West Yorkshire city to host magic, music, film and theatre performances celebrating local talent, plus Turner prizeA city centre magic show, the Brontës as you’ve never seen them before, and a bassline house symphony are all part of Bradford’s City of Culture lineup, which its organisers call a celebration of everything that makes the West Yorkshire city great.Shanaz Gulzar, the creative director of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, said the whole of the country was invited to come next […]

Plans for brutalist Richard Dunn building would turn it into versatile space for recently added Olympic sportsAn abandoned sports centre that escaped demolition after being turned into a backup Covid morgue could be in line for a new role as the UK’s first national skateboarding park.Andy McDonald, a skateboarder who was called “Rad Dad” after competing in the Paris Olympics at the age of 51, is among those backing the proposals to reinvent Bradford’s boarded-up brutalist Richard Dunn […]

Report into prevalence of condition reveals stark north/south divide with the highest rates in north-westOne in five patients registered to a pair of GP surgeries in the north of England have long Covid, according to a report that lays bare stark regional inequalities.The north-west of England had higher than average numbers of people reporting long Covid symptoms, with just over one in 20 people (5.5%), followed by the north-east and Yorkshire (5.1%). Continue reading...

Just four months away from taking on the prestigious honour, event organisers are facing numerous challengesIn a little over four months, Bradford takes the mantle of city of culture for 2025.But the city is in a race against time to resolve an almost perfect storm of over-running civic works, delays to infrastructure refurbishment, crises with transport and uncertainty over one of the proposed flagship venues, which is causing something of a headache for the event’s organisers. Continue […]

Entrepreneur who oversaw the regeneration of Dean Clough mills in Halifax into a commercial and cultural ‘utopia’Sir Ernest Hall, who has died aged 94, led a remarkable renaissance in a struggling northern town, transforming the world’s largest carpet factory into a beacon of art and enterprise working together, with striking benefits to both. He gradually converted half a mile of derelict Victorian buildings in central Halifax into what he called a practical utopia, where makers of […]