Helen Pidd

Manchester

Northern England Editor at The Guardian

Presenter of Today in Focus, the Guardian's award winning daily podcast (covering for @nosheeniqbal). Contact me in confidence via [email protected]

Articles

The heroic Guardian reporter who documented the rise of the Nazis - podcast

5 days ago | theguardian.com | Helen Pidd |Philip Oltermann |Courtney Yusuf |Elizabeth Cassin

Frederick Augustus Voigt was the Manchester Guardian’s Berlin correspondent between 1920 and 1932. In this episode, two fellow former Berlin correspondents, Helen Pidd and Philip Oltermann, discuss Voigt’s incredible reporting on the rise of Nazi Germany. “I think he saw that it was important not to give the Nazis the ‘both sides’ treatment,” Philip says.
Sabotage and secret identities: Russia’s spy network - podcast

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Helen Pidd |Shaun Walker |Hannah Moore |Homa Khaleeli |Elizabeth Cassin

Shaun Walker is the Guardian’s central and eastern Europe correspondent and author of The Illegals: Russia’s Most Audacious Spies and the Plot to Infiltrate the West. He tells Helen Pidd about the history of Russia’s ‘Illegals’ programme, and how Russian intelligence operates in western countries today. “It’s become much harder for Russia to send its operatives abroad,” Shaun tells Helen.
Labour v Reform UK: on the road in Runcorn - podcast

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Kiran Stacey |Helen Pidd |Hattie Moir |Eleanor Biggs |Tom Glasser |Courtney Yusuf | +1 more

Runcorn, a town in Cheshire, has not been the most politically interesting place in recent memory. In fact Runcorn and Helsby has been a safe Labour seat for decades. Then the MP Mike Amesbury resigned after punching a constituent, triggering a byelection. Now Reform UK are nipping at Labour’s heels in the battle for the ward. Helen Pidd has been out in the town to find out what voters think about the government and Nigel Farage.
‘They excavated a nightclub!’: uncovering Black British history beyond London - podcast

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Helen Pidd |Lanre Bakare |Courtney Yusuf |Homa Khaleeli

When Guardian arts and culture correspondent Lanre Bakare was growing up, he learned the same Black British history as many of us did. It was a series of singular events: the docking of the Windrush in 1948, unrest in Notting Hill or Brixton, the murder of Stephen Lawrence. All important, but all firmly focused on the capital.
The UK supreme court and the definition of a woman - podcast

3 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Helen Pidd |Libby Brooks |Eli Block |Tom Glasser |Natalie Ktena |Joel Cox | +1 more

On paper it does not sound like something that would spark nationwide interest. Last week the UK supreme court gave its judgment on a case brought by a women’s group against the Scottish government over the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018. But its judgment – that the word “woman” in equality law refers only to biological sex – has upended years of legal interpretation. And the news of the ruling led to celebrations, protest and an outpouring of emotion.
How the Beatles helped my autistic son find his voice - Today in Focus

3 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Elizabeth Cassin |Helen Pidd |John Harris |Eleanor Biggs

John Harris speaks to the Today in Focus podcast about how music helped him connect with his autistic son, James. He tells Helen Pidd what he’s learned about the way some autistic people experience music, and how songs opened up the world for James. Plus, they discuss the challenges and stereotypes autistic people still face.
Trump’s trade war: the view from China - podcast

3 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Helen Pidd |Amy Hawkins |Eleanor Biggs |Joel Cox |Courtney Yusuf

After a fortnight in which Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs evolved into an escalating trade war with China, a sense of defiant nationalism has been building in the east Asian country.
How a phone footage exposed a massacre of Gaza paramedics - podcast

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Helen Pidd |Bethan Mckernan |Tom Glasser |Elizabeth Cassin |Courtney Yusuf

Israeli forces shot dead 15 Palestinian paramedics and civil defence workers on 23 March and buried them in a mass grave in the Tel al-Sultan district of Rafah. The Israeli military claimed their vehicles had been “advancing suspiciously” and without headlights or flashing emergency lights. When the UN and Palestinian Red Crescent exhumed the bodies, however, they found a phone that belonged to Rifat Radwan, one of the paramedics killed. He had recorded the last minutes of his life.
How the Beatles helped my autistic son find his voice - podcast

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Helen Pidd |John Harris |Eleanor Biggs |Elizabeth Cassin

When James was a child, he loved playing songs over and over. I Am the Walrus, by the Beatles. Autobahn, by Kraftwerk. “He hears emotion in music. I know that for a fact,” James’s father the Guardian journalist John Harris tells Helen Pidd. After James’s autism diagnosis, John found that music was a great way for them to connect, which he explores in his new book, Maybe I’m Amazed: A Story of Love and Connection in Ten Songs.
‘Boys feel increasingly isolated’: teenagers on Netflix’s Adolescence | Adolescence | The Guardian

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Helen Pidd

Sixth-formers discuss the hit show and what it is really like to be a young male in Britain today