2014 January

19 places to get updates on welfare reform

If you want to keep track of what’s happening in welfare reform we’ve compiled this list of some of the most useful – and varied – sources on everything from the bedroom tax to child poverty. We’ve also put together a dashboard if you want to follow these on a single easy-to-check webpage. You can follow […]

Review of 2013 on Help Me Investigate

Over on the main Help Me Investigate blog there’s a review of what we did across the four HMI sites in 2013, including HMI Welfare: “Help Me Investigate Welfare began looking at zero hour contracts at the start of 2013 before it hit the mainstream news agenda, as Danielle Hudspith reported on the Number of employees on zero hour contracts doubling in […]

Welfare issues in York: 7 organisations to follow

Fiona Parker and Neil Johnston, freelance journalists and final year students at York, have chosen seven key centres in the city to follow on welfare issues. 1. York Teaching Hospital The teaching hospital in York has over 700 beds and is located fifteen minutes from the centre of the City. The York Teaching Hospital Trust, the […]

15 York Twitter accounts to follow in 2014 on mental health and joblessness

Neil Johnston and Fiona Parker, freelance journalists and final year students in York, have put together a list of Twitter accounts to follow for anyone interested in welfare issues in the area. You can also follow the list here. 1. david3012 @david3012 Director of Development at @TheRetreatYork , sci-fi geek, motorhome owner and lover of […]

How to find new leads in an old news report on empty property

Background material and general reporting on an area can often provide all sorts of clues and leads for further, deeper investigation. This piece from the Birmingham Mail is a particularly good example. On the surface it is a rather general report on an empty property in the city – but along the way it includes all sorts […]

Help Me Investigate in 2013 – and 2014

As Help Me Investigate starts to plan new investigations in 2014, it’s a good time to look back at what we’ve been up to over the last year across the four sites (not including this blog). It’s easy to forget how much you do in a year – thanks to the many contributors who made everything […]