I watched the opening arguments of the Chris Brain trial at Inner London Crown Court earlier this week. Brain is accused of 36 counts of indecent assault and one count of rape. The 68-year-old ran the Nine O'Clock Service in Sheffield from 1985 to 1994.

The Sheffield Drop is a month old! 🥳 And we celebrate with a bumper edition! @reformuk.bsky.social secured its first @sheffcitycouncil.bsky.social seat after the party's historic Stocksbridge and Upper Don by-election victory. open.substack.com/pub/thesheff...

The latest edition of The Sheffield Drop is here: @sheffcitycouncil.bsky.social wants an urgent conversation with the government after new legislation -- on which it was not consulted -- may overturn the city's 2021 referendum on how the council is run. open.substack.com/pub/thesheff...

The turnout was 36.8%, which is significantly higher than average for local elections. Perhaps shows the growing impact Reform is having in areas across the country.

Sheffield has its first Reform UK councillor. Overnight, John Booker won the Upper Don and Stocksbridge by-election, securing 32.9% of the vote. Mr Booker has been a councillor before, representing UKIP in West Ecclesfield from 2014 to 2019.

As an increasing number of Labour MPs rebel against the government's welfare reforms, I asked the only Sheffield MP why they did not sign an amendment to potentially reject disability benefit cuts.

The latest edition of The Sheffield Drop has landed in your inboxes - and it's all about 💧: - Yorkshire Water is urging residents to limit their usage - Police are warning kids against open-water swimming - Meanwhile, South Yorkshire's most senior firefighter is arguing for a water safety minister

💧Today's edition of The Sheffield Drop is out. ✈️ Progress on the Doncaster Sheffield Airport, updates on the Hillsborough Park development, and a rather interesting football talk all feature. open.substack.com/pub/thesheff...

The latest edition of The #Sheffield Drop was published yesterday. In uglier news, I’m posting this at 1.30am as I’ve been sat in A&E all night with a suspected torn MCL… open.substack.com/pub/thesheff...

Despite having only launched yesterday, The #Sheffield Drop has reached 100 subscribers already. Thank you all for joining with me. Please do get in touch about why you subscribed and what you'd like to see from the newsletter.

In The #Sheffield Drop today: Public consultation for the council's plans to build on the greenbelt, a new Rock N Roll Circus headliner, and a possible @peakdistrict.bsky.social visitor's charge. And there's a little #swimming anecdote... thesheffielddrop.substack.com/p/the-sheffi...

Some exciting news! We are launching The #Sheffield Drop - a bulletin newsletter published on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays that will provide you with everything you need to know about the Steel City thesheffielddrop.substack.com

🟩 The public consultation for #Sheffield Council's plan to build on the greenbelt to meet government housing targets is now open. You can have your say here: haveyoursay.sheffield.gov.uk/sheffield-pl...

Here is my report from #Sheffield council yesterday - it was a pretty fiery meeting at times, but ultimately, the controversial greenbelt plans were passed

We are hearing from angry residents who are petitioning against #Sheffield Council's plans to build in greenbelt land. The council is voting today - and there was a rousing applause following the opening petition statement.

The pair have been sentenced for their crimes

Well, that didn't go very well. Massive to get Partey next week

Responsible journalism suspended for the next two hours

Yesterday, I was at #Sheffield Crown Court for a pre-trial hearing for the killing of 15-year-old Harvey Willgoose. A 15-year-old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a blade, but denied murder.

A 15-year-old Halifax girl has gone missing

An incident in Leeds has been transferred to counter terror police, West Yorkshire Police confirmed yesterday. A man attacked Otley Road with a slew of weapons, seriously injuring two women. A 38-year-old man has been arrested and was taken to hospital with a self-inflicted injury.

A plume of dark smoke billowed over Sheffield this afternoon

The snooker is back at #Sheffield But for how long?

Everything is fine...

#Sheffield city centre has a new PSPO (public space protection order). It came into force this week, and provides police and local authority officers with expanded powers to deal with antisocial behaviour, such as loitering, begging, street drink, and urination. But will it actually work?

In the lead up Easter, American organisation 40DaysforLife has sponsored anti-abortion prayer vigils and protests across the UK, including in Sheffield.

Quite the day in #Sheffield - and another dog shooting by South Yorkshire Police.

Fargate in Sheffield has been under construction for the past two years and has faced a series of delays

We went out to speak to the people of Sheffield to see what they had to say as Fargate is finally opening up after months of delays

#Fargate in #Sheffield city centre has been under development since the coronavirus pandemic. First, the ill-fated shipping containers, now part of the Grey to Green scheme to open up the main shopping street in the city centre.

Here is my report on the new PSPO, which is due to come into force next week. I'll have a deeper piece looking at whether it actually solves the problem or not soon. www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/local-n...

@sheffcitycouncil.bsky.social announced today the city centre's public-space protection order will begin on April 7. A controversial scheme which tends to criminalise homeless people, it gives police officers the power to dish out an on-the-spot fine of up to £1,000 for anti-social behaviour.

Today is my first day in my new position as Sheffield Reporter for @yorkshirelive.co.uk. I'm really excited to get going, and already have some interesting stories lined up. If you have a story or would like to go for a coffee, get in touch!

Top work by @sonjatutty.bsky.social, who looked into how much investment local councils are forced to plough into temporary accommodation. Given the financial situation of many councils across the country, it is a soaring cost they cannot afford. And there's some fancy 📈 for every local area

Good to know #Arsenal get screwed in Europe as well

🚨 Personal News 🚨 After three wonderful years with the RADAR AI team, it's time for me to move on and embrace a new challenge! In March, I'll be joining up with @yorkshirelive.co.uk as their Sheffield Reporter.

Declan Rice the only footballer who's better with 10 men

You have to be kidding #Arsenal

Great to see my story about mixed-sex accommodation breaches on the front page of the @telegraphnews.bsky.social today. Nearly 50,000 breaches of a rule that banned mixed-sex wards in 2010 -- it is the highest on record, and more than double just five years ago. #datajournalism

Happy New Year! I have been spending my time looking at mixed-sex wards in the NHS - always a joyous start to the year!

Factchecking getting a hammering this week...

First train to London cancelled. Second train reduced from 10 carriages to five, with seat reservations revoked. This is nothing new: train travel in this country -- which is perfectly set up for efficient train travel -- is broken.

Excellent performance from #Arsenal thus far, lovely stuff!

First official BlueSky post for RADAR!

Delving into the latest school suspension figures this morning, and they are rather horrifying. Here's a little info on how troubling our school system is right now.

Really enjoying Bluesky so far, definitely seems like a more engaging place for conversation. I have one, somewhat measly gripe: when you hover your mouse over someone's name, their profile preview no longer appears, so you have to click on their profile to see who they are.

Great to see so many journalists migrating to BlueSky! Looking forward to working with a lot of you, and seeing the development of news on a new platform, especially in the regional and northern press.

Not totally not sure what's happened with the black background -- still getting used to the #BlueSky malarkey

🔌I spent my time this week looking at public electric chargers across the UK. Here is what we found:

Some interesting figures in the latest #ALevel results, especially compared to pre-pandemic. There is general improvement across the board in getting the top marks, but it is undeniable how out of whack the three coronavirus years (2020-2022) are. More coming on the #RADAR wire #datajournalism