Taking a break
You’ll notice the past two Sundays have been and gone without new editions of The Teesside Lead (or at least I’d hope you’ve noticed).
It was my hope that I could keep plugging away until I go on my honeymoon to Mexico at the end of this month, but that just hasn’t been possible. For the time being The Teesside Lead will be on hold, and hopefully back in November.
Covering Teesside politics has been my full time job for nearly three years - practically the entire time I’ve been a journalist. I keep going back to the words of a journalist with decades of experience who told me that the way things happen on Teesside, and the way journalists are treated, “it’s just not normal.”
To say those three years have been a baptism of fire would be putting it lightly. In that time I’ve submitted around 200 FOIs, had a government minister publicly call me a “conspiracy theorist”, been blacklisted by public authority press teams, and been sent threatening legal letters from third parties which could only have happened if my details had been shared unlawfully.
It’s just a case of needing to take a breather. Thank you to you all for being here with me so far on this journey, and for having the patience to stick with me while I recalibrate my senses. Thanks too, to Ed and Luke from The Lead for their help and support.
For those who pay to support what we do at The Teesside Lead, we’ve put a pause on any subscriptions during this break.
I’ll be back before you know it, so if you want to share stories or information for me to pick up on my return, don’t hold back!
See you soon,
Leigh