How’s your Monday going? Ours hasn’t got off to the best start, after we received not one, but two, official complaints from the multimillionaire owner of FIBRE, The Viaduct Showroom, and now Thwaite Mills: Terry George. George objected to our weekend story and the accompanying Instagram post, asking that they be temporarily removed (pending review) or amended by 10am this morning. “We are taking legal advice and reserve all rights,” he added.
We stand by our reporting — so much so that, not only have we left the story up in its original form, we’ve decided to remove the paywall on it so everyone can give it a read and decide for themselves. It’s here; we think we’ve given a very fair account of events.
We need your help. Independent reporting is under siege everywhere, with the rich and powerful able to deploy huge resources to guarantee favourable coverage. The only thing we have is you, our readers.
You haven’t yet signed up to support us, but now would be a great time. We’re making a loss and need more backers to keep our independent journalism going. It’s not much a month - cheaper if you pay for a year upfront - and you’ll be ensuring we can keep scrutinising everything that’s going on in Leeds.
Still, at least readers seemed to appreciate our efforts. “Perfect Saturday-morning-with-a-coffee reading. ‘The snag is I have the recording’ is possibly the best line I’ve read all week,” said Mark in the comments. “Real boots on the ground journalism, not the pale imitation of rehashed internet research,” added Simon.
On with today’s briefing. Our big story today is the extraordinary fracas that broke out at Hyde Park Book Club on Thursday where a woman was pushed off stage following an mid-gig argument over abortion laws. We also have drought news, a war of words over an airport, and a truly stunning big picture.
The round up
🚰 Yorkshire is officially in a drought, it was confirmed on Friday. This caught many of us by surprise — after all, we got through the baking summer without one, unlike much of the country. However, a look at the data on reservoir levels show why this step has been taken. While levels were higher than last year over the summer, thanks to a wet spring, a dry September with rainfall more than a third below normal meant that we’re now in the same position we were as last year. However, Yorkshire Water’s statement was bullish, saying they were “not planning to introduce water restrictions”. Whether that’s due to their careful water management, or just the fact that no-one uses a hosepipe in October anyway, is unclear.
✈️ There’s been some airport beef playing out in the pages of the Yorkshire Post. Two weeks ago, Vince Hodder, the sweary head honcho of Leeds Bradford Airport, was quoted saying that Doncaster Sheffield Airport — which closed in 2022 but is slated to reopen for freight next year — had “almost no chance” of generating a profit. Now, Christian Foster, director of FlyDoncaster, has hit back, saying: “This project isn’t built on optimism, what-ifs and speculation, it’s built on information and intent.” Having read both pieces, we think the two men may have more in common than they think. In fact, has anyone ever seen both of them in the same room at the same time?
🐴 Two months ago, we covered the plight of Hercules, a full size fibreglass dray horse statue who was stationed outside the old Tetley’s brewery. After being battered off his plinth by nighttime revellers, he was spirited away to a nearby building site, and was left lying under a tarpaulin. Could he be resurrected, we asked, or would he follow the Lloyds TSB horse and be sent to the knacker’s yard?
Today we bring brilliant news: not only is he coming back, but developers Vastint UK are going to use his fibreglass frame to recast him in bronze, making him essentially vandal-proof. Much like his mythological namesake, Hercules will achieve immortality. (We did wonder if we could have the original for our office, but apparently it’ll be destroyed in the process.)
💍A lovely little story on the BBC yesterday. One day Andrew Bedford, owner of Eva’s Kitchen cafe in Wakefield, found an old wedding album dumped outside. Instead of binning it, he decided to work out who was in the photos. With the help of the Wakefield Express and social media, he eventually managed to track down the couple’s 65-year-old son, Michael Dawson. It turns out these were some of the only surviving photos of his parents. “I’m absolutely elated because I am sentimental and it's important for me to have these photos”, Dawson said. “I will protect it with my life now, based on the fact that it's all I've got."
The big picture
We defy you to name each and every architectural era that’s been caught in this delightful image of Leeds by photographer Ashley Campbell, who shoots on a Oppo Find X9 Ultra. We also love the detail of the woman caught right in the corner of the frame. Follow Ashley’s work here on Instagram.
The big story: Punk in a funk
Top line: A punk singer has apologised for pushing a female audience member offstage in Leeds while shouting her down in an argument over UK abortion law.
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