Laura Hughes
laurahughesft.bsky.social
Laura Hughes
@laurahughesft.bsky.social
Public Policy Correspondent, Financial Times.
laura.hughes@ft.com
The UK government is reconsidering whether to routinely test children for lead exposure following a two-year @financialtimes.com investigation that revealed millions may be unknowingly at risk from the toxic metal.

🎧Full series here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/u...
Untold: Toxic Legacy
News Podcast · Weekly series · The Financial Times’ Laura Hughes has uncovered a lead poisoning epidemic across the UK. Lead is leaching into the environment and lurking in our homes - but most people...
podcasts.apple.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Thirty years ago, horses died and a girl’s gums turned green in West Wales. The cause? Lead poisoning.

Now, it’s happening again.

Episode 1 of Untold: Toxic Legacy is out now.

🎧 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
Silent Danger
Podcast Episode · Untold: Toxic Legacy · S3 E1 · 41m
podcasts.apple.com
October 22, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Reposted by Laura Hughes
You might be living with lead poisoning and not know it: the toxin is often invisible to the eye, but wreaks havoc on our bodies once we're exposed.

@laurahughesft.bsky.social uncovers a lead poisoning epidemic in Toxic Legacy, a new season of our Untold podcast: on.ft.com/3WU8YS8
October 22, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Lead is leaching into the environment and lurking in our homes. It's in soil, in water, in food, in our housing.

And it's poisoning people.

The first episode of Untold: Toxic Legacy launches October 22. Trailer here:

open.spotify.com/episode/6M4H...
Spotify – Web Player
open.spotify.com
October 9, 2025 at 9:44 AM
This means the absolute world to me. Very grateful to sources and academics who are STILL helping me uncover the legacy of lead in our environment, as well as the impact it’s having on our health. Feel very lucky (as always) to work at the @financialtimes.com and with such brilliant editors. 🙏
May 23, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Reposted by Laura Hughes
New: The government wants a technological revolution in healthcare. But from paper notes to inconsistent data sharing and dozens of IT systems, digitising the NHS will not be easy.

W/ @laurahughesft.bsky.social @upyorkshire.ft.com @carolinenevitt.bsky.social @emmalewis.ft.com

👉 on.ft.com/4dqrVDG
May 20, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Thank you @privateeyenews.bsky.social for giving me such a great platform to discuss how lead from abandoned mines, old pipes and paint in our houses, could be poisoning hundreds of thousands of children a year here in the UK. open.spotify.com/episode/4nBh...
140: Mini-Series: The Paul Foot Award 2025
Page 94: The Private Eye Podcast · Episode
open.spotify.com
May 15, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Laura Hughes
🎧 Listen to the full interview with Laura on today’s episode of the Page 94 podcast. In feeds now. audioboom.com/posts/871891...
May 14, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Reposted by Laura Hughes
Well this was an eye opener, a big dose of morning doom but I cannot believe #leadpoisoning is not being talked about Great research and reporting from @laurahughesft.bsky.social

@privateeyenews.bsky.social youtube.com/watch?v=y-nh...
Toxic lead in the UK: Laura Hughes, Financial Times - Paul Foot Award Nominee 2025
YouTube video by Private Eye Magazine
youtube.com
May 15, 2025 at 5:36 AM
What a ridiculous honour to just make this list, given both the origin of the award and the calibre of journalism it’s recognised over the years… 🙏
@privateeyenews.bsky.social #PaulFootAward
From the carer’s allowance scandal to an investigation into British universities’ harsh measures against pro-Palestinian protests on campus... The shortlist for the 2025 Paul Foot Award for Investigative Journalism has been announced!

Shortlist: www.private-eye.co.uk/paul-foot-aw...
May 2, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Reposted by Laura Hughes
From the carer’s allowance scandal to an investigation into British universities’ harsh measures against pro-Palestinian protests on campus... The shortlist for the 2025 Paul Foot Award for Investigative Journalism has been announced!

Shortlist: www.private-eye.co.uk/paul-foot-aw...
April 30, 2025 at 11:21 AM