After the expenses, before the election

The Elliot Morley expenses story has been the biggest of my time at the Scunthorpe Telegraph. I’ve covered it in depth since it broke in May and you can read the bulk of my copy on this post from earlier this year. Two of the biggest days are also attached below.

The story has moved on quickly in the past few weeks. Nic Dakin was selected as the Labour candidate from a long list of 32 people from across the country. I’ve covered the selection process in depth since it got underway in September.

The selection of Mr Dakin also means Scunthorpe now has its three main candidates in place. As part of my build-up to the General Election, I produced a Question Time style feature over three days to test the views of Mr Dakin, Conservative Caroline Johnson and Liberal Democrat Neil Poole.

As we move closer to the election, I hope to look at the other seats in North Lincolnshire and go further in questioning the candidates for Scunthorpe – a seat which I think could be one of the most fascinating in the country given the context behind the Labour Party selection process.

Local government reporting

Since starting with the Scunthorpe Telegraph, I have been given the opportunity to pursue one of my passions in journalism, covering and scrutinising politics. Here, that mostly means North Lincolnshire Council.

Recently, I’ve been covering political disputes about how prepared the council is for any potential budget cuts over the next five years.

A major story since I’ve started has been the re-development of Scunthorpe venue the Baths Hall. It’s sparked fierce political argument throughout my time here – both good natured and bad.

At the budget meeting in February it was announced the controversial project was being put on the back burner for a year in the face of capital budget shortfalls. Covering the budget is also a good opportunity to really take council stories out to the people: everyone wants to know what is happening to their council tax bills.

And with the focus on MPs expenses for most of 2009, council politicians have also faced closer scrutiny by local people.

Working politics gives plenty of great stories, from the Icelandic banking crisis writ large locally, funerals over a web-cam and exclusives about the senior management of children’s services.

And, more recently, stories about markets and planning issues.

Tour of Britain video

On Saturday, September 12, the Tour of Britain set off from Scunthorpe on its eight day race around the country. I covered the start and finish, in York, of the first stage, shooting video on the way on a Nokia N95 8gb. Together with other shots from my colleagues, I edited it together for the thisisscunthorpe.co.uk website.