I thought I’d write this note to update you on where we are at LFF, some of our highlights over the last year and on some of our exciting plans for the year ahead.

To our readers and supporters,

I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing break over the festive period and thank you as ever for your continued support of Left Foot Forward, for without you, we wouldn’t be able to carry out the vital journalism that is so badly needed during such challenging times.

I thought I’d write this note to update you on where we are at LFF, some of our highlights over the last year and on some of our exciting plans for the year ahead.

Last year at LFF, we’ve published hundreds of articles. We’ve exposed hypocrisy and corruption on the right of politics, given a platform to the movements fighting for social and climate justice and featured in-depth commentary from progressive politicians and commentators.

We’ve launched a new in-depth series of conversations with retiring MPs on the left, featuring Caroline Lucas, Ben Bradshaw, Darren Jones and Margaret Hodge.

While the rest of the media has berated, ridiculed and attacked trade unions and campaign groups, we’ve covered the reasons they’ve been striking and protesting, while giving a voice to their leaders and activists. We’ve hired Hannah Davenport over the past year to provide extensive coverage of the trade union movement and campaigns for better pay and conditions, while Paul Nowak, General Secretary of the TUC, writes a monthly column for LFF.

Our Right Watch series continues to go from strength to strength, with Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead continuing to expose and shine a light on the right, their media, ‘think tanks’, campaign groups and political parties. This has included exposing right-wing campaigns to take over the National Trust, monitoring the rise of Reform UK and exposing falsehoods in the right-wing press.

With the right continuing to spread misinformation and falsehoods in the run up to the general election, the work of Right Watch is now more important than ever.

A massive thank you to all of our columnists from across the progressive political spectrum, who continue to provide insightful and lively commentary and analysis for LFF readers, as well as to our contributors and all of you who have written for LFF over the past year.

Over half a million unique individuals have read articles on our website in the last 12 months.

This year is likely to be a general election year, which means that the work of LFF and your support is more important than ever. With the Tories getting desperate as the election approaches, leaning into culture wars, whipping up moral panics against minorities and spreading misinformation and lies to win support, we at LFF will continue to hold them to account, while making the case for progressive ideas and policies to create a more equal, green and socially-just society.

This year, alongside publishing hard-hitting news and comment by and for the UK left, in the run up to the election, we’ll also be carrying out regular fact checks of Tory claims, in-depth coverage of key policies and commitments by progressive parties as well as bringing you exclusive polling to show the public’s demands on key policy issues.

With the Tories pushing culture wars as a way to win the next election, pitting communities against one another, while borrowing straight out of the Trump playbook, now more than ever, we need an independent left-wing media, free from the control of billionaires,  to act as an evidence-based balance to the right-wing press.

That’s why your support of LFF is so valued and crucial to everything that we do.

It’s an incredible privilege to be the editor of LFF at such a time and to be working with such a brilliant team of colleagues as well as with our board.

Please do continue sending us your stories, tip offs, opinions and thoughts and thank you once more for your continued support.

Best wishes

Basit Mahmood

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