In the porch of St Peter’s Church, a volunteer-supported shop is asking Christmas shoppers to make one purchase Fair Trade. A brass miniature of the Royal Pump Room tells you why

Pop-psychology calls them ‘toxic,’ but sociology reveals a far harsher reality. For many families in the North, key calendar milestones are held to ransom by a single, controlling individual. As winter closes in, we look at the academic reality of ‘geographies of entrapment,’ and why the choice to simply walk away from a hostile household is an economic privilege many cannot afford

The British Business Bank is widening eligibility for its Growth Guarantee Scheme. For Northern venues and other cultural businesses, the test is whether the new terms make an investment they can afford possible

At Manchester’s People’s History Museum, RIBA and VitrA put architectural experimentation on the agenda. For Northern towns and cities, the question is what changes when the people who will use a building help decide what it is for

Why does the North East of England consistently record the country’s highest rates of drug and alcohol-related deaths? Clair Challenor-Chadwick explores the relationship between addiction, inequality and the circumstances that shape our lives

As Nidderdale recruits volunteers for its Natural Health Service, a Yorkshire partnership is testing what it takes to make time outdoors part of everyday support for people who could benefit from it.

Devolution is giving northern mayors more freedom over public money. From bus routes to the Tees Valley inspection, the next test is whether people can see who made a decision, whose lives it improved and where to go when it falls short

Lockdown sent the hard dance DJ’s sets online and led her back to study. Now, with a master’s from Leeds Conservatoire, she’s heading to Nepal for a fundraiser in the Himalayas

Young adults are taking weather warnings seriously. Across the North, young people are also organising climate events, investigating wildlife and asking institutions to change. The evidence deserves more attention than the insult

Earlier this month, we reported an appeal to look for a rare fungus in Nidderdale’s grasslands. Now biodiversity officer Dr Kelly Harmar has found it herself - a discovery that adds to our understanding of the dale, while leaving some intriguing questions unanswered

Thirty weeks of free creative workshops, support with travel and outdoor kit, and five paid roles for young people: Breaking Barriers and the National Trust are bringing art and access to nature together in a new project with Bury’s South Asian communities

From remote peatlands in the Falkland Islands to familiar becks in Yorkshire, ecologist David Higgins has spent his career studying landscapes shaped by water. His return to Nidderdale opens a wider conversation about farming, wildlife and how the dale prepares for a changing climate

A brown-capped fungus with bright yellow gills is the subject of an urgent autumn search in Nidderdale. After a dry summer, the Date Waxcap may offer a brief opportunity to discover more about the remarkable life of our long-established grasslands

A woodland walk beneath ultraviolet light offers an unusual way into Yorkshire’s Dark Skies Fringe Festival this half term. Across moor, dale and forest, the wider programme invites us to rediscover the night - and consider what disappears when we light it away

A Sheffield dairy farm known for its milk and ice cream is asking its community to help power its future. Beth explores how Our Cow Molly’s plans for locally owned renewable energy could keep more money in the city - and what it takes to turn ‘shop local’ into ‘invest local’

From grazing infrastructure to a family ice cream business in Lofthouse, more than 250 projects have received Farming in Protected Landscapes support in Nidderdale. Now, farmers and community organisations are being encouraged to bring forward their ideas — even before they have worked out all the details

In Sheffield, a free residential course will give 30 young people the chance to turn archive footage into a film of their own. The work begins with a question every archive has to face. Whose lives can we see?

Old carols, a hometown full-band show and two very different jazz trios share the Howard Assembly Room’s run-up to Christmas

A childhood question becomes a journey through Britain’s past as Darlington-born Alicia McKenzie brings her family show to South Kirkby. Through Red Ladder Local, she is also asking who gets to see themselves in history - and where theatre can reach them

As Rowetta and The Real Thing join the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Salford, The Music is Black: Live offers a chance to listen again to a region whose musical identity reaches far beyond its familiar guitar bands

From a Leeds fish and chip shop to Manchester ramblers and lifelong Liverpool friendships, British Jewish lives fill the screen at this year’s UK Jewish Film Festival. Filmmaker and Composer Benjamin Till has talked to MagNorth about belonging, the hurt behind his work and the pleasure of being seen in all your complexity.

Debs Newbold brings the life of Grace O’Malley to Yorkshire with a show built from words and shared imagination. Behind the seafaring adventure lies a question that connects its sixteenth-century subject to its community-hall audiences: whose stories get space?

In Morecambe, The Bay International Film Festival is building an invitation that extends beyond the screen: affordable films, shared conversation and somewhere to stay for a cup of tea. As the festive build-up begins, its January return asks a useful question about how we make room for one another

At the opening of a new partnership with Newcastle’s The Biscuit Factory, art and shared food brought people together in Wooler. For Alan and Eileen Ferguson’s museum and distillery, it's another chapter in an ambition that reaches into the life and future of North Northumberland