Inquiry will compel individuals and institutions to explain what they did or did not do to protect children from sexual abuseLondon, Oldham, Bradford and Keighley will be the first towns and cities investigated by an independent grooming gangs inquiry, it was announced on Wednesday.The independent inquiry into grooming gangs has confirmed that its three-part hearings will investigate Whitehall departments and politicians alongside local councils, the NHS and national police institutions. […]

The peroxide blond painter from Yorkshire made his name with sunkissed visions of California and never stopped breaking barriers, going on to become one of contemporary art’s most important figures• ‘David Hockney caught the look of the modern world’• David Hockney’s life in picturesDavid Hockney, the iconic British painter who cast a revolutionary gaze across 20th-century art, has died aged 88.He made his name as a pop artist during the swinging 60s and was perhaps best known for […]

At the city’s Great Exhibition of 1904, 57 Somali men, women and children cooked, weaved and danced for visitorsIt was, the posters said, a rare chance to see a “little known but interesting people”: a live display of 57 Somali men, women and children who cooked, weaved and danced for the entertainment of hundreds of thousands of Edwardians who flocked to Yorkshire to see them.More than 120 years later, this controversial – and, in its time, incredibly popular – show will be revisited […]

My mother, Ruth Lesser, who has died aged 95, was held in high regard in the world of aphasia – loss of language – and speech therapy.She joined the sub-department of speech at the University of Newcastle in the late 1970s, at a time when it was under threat of closure. Ruth took it in hand, becoming senior lecturer in 1982, head of the department of speech in 1983, and in 1991 professor of speech and language pathology. The department became nationally and internationally respected under […]