneur but has links to firms that went bust owing £6.2 million tax

thetimes.com

Looking pretty clear that the Greens have won in Gorton + Denton Labour was optimistic in recent days and thought they had a possible 25k voters in the seat Now a source says they underestimated how many of their voters were going Green, while still saying they backed the party “out of politeness”

Doctors are using NDAs to silence former patients For two years Katy, a model, wasn’t able to speak about ending up in hospital for weeks with sepsis after plastic surgery Dr Riccardo Frati is now under investigation by the GMC. He denies any wrongdoing Read here: www.thetimes.com/article/a0e8...

‘Boob God’ surgeon’s gagging order lifted after model’s two-year battle

Katy Morgan has successfully overturned a court injunction that prevented her talking about a ‘traumatic’ surgery that left her with sepsis

thetimes.com

Why wasn’t the Southport attacker stopped? The public inquiry has revealed Axel Rudakubana’s chaotic homelife and how both his parents and the authorities failed There was no silver bullet, and yet so much could have been different On today’s Story podcast 🎧 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Why wasn't the Southport attack stopped?

Podcast Episode · The Story · 07/11/2025 · 42m

podcasts.apple.com

My undercover takes a look at anti-abortion groups operating in the UK Women are being given dubious medical advice and dogma-driven counselling With mental health services overstretched, experts warn these groups are likely to attract the most vulnerable women www.thetimes.com/article/4b7c...

England fans have brought the weather as well as the vibes to Basel today Lots are telling me soggy conditions are no bad thing against our Mediterranean rivals! Let’s hope they’re right 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🤞 #cominghome

Investigation: A British property developer is being sued over a £330m ‘crypto Ponzi scheme’ Peter McInnes, who bragged of Banksy and supercar collections, told investors he had a heart attack days before a deadline to repay their cash www.thetimes.com/article/27b5...

Briton sued over £330m ‘crypto Ponzi scheme’

A former pub landlord who bragged of Banksy and supercar collections told investors he had a heart attack days before a deadline to repay their cash

thetimes.com

Utterly delightful line in this story by @constancekampfner.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/uk/history/a...

"HORROR AT LIVERPOOL PARADE" Full Story: t.ly/IByUA @constancekampfner.bsky.social / @stevenswinford.bsky.social / @willisbennett11.bsky.social / #PaulJoyce / #DuncanGardham for @thetimes.com. Car drives through #LiverpoolFC's victory parade celebration. #TheTimes #IBPAPERS #TomorrowsPapersToday

🗣️ 'A moronic mission to cause mindless vandalism' Everything you need to know about the Sycamore Gap trial, on The Story podcast ⬇️ 🎧 @constancekampfner.bsky.social | @jonesluke.bsky.social

How the Sycamore Gap killers were caught

open.spotify.com

NEW: The woman thrown out of the Magic Circle for pulling off the ultimate illusion, disguising herself as a boy, has been found after The Times sparked a campaign to track her down Sophie Lloyd was readmitted to the club “A wrong was made right," she said www.thetimes.com/article/456c...

Magic Circle welcomes back woman expelled for the ultimate deception

Sophie Lloyd was ejected from the society of illusionists for duping them into believing she was a man — its first female chair convinced her to come back

thetimes.com

Spending the day with Sam and Archie - who couldn't see eye to eye on what to have for lunch, let alone anything else - was an interesting lesson on the art of disagreement For today's T2: www.thetimes.com/life-style/s...

One twin votes for Reform, the other is vegan, gay and a Green voter

How did two brothers end up with completely different views — and stay close? Constance Kampfner finds out

thetimes.com

I have no words for the bravery of the parents who spoke to me about the pain and trauma their family has faced since their two little girls were stabbed in the Southport attacks This is their story: www.thetimes.com/article/eaff...

Southport survivors’ parents: We don’t feel lucky

Seven months after their daughters were injured in the attack, a family speaks for the first time about the day that shattered their world

thetimes.com

This has been the toughest day of reporting I've ever done, with so many grim details of these poor little girls' murders read out in court and the myriad ways their killer should have been stopped. The composure of the families in the face of it all was awe-inspiring.

Exc: A boy who was assaulted by Axel Rudakubana is being wrongly accused of bullying him and his home targeted by people blaming him for the horrific attacks in Southport Another instance of how misinformation is channelling anger onto the wrong people www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

Thugs target victim of Axel Rudakubana for ‘sending him off the rails’

The family has been forced to call police after people turned up at their home and wrongly claimed that the pupil had bullied the Southport attacker at school

thetimes.com

My profile of Axel Rudakubana reveals: - His years as a troublemaker at school who made female students uncomfortable - Details of a previous attack - His family's traumatic experience of the Rwandan genocide Thank you to everyone who spoke to me for this piece www.thetimes.com/article/7738...

Axel Rudakubana: from class clown to killer

As the 18-year-old pleads guilty to the Southport attacks, The Times can reveal he was expelled from school — then returned with a hockey stick to target children

thetimes.com

Labour insiders said Mike Amesbury, who has pleaded guilty to punching a constituent, was in a ‘dark place’ after missing out on a government job Story with @geraldinescott.co.uk www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Mike Amesbury wanted to be a minister. Now he’s a criminal

Labour insiders say the MP, who has pleaded guilty to punching a constituent, was in a ‘dark place’ after missing out on a government job

thetimes.com

Was the horrific abuse Kiena Dawes suffered at the hands of her fiancé before she killed herself enough to convict him of manslaughter? Not according to a jury Yet experts told me the case highlights the often overlooked link between domestic abuse and suicide 👇 www.thetimes.com/article/6e53...

‘Ryan Wellings killed me,’ she wrote. But the jury disagreed

Kiena Dawes died by suicide after a long campaign of domestic violence at the hands of her fiancé. Now he has been cleared of manslaughter in a historic case

thetimes.com

This is an incredible - and disturbing - piece of reporting by the Africa Eye team: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Nigeria's fertility scam: ‘Pregnant’ for 15 months

Women in Nigeria desperate to conceive are drawn into a disturbing scam involving trafficked babies.

bbc.co.uk

There is nothing special about the group of men who can often be found sipping pints outside a brasserie in Avignon. Yet they are actually co-defendants in France’s largest ever rape trial. My dispatch from the Pelicot case: www.thetimes.com/article/1f03...

Revealed: the post-court lunches and jokes shared by Pelicot accused

Dozens of men accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot have descended upon the medieval French city for the trial. Residents find their presence deeply unsettling

thetimes.com

Reform MP James McMurdock was jailed for repeatedly kicking his girlfriend. He had told the media he was jailed for "pushing" his former partner in 2006. Court records obtained by The Times say the sentence was given because of "the serious nature of the offence”. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Reform MP James McMurdock was jailed for repeatedly kicking girlfriend

The MP had told the media he had been jailed for ‘pushing’ former partner in 2006, when the court records say he repeatedly kicked her on a night out

thetimes.com

“A rape is a rape” draped on the walls of Avignon I’m here covering the Pelicot trial as it enters its final weeks Today Gisele Pelicot accused the dozens of men who are accused of raping her while she was unconscious of “cowardice” Many claim they were tricked by her ex-husband

It's a work in progress but here's a starter pack of regional journalists in the UK, including national reporters working outside of London... go.bsky.app/9BotfQs

Constance Kampfner - Constance is one of our most talented young journalists who now works as our northern correspondent. She did heroic work covering this summer’s riots. bsky.app/profile/cons...