Helen Pidd
@helenpidd.bsky.social
Host of Today in Focus, the Guardian’s daily news podcast. Former North of England editor. Nominated for best host at the 2025 British Podcast Awards. Contact me in confidence helen.pidd@theguardian.com
With producer @eleanorbiggs.bsky.social I spent a few months reporting from Crawley, the migrant hotel capital of Britain, to look at whether the disproportionate numbers of asylum seekers and refugees (mostly Afghans) put really do put pressure on services www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
On the ground in the refugee and asylum capital of Britain - podcast
Helen Pidd heads to Crawley, West Sussex, the place in the UK with the highest number of asylum seekers and supported refugees relative to its population
www.theguardian.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:17 PM
With producer @eleanorbiggs.bsky.social I spent a few months reporting from Crawley, the migrant hotel capital of Britain, to look at whether the disproportionate numbers of asylum seekers and refugees (mostly Afghans) put really do put pressure on services www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
Yes I started off as a music critic. A bad one. Critiquing music in an entertaining and illuminating — but fair — way is actually really hard.
20 years ago I became part of a select club of Guardian critics who awarded something zero stars www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
The Guardian has only ever published 15 zero-star reviews. Here they all are
As Kim Kardashian’s All’s Fair sets a new low for TV, we revisit every single thing our critics have mercilessly panned. Brace yourself for the Mount Rushmore of rubbish!
www.theguardian.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Yes I started off as a music critic. A bad one. Critiquing music in an entertaining and illuminating — but fair — way is actually really hard.
20 years ago I became part of a select club of Guardian critics who awarded something zero stars www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
The Guardian has only ever published 15 zero-star reviews. Here they all are
As Kim Kardashian’s All’s Fair sets a new low for TV, we revisit every single thing our critics have mercilessly panned. Brace yourself for the Mount Rushmore of rubbish!
www.theguardian.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:58 AM
20 years ago I became part of a select club of Guardian critics who awarded something zero stars www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Reposted by Helen Pidd
Today’s podcast on the downfall of Jair (with the brilliant @helenpidd.bsky.social) www.theguardian.com/world/audio/...
The downfall of Jair Bolsonaro – podcast
Former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro has been handed a 27-year sentence for an attempted coup – is there any way his political career can continue? Tom Phillips reports
www.theguardian.com
September 18, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Today’s podcast on the downfall of Jair (with the brilliant @helenpidd.bsky.social) www.theguardian.com/world/audio/...
For today’s podcast I went to talk to protesters outside my local asylum hotel in Stockport, as well as marchers at Tommy Robinson’s march to try to understand if the far right is now a mass movement podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t... -ñ
Today in Focus
Daily News Podcast · Updated daily · Hosted by Nosheen Iqbal and Helen Pidd, Today in Focus brings you closer to Guardian journalism. Combining storytelling with insightful analysis and personal testi...
podcasts.apple.com
September 16, 2025 at 6:21 AM
For today’s podcast I went to talk to protesters outside my local asylum hotel in Stockport, as well as marchers at Tommy Robinson’s march to try to understand if the far right is now a mass movement podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t... -ñ
This is a lot more interesting than Henry makes it sound
If you’ve ever wanted to not just read but listen to me talking about ACOBA and the business appointment rules, @helenpidd.bsky.social had me on Today in Focus to talk about the Boris Files.
www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
The lucrative secrets of Boris Johnson – podcast
An investigation based on leaked data from Johnson’s private office has unearthed a trove of information. Has he broken the rules again? Henry Dyer reports
www.theguardian.com
September 12, 2025 at 3:16 PM
This is a lot more interesting than Henry makes it sound
Reposted by Helen Pidd
I’m so thrilled that the Guardian’s @helenpidd.bsky.social made an excellent Today in Focus podcast about the seaside town of Morecambe for Seascape’s Against The Tide series. Please do take a listen, it’s extremely thorough and full of inspiring young people
www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
Sun, sea and struggle: growing up in England’s coastal towns – podcast
Helen Pidd grew up in Morecambe, and life in seaside towns has only got harder since she was a teenager. She went back to find out why
www.theguardian.com
August 21, 2025 at 9:04 AM
I’m so thrilled that the Guardian’s @helenpidd.bsky.social made an excellent Today in Focus podcast about the seaside town of Morecambe for Seascape’s Against The Tide series. Please do take a listen, it’s extremely thorough and full of inspiring young people
www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
Very cool to be nominated as best podcast host alongside some actual legends. Bet Louis Theroux is quaking in his boots. I’m nothing without the amazing Today in Focus team @theguardian.com #BritishPodcastAwards
July 24, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Very cool to be nominated as best podcast host alongside some actual legends. Bet Louis Theroux is quaking in his boots. I’m nothing without the amazing Today in Focus team @theguardian.com #BritishPodcastAwards
Reposted by Helen Pidd
Will the Epping hotel riots spark another summer of unrest?
Spoke to @helenpidd.bsky.social on the Guardian’s Today In Focus Podcast
www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
Spoke to @helenpidd.bsky.social on the Guardian’s Today In Focus Podcast
www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
Will the Epping hotel riots spark another summer of unrest? – podcast
A year after Southport, what’s driving the turmoil in Essex? Ben Quinn reports
www.theguardian.com
July 23, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Will the Epping hotel riots spark another summer of unrest?
Spoke to @helenpidd.bsky.social on the Guardian’s Today In Focus Podcast
www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
Spoke to @helenpidd.bsky.social on the Guardian’s Today In Focus Podcast
www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
Is manchester becoming too much like london? Come with me on a trip around a high rise city of OnlyFans creators, £6 pints and ever richer overseas students www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
‘All those posh apartments. It’s a playground for the rich’: is Manchester turning into London?
£6 a pint, £199 a month for gym membership, £1,200 to rent a studio flat? The Guardian’s former North of England editor asks if the city she’s worked in for 12 years is changing for the better – or wo...
www.theguardian.com
July 20, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Is manchester becoming too much like london? Come with me on a trip around a high rise city of OnlyFans creators, £6 pints and ever richer overseas students www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
It’s official - the north could not be in safer hands with @joshhalliday.bsky.social in charge. Defo recommend a midlife career pivot. www.inpublishing.co.uk/articles/the...
The Guardian announces new appointments
The Guardian has announced a number of appointments.
www.inpublishing.co.uk
July 4, 2025 at 8:34 AM
It’s official - the north could not be in safer hands with @joshhalliday.bsky.social in charge. Defo recommend a midlife career pivot. www.inpublishing.co.uk/articles/the...
It's my favourite day of the year: Whit Friday! I'm not playing in "the greatest show on earth" this year, just spectating. But here is my dispatch from the front lines of brass banding in 2016 www.theguardian.com/music/2016/m...
Different drum: novice snares gig in the greatest free show on Earth
The annual brass band battle, fought across villages on the old Lancashire-Yorkshire border, is part Wacky Races and part Brassed Off
www.theguardian.com
June 13, 2025 at 9:50 AM
It's my favourite day of the year: Whit Friday! I'm not playing in "the greatest show on earth" this year, just spectating. But here is my dispatch from the front lines of brass banding in 2016 www.theguardian.com/music/2016/m...
We are booked in to the stockport curry pyramid for our Manchester Guardian night out and I cannot wait on.ft.com/4kRAvxB%E2%8... Motorway icon turned buffet titan — Jay Rayner reviews the Royal Nawaab Pyramid @joshhalliday.bsky.social @hannahalothman.bsky.social @robynvinter.bsky.social
Motorway icon turned buffet titan — Jay Rayner reviews the Royal Nawaab Pyramid
How did this enormous, impressive new Indian restaurant outsmart a struggling industry?
on.ft.com
June 7, 2025 at 9:21 AM
We are booked in to the stockport curry pyramid for our Manchester Guardian night out and I cannot wait on.ft.com/4kRAvxB%E2%8... Motorway icon turned buffet titan — Jay Rayner reviews the Royal Nawaab Pyramid @joshhalliday.bsky.social @hannahalothman.bsky.social @robynvinter.bsky.social
Reposted by Helen Pidd
The great Today In Focus team of @helenpidd.bsky.social @alexatack.bsky.social and @samikent.bsky.social made an episode about Max and did him proud. You can listen to it here:
www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
My son Max, the boy who came back to life - podcast
Guardian journalist Archie Bland describes the day his seven-week-old son stopped breathing, and the life he has led in the two years since
www.theguardian.com
May 26, 2025 at 7:53 AM
The great Today In Focus team of @helenpidd.bsky.social @alexatack.bsky.social and @samikent.bsky.social made an episode about Max and did him proud. You can listen to it here:
www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
On today’s podcast, @archiebland.bsky.social talks about the day his son, Max, stopped breathing, and learning to advocate for a disabled child. This episode brims with love as well as rage at an ableist world and it was an honour to be trusted with Max’s story www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
My son Max, the boy who came back to life - podcast
Guardian journalist Archie Bland describes the day his seven-week-old son stopped breathing, and the life he has led in the two years since
www.theguardian.com
May 26, 2025 at 7:28 AM
On today’s podcast, @archiebland.bsky.social talks about the day his son, Max, stopped breathing, and learning to advocate for a disabled child. This episode brims with love as well as rage at an ableist world and it was an honour to be trusted with Max’s story www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
8 years since the arena bomb 🐝 🐝 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
May 22, 2025 at 7:42 PM
8 years since the arena bomb 🐝 🐝 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
Reposted by Helen Pidd
And the winners of the Paul Foot Award for investigative and campaigning journalism 2025 are... Patrick Butler and Josh Halliday of The Guardian.
#PaulFootAward2025
www.private-eye.co.uk/paul-foot-aw...
#PaulFootAward2025
www.private-eye.co.uk/paul-foot-aw...
May 20, 2025 at 7:33 PM
And the winners of the Paul Foot Award for investigative and campaigning journalism 2025 are... Patrick Butler and Josh Halliday of The Guardian.
#PaulFootAward2025
www.private-eye.co.uk/paul-foot-aw...
#PaulFootAward2025
www.private-eye.co.uk/paul-foot-aw...
A Reform official in Runcorn tells @joshhalliday.bsky.social: “Those planning to vote Reform roughly fall into two groups: ‘those who set their alarm for work in the morning and are angry at those who don’t – and those who don’t.” How will they satisfy both? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
‘Labour have done nothing but lie’: grievances fuel Runcorn byelection battle
‘Dogfight’ between Labour and Reform UK is turning ugly after Nigel Farage’s party put immigration centre stage
www.theguardian.com
April 30, 2025 at 5:58 AM
A Reform official in Runcorn tells @joshhalliday.bsky.social: “Those planning to vote Reform roughly fall into two groups: ‘those who set their alarm for work in the morning and are angry at those who don’t – and those who don’t.” How will they satisfy both? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
For today's pod I went on the road in Runcorn. Despite an obvious Reform surge, there are still voters keeping the Labour faith (sometimes reluctantly and often just to keep Farage out). Lots of love for Mike Amesbury too, in spite of those drunken punches. www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
Labour v Reform UK: on the road in Runcorn – podcast
Helen Pidd heads to the industrial town before this week’s byelection. How will Labour fare in its first big electoral test since taking power? Kiran Stacey reports
www.theguardian.com
April 29, 2025 at 8:06 AM
For today's pod I went on the road in Runcorn. Despite an obvious Reform surge, there are still voters keeping the Labour faith (sometimes reluctantly and often just to keep Farage out). Lots of love for Mike Amesbury too, in spite of those drunken punches. www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2...
Possibly the best Today in Focus ever, and it’s not one of mine: Michael Safi goes inside an Isis prison in Syria. So many astonishing scenes open.spotify.com/episode/639D...
Inside the Islamic State prisons the west is trying to forget
Today in Focus · Episode
open.spotify.com
April 10, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Possibly the best Today in Focus ever, and it’s not one of mine: Michael Safi goes inside an Isis prison in Syria. So many astonishing scenes open.spotify.com/episode/639D...
Another favourite: my best friend @lexytopping.bsky.social and I talk about friendship across the parenting divide: what happens when one of you has kids and the other can’t. This one made listeners laugh and cry in equal measure: open.spotify.com/episode/0Siv...
Friendship across the parenting divide
open.spotify.com
April 10, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Another favourite: my best friend @lexytopping.bsky.social and I talk about friendship across the parenting divide: what happens when one of you has kids and the other can’t. This one made listeners laugh and cry in equal measure: open.spotify.com/episode/0Siv...
Some of my favourite @todayinfocus.bsky.social episodes: meeting the Cork school kids behind the summer banger of 2024: The Spark. Joy from start to finish open.spotify.com/episode/55w7...
Creating The Spark: the kids behind 2024’s surprise summer hit
Today in Focus · Episode
open.spotify.com
April 10, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Some of my favourite @todayinfocus.bsky.social episodes: meeting the Cork school kids behind the summer banger of 2024: The Spark. Joy from start to finish open.spotify.com/episode/55w7...
The Guardian's unbeatable North of England line-up: @joshhalliday.bsky.social, @hannahalothman.bsky.social and Chris Osuh in Manchester, @robynvinter.bsky.social in Leeds & Mark Brown in County Durham. Plus investigations supremos @maevemcclenaghan.bsky.social and David Conn.
April 9, 2025 at 8:35 AM
The Guardian's unbeatable North of England line-up: @joshhalliday.bsky.social, @hannahalothman.bsky.social and Chris Osuh in Manchester, @robynvinter.bsky.social in Leeds & Mark Brown in County Durham. Plus investigations supremos @maevemcclenaghan.bsky.social and David Conn.
Reposted by Helen Pidd
Took a huge risk last year, leaving my (very good) staff job for a fixed term contract at the Guardian, and I am so happy to say it has paid off 🍾🎉🙌🏽
And congratulations to my esteemed colleagues, who have also had their roles made permanent after a brilliant almost-year in the job(s) 🎈🎊👏🏽
And congratulations to my esteemed colleagues, who have also had their roles made permanent after a brilliant almost-year in the job(s) 🎈🎊👏🏽
Some news! Huge congratulations to the peerless @helenpidd.bsky.social - and to our northern dynamo @hannahalothman.bsky.social who we now get to keep! 🥳🎉🎊
I’m very happy to say that I’m staying on as a permanent presenter on the Guardian’s daily podcast, Today in Focus. The great @joshhalliday.bsky.social becomes North of England editor. Change is good!
April 9, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Took a huge risk last year, leaving my (very good) staff job for a fixed term contract at the Guardian, and I am so happy to say it has paid off 🍾🎉🙌🏽
And congratulations to my esteemed colleagues, who have also had their roles made permanent after a brilliant almost-year in the job(s) 🎈🎊👏🏽
And congratulations to my esteemed colleagues, who have also had their roles made permanent after a brilliant almost-year in the job(s) 🎈🎊👏🏽
I’m not leaving the north, btw. I will carry on making lots of episodes out and about up here as well as from our studio in London.
I’m very happy to say that I’m staying on as a permanent presenter on the Guardian’s daily podcast, Today in Focus. The great @joshhalliday.bsky.social becomes North of England editor. Change is good!
I’m very chuffed to be nominated for best new presenter at the @radioacademy.bsky.social Arias 2025 alongside some really top notch people. Thanks to the excellent @todayinfocus.bsky.social team @theguardian.com for everything.
April 9, 2025 at 7:15 AM
I’m not leaving the north, btw. I will carry on making lots of episodes out and about up here as well as from our studio in London.