A brilliant job in the heart of the FT newsroom, helping run our UK news coverage.

Deadline April 18th. Happy to chat about the position (DM here, email [email protected], or ping me on Signal [kadhim.01])

boards.eu.greenhouse.io/financialtimes…

Excellent piece on assisted dying by Laura Hughes: ft.com/content/bd5db3…

Ian Douglas took his own life the day before his 60th birthday.

“Had we [had] more sympathetic assisted-dying laws in this country, in all probability I would still be alive today,” he wrote in his final note, which his family shared with the Financial Times
on.ft.com/3VNHVc8

It begins. But note the balance between human health risks and impact on reselling/property values...ticklish, but also potentially an incentive not to confront this issue.

Mark Drakeford's final First Minister's Questions kicked off today with a question from Adam Price 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏳️‍🌈 on the FT's investigation into metal mines and human health.

And how they’ve changed (or not) as far back as we could go. Frongoch’s remediation is very clear! This is particularly topical with the recent Financial Times article by Laura Hughes on abandoned metal mines in Wales:

Over 4mn children (almost one in three) live in relative poverty in the UK. This number is set to rise in the next few years, with child poverty rates in large families exceeding 50% by 2029, according to Resolution Foundation.

Big read from me/Peter Foster: on.ft.com/3IGqD8U

Just published: front page of the Financial Times, UK edition, Wednesday 13 March on.ft.com/49LLqUs

🚨MPs have launched a probe into the health risks posed by abandoned mines in Wales - after the FT revealed that 129 sites were ‘certainly/ highly likely’ to be leaking harmful metals. Story by Laura Hughes on.ft.com/3Tuls25

The Chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee Stephen Crabb sets out Welsh Affairs Committee plans to investigate the impact of metal mine pollution in Wales.

Read more here: committees.parliament.uk/committee/162/…

Professor Bruce Lanphear, who has researched lead exposure for decades, tells FT:

“Given how toxic chemicals adversely affects human health, I find it puzzling that a scientifically advanced country like the UK lacks a nationally representative biomonitoring programme.”

“We have always eaten everything we’ve grown here', recalls Elizabeth*. 'Surely someone would be testing the soil if they know it could be a risk to our health?”

She is just one of half a million people in the UK estimated to be living on land contaminated by metal mining Financial Times

Evidence of chicken and other livestock contaminated with lead well above the threshold for 'acute toxicity' has triggered calls for urgent regulation of mines in Wales ft.com/content/83329c…

Worth your time… Laura Hughes investigates impact of old lead mines and potential health impacts.