The secret postie

Good morning, readers — and welcome to today’s edition of The Tribune.

We’re bringing you the third in our very popular series of anonymous interviews with local people in important and visible jobs. Last year, we spoke to a secret bus driver, while last month we spoke to a secret A&E doctor. Now, a secret postie speaks out about the trials — and positives — of their job. That’s today’s story.

Your Tribune briefing 🗞️

📹 In yesterday’s briefing, we discussed our story from Friday and questions around whether a video clip that purportedly shows local pro-Palestine activist Jon Cowley admitting he is “completely and utterly anti-Semitic” has been altered. Jon insists he said nothing of the sort — telling us: “I remain utterly convinced that I didn't say that or any version of it” — while Jean Hatchet, who posted the video, is adamant it’s genuine. We highlighted a comment from Tribune member Alex McLean, who noted that, in the footage, a scarf seemingly appears on a woman in the background after she steps out of frame. He said the change could be an indication of alterations to the video that included manipulating Cowley’s words.

We’ve since pointed Alex to separate footage showing another angle of the woman, Jean’s partner Aleks, which reveals her coat seems to have a black and white hood. He now believes this fabric became visible as she turned her body, although he still expressed doubts about the veracity of the clip. “It’s hard to know,” he said. “It could be a real video but with the audio and lip sync changed.” The Tribune showed the clip to a digital forensics expert, who said it was hard to assess given the length of the clip and the fact it had been posted to social media, making it impossible to view the metadata. “The mouth looks a bit out of sync at times,” he noted. 

Jean has not made the full video public but says she wants to hand it over to police. She has dismissed as lies any suggestion that the Cowley clip has been manipulated.

🏰 The work to create a new public space at the former site of Sheffield castle is going to take longer and cost more money than originally thought. The BBC report that the project is now £8.5 million over budget after “significant” archaeological finds and “technical challenges” opening up the River Sheaf were encountered. The project was originally meant to be completed this year and cost £15 million, due to be paid for entirely from Levelling Up funding secured from the government in 2021. A bid for additional funding from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority is due to be submitted in March.

💯 The Yorkshire Post has revealed its Power 100, a list of the 100 most powerful people in God’s Own County. Sheffield and South Yorkshire are well represented, with our mayor Oliver Coppard coming in at number 3, Sheffield council leader Tom Hunt at 15, and chief executive Kate Josephs at 19. The highest ranked Sheffield figure is not a politician, however. Gary Nutter, the CEO of Forgemasters comes in at number 2, reflecting how important the historic business has become to the defence and energy sectors since it was nationalised in 2021. Number 1 was Leeds West MP and, possibly more importantly, Chancellor, Rachel Reeves.

✝️ Sad news reported in The Star that the Reverend Meedperdas Edward Charles, popularly known as Father Charles, has died, aged 97. Born in Singapore in 1928, Father Charles first came to Sheffield in 1960, ministering at multiple churches in Sheffield and Birmingham in a 30 year career. Dan actually wrote about Father Charles when he was working at The Star in 2018, when he told him how, in 1958, he drove the 6,742 miles from Singapore to France, in 58 days. Father Charles was remembered in a special service at Sheffield Cathedral on February 16.

🎭 On for two nights only at the Crucible Playhouse this week is Dry Bits, a riotous new one-woman show from local writer-performer Imogen Ashby. The menopause: whispered about, joked about, and ignored for centuries. Until now. Funny, furious and full of heart, Imogen dives into the messy, maddening, surprisingly liberating mayhem of menopause. The show starts on Tuesday 24 February and ends on Wednesday 25. Tickets £12-£14.