A missing story

When I worked at The Star and the Derbyshire Times, the legal threats we got weren’t particularly serious. “I didn’t give you permission to print my name in the paper,” they would shout down the phone. “We don’t need your permission, sir,” we would respond. “You appeared in the court lists as you were caught urinating round the back of Sainsbury’s.”

“I’m instructing my solicitor,” they would generally say as they slammed the phone down. “I’ll see you in court.” No solicitor’s letter ever came.

Working for The Tribune is a bit different. Much of our work is investigative, and as such attracts much more serious legal threats from individuals who might actually take us to court. Powerful people often like to keep their activities secret, and in the UK, laws around libel and defamation tend to strongly favour claimants. 

Over the last week we’ve been hard at work on a major investigation, and we were hoping to bring you that story today. However, we’ve taken the difficult decision to delay it.

When someone is annoyed they appeared in the court lists it’s not a credible complaint, but when the letter arrives addressed from a City of London solicitor’s firm you have to take it a bit more seriously. We stand 100% behind our reporting, but we’re going to spend the next few days working out the best way forward and hope to bring it to you next week. In the meantime, if you have information and want to get in touch you can contact Mollie.

However, we’ve still prepared a mini-briefing and weekend things to do list below. Also, as today is Halloween, we’re making Dan’s piece from earlier in the week about a ghost in a former Sheffield city centre nightclub free to read. From terrified bouncers to angry Italian chefs, mediums, exorcisms, and a BBC reporter who sounds like Eric Idle, it’s got the lot.

And there’s one other thing we’re throwing open to all — we still have a handful of tickets left for our next event, which is a beer tasting with Abbeydale Brewery at their pub, the Rising Sun in Fulwood on Tuesday. Abbeydale Brewery is legendary in the city for good reason, setting the standard as some of the best beer in Sheffield, if not the entire north of England. To hear their story and drink their beer, click below.

And finally, if you want your local journalists to be doing the kind of reporting that ruffles the feathers of those powerful enough to bring such threats, then we need your help. The Tribune is small, but our strength lies in the army of supporters that stand behind us — local people who want what’s best for their city. If you haven’t joined them yet, we’d be so grateful if you did today.

Have a great weekend.

Dan Hayes
Founder, The Tribune

Your Tribune briefing 🗞️

🚨 There have been 2,286 breaches of Sheffield city centre’s Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) in its first six months, the BBC report. Of these, 1,016 were for loitering, 681 were for begging, 327 were for alcohol, 241 were for drugs and 21 were for urination/defecation. People were asked to leave the city centre on 827 occasions, while alcohol was confiscated 136 times and drugs 31. No one has yet been given a £100 fixed-penalty notice. The Sheffield Business Investment District (BID), who were one of the driving forces behind the PSPO, said there was evidence it was making the city centre safer, but complained that its deterrent effect was being held back by a lack of enforcement.

🏛️ A South Yorkshire woman whose two sons were killed by their father on a court-ordered unsupervised visit has spoken to the Guardian after her long running campaign to change the law ended in success. Claire Throssell, from Penistone, was last week invited to Downing Street as the government announced that it planned to repeal the automatic presumption that children should have contact with both parents. Throssell's two sons, Jack, 12, and Paul, nine, were killed by Darren Sykes in 2014, despite her warnings that he had threatened to harm them, and her.

🦉 An astonishing story in The Star reveals that Sheffield Wednesday chairman Dejphon Chansiri made a desperate last-bid call to South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard last week to ask if he could make his HMRC bill disappear. The jaw-dropping revelation came in a podcast interview between Star Wednesday reporter Joe Crann and Sheffield South East MP and Wednesday fan Clive Betts, who the paper says “played a significant role in the important latter days manoeuvres that pushed the former Owls chairman to finally — and reluctantly — sign administration papers.” In other news, two golden elephant statues Chansiri installed outside Hillsborough in 2016 in a bid to bring the club good luck are to be sold off at auction to raise money.

Things to do 📆

Friday

🎃 Tonight at The Lescar, The Writers’ Workshop's Weird Weekend kicks off in style with a special Halloween Party. Expect spine-chilling spoken word performance, a spooky-scary quiz, magical tunes, and prizes for the best dressed. Tickets are priced £17 to non-Writer’s Workshop members (£12 for members) and doors open at 6.30pm. For a full list of every Writer’s Workshop event taking place over the Halloween weekend, see this page on Eventbrite. 

Saturday

🍿 On Saturday, as part of the Off the Shelf festival, the Showroom will pay tribute to a British film and television legend. Alison Steadman is widely regarded as one of this country’s greatest screen performers. In tribute, the Showroom Cinema presents a special double-bill of her films, both classic Mike Leigh entries into the Play for Today series: 1976’s Nuts in May and 1977’s Abigail’s Party. The double bill begins at 12.30pm and tickets are priced from £6-£12.

Sunday

🏭 On Sunday, join Kelham Island Walks for a walking tour of Neepsend. The walk brings to life the story of how Neepsend grew from a tiny hamlet by the river into a thriving community. On the tour you’ll learn the fascinating stories of a typical working class neighbourhood with its houses, pubs, shops, cinema, swimming baths and churches, and even get to visit some rarely seen underground stables. Tickets are £10 and the walk begins at 11.00am at the Gardeners’ Rest.

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