Every week, we publish brilliant long reads, investigations, interviews and data reports from our journalists at The Tribune, The Post, The Mill and The Dispatch. Please join those email lists to get our next stories in your inbox.

We’re always looking for new freelance writers – to pitch us, please check out our pitching page and get in touch with your ideas.

Here is a small selection of our favourite stories so far.

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Millions of pounds a year, queues around the block and a customer base gone neurotic: what’s in Manchester’s secret sauce? By Jack Dulhanty and Sophie Atkinson

The social experiment: Our student life in the pandemic By Libby Elliott, Maisie Outhart and Ella Robinson

It’s Europe’s most successful new neighbourhood. So why is there so much tension? By Joshi Herrmann

‘It started off as just another rave. It was never meant to keep half the city awake’ By Dan Hayes

The ‘pincer manoeuvre’: How secretive leadership and warring staff led Birmingham to the abyss By Ed King, Kate Knowles and Joshi Herrmann

In search of the secret garden By Sophie Atkinson

Why has the Adelphi become Liverpool’s dirty secret? By David Lloyd

Living in exile, Joe Anderson thinks we’ve got him wrong By Jack Walton

A death unseen: In searching for answers about a man’s lonely burial in Manchester, I discovered uncomfortable details about his life — or so I thought By Dani Cole

Paranoia, prayers and tears at the Eldonian Village By Jack Walton

The sober guy at the rave: How Sacha Lord remade Manchester’s nightlife in his own image By Jack Dulhanty

Special investigation: The collapsing world of Liverpool’s charity kingpin By Abi Whistance

A martyr and a mystery: The strange case of John Christian By Mollie Simpson

The Leadmill says it’s fighting for the ‘soul of Sheffield’. Its original founders disagree By Victoria Munro

A wall that divides Sheffield by Andrew Dowdeswell

The billion pound Manchester question: Who has benefited from the city’s breakneck growth? By Daniel Timms

He complained about late night noise. Then a city-wide row erupted. By Jack Dulhanty

Idealism, secrets and paranoia in Burnage Garden Village By Sophie Atkinson

The tragedy of Jared O’Mara By Dan Hayes

Is Manchester an example to be followed – or a cautionary tale? By Joshi Herrmann