James Mitchinson

Joe Root, ten-foot meerkats and enough razzmatazz to make an American blush – The Yorkshire Post’s editor James Mitchinson and his family took a trip south to Trent Bridge – here’s his verdict on the dazzling ‘maxi’ franchise of English cricket...

Allow me to shuffle the elephant in the room into a broom cupboard before I start: the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, 2.0l petrol, is so inefficient that driving one will leave you susceptible to Greenpeace protesters clambering atop your humble abode in protest, a la Rishi Sunak.

Yesterday I did something I do most days – time, capacity and circumstances allowing: I posted a link on X to one of our stories. It was a link to a breaking news story about Moorlands School, a proud 127-year-old institution, which has taken the decision to close, citing difficult financial circumstances as its reason-in-chief. We report on school closures regularly. Often small rural primary schools struggling to make numbers.

When Ismail Mulla, The Yorkshire’s Post’s Comment Editor, and I mull over the editorial stance that shall fly, each day, beneath the masthead of this historic news organ, we do so cognisant of the responsibility we have towards it, and to you, the readers.

Today, this newsletter is going to the dogs; my dog, specifically. Now 13, we decided to become pet owners, my wife and I, because first of all we were ready to take on that responsibility. Secondly, because we weren’t quite ready to start a family - but fancied extra company in the house - and perhaps chief among the myriad reasons was that Christa’s dad was in the throes of a cancer battle, which, at the time we’d hoped he’d win. Bringing home a puppy Golden Retriever was our way of offering him a focus, a purpose, an outlet and a companion to share with us.

Ten years ago, almost to the day, I was ccd into an email sent to one of my reporters at the time, Chris Burn, who had been working tirelessly on exposing the crimes of, largely, Asian paedophile gangs operating across South Yorkshire. It read:

The Yorkshire Post is very fortunate to have writing for it a quill of authors whose talent eclipses that of most in the regional and national press.

Alex Belfield is a former radio DJ who has previously presented shows on BBC Radio Leeds, as well as Mansfield 103.2. More pertinently, Belfield is a convicted stalker whose hate-filled attentions and concocted conspiracy theories have ravaged the lives of victims, filling them with fear and paranoia.

What does the church have to hide? Actually, sorry. Let me try that again because addressing the question merely to ‘the Church’ conjures images of inanimate steeples and weathered gargoyles under inquisition.

This is an online version of the editor’s regular newsletter. Not all of James’ newsletters are published as online articles as well. To ensure you don’t miss one, subscribe today to lend James and The Yorkshire Post your support > https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/subscriptions