Leslie Kerwin

My name is Leslie Kerwin, I’m a second-year Multimedia Journalism student based in Manchester, UK.

I currently work as the news editor of The Northern Quota news website, where I focus mostly on local affairs, alongside overseeing the newsroom. I have also written for an international hydrogen company, specialising in Latin America.

I speak Spanish, and am currently learning Teeline shorthand.

Proudest work

Perhaps not the most technical, nor even the most interesting - but for one reason or another, these are the pieces that stick in my mind.

Tameside Reporter •

'Missed opportunities' to have safely delivered baby - coroner

A coroner has said there were ‘missed opportunities’ to have safely delivered a baby who died in the Royal Oldham Hospital in April.

Yahya Muhammad Hayat was born via emergency C-section in Tameside Hospital, more than thirty-five minutes after doctors realised he had no heartbeat.

During the operation, doctors also found a uterine rupture – a tear in the womb. It is not known when this happened.

Yahya was resuscitated after thirty minutes of CPR and drugs, before being transferred to Royal O...
The Northern Quota •

Man Met journalism student hosts BBC radio show about taking the night bus around Manchester

A Man Met journalism student is featuring on his own podcast episode on BBC Radio 4 about his journeys on Manchester’s night buses.


Speaking exclusively to NQ, student Ian Burke shared his journey to becoming the latest voice of Radio 4’s Illuminated, where he celebrates Manchester’s night buses in a trip across the city.


“It’s like an experimental documentary, there’s all sorts of weird and wonderful things on there,” he said.


For his podcast, Ian travels on Manchester’s V1 bus from Ox...
The Northern Quota •

David Conn calls for ‘duty of candour’ on officials ahead of Hillsborough Law

Reporter of the year David Conn has called for a ‘duty of candour’ to be placed on police as campaigners call for a Hillsborough law to be introduced within the year.


Conn was joined by legal experts from Garden Court North Chambers at a memorial lecture in the University of Manchester on Thursday, honouring of Hillsborough barrister Mark George, who represented 22 families following the disaster.


The lecture discussed failures in the legal system in the years after the disaster. Named the...
The Northern Quota •

Gary Younge: 'Racism is a language of many dialects'

“I came into journalism through language, because I studied to be an interpreter and a translator. It was in the process of knowing how to translate that I fell in love with language, and the ability to manipulate it, to work it, knead it, and make it do what I wanted it to do.”


The Whitworth Gallery’s Grand Hall was packed on Thursday night as over a hundred people attended to commemorate Dr. Sook-Kyung Lee’s appointment as Professor of Curatorial Practices at the University of Manchester. I...
The Northern Quota •

No justice no peace: campaigners call for end to police pursuits of young people

Grieving families in Manchester are calling for an end to “unnecessary” police chases which end in the deaths of young people.


They claim police disproportionally target working class people from ethnic minority backgrounds in police pursuits on the streets of Manchester.


Figures from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) show there were three deaths involving police vehicles between April and December 2023, as well as four incidents of serious injury. They also reveal that comp...
The Northern Quota •

17-year-old passenger in speeding car chased by police was 'unlawfully killed', inquest determines

The death of a 17-year-old passenger who was driven through a red light while being pursued by police has been ruled an unlawful killing, an inquest has determined.


Ronaldo Johnson, who was not wearing a seatbelt, died as a result of head and chest injuries six days after the crash, after being placed in a coma.


The driver of the car, Elliot Martin, has already pleaded guilty to causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving and sentenced to six years in prison. He was invited to at...
The Northern Quota •

Sunak promises shorter NHS waiting times moments after Brianna Ghey trans jibe – but in Manchester it’s trans people who have to wait longest

Sunak’s promises came moments after making a transphobic comment while Brianna Ghey’s mother attended the Commons during PMQs.


Rishi Sunak attracted widespread condemnation for his refusal to apologise after making a transphobic comment in the House of Commons on Wednesday (7 February) – on the same day the mother of murdered trans teenager Brianna Ghey attended Parliament.


He also admitted his failure to bring down NHS waiting lists during his time as Prime Minister and promised to commit...