AddThis SmartLayers

Story Ideas RSS

Quiet day in the office? In need of some inspiration to fill that slot on the features page? Check out our story ideas here and see if you can take news developments from around the UK and localise them for your patch.

If you would like to share a story idea with our readers, you can email us at [email protected] and we will upload it to the site.

Good sport

It will soon be the end of the summer term again – only a matter of weeks – and with it all the problems of what to do with the kids. But first there’s the old standby of school sports

Boys and their toys

What makes grown men play with toy trains and lorries? Now is the season for model railway exhibitions and sales of Corgi toys at leisure centres and village halls across the nation. There are even groups of mature gents who

Early sign language

Did you know that children as young as seven months can learn sign language and start to communicate with you, even though they are not ready to talk at that stage? Find out more and check here for contacts and

Secure that property

Many families will be going away this summer. Now is the time to check up on security at home. Get in touch with your local crime prevention teams and burglary reduction groups attached to your local council. And do some

Choosing a nanny

How can you ensure that the person you entrust your children to is completely trustworthy? Ask some childcare agencies how they screen their staff – it could be anything from the way they dress to how they react to children

What do the guests steal?

Which items are most often lifted from hotels and guests houses on your patch? Light-fingered guests have a lot to answer for but some really take the biscuit. Soaps and shampoo are regularly stolen but according to one Scarborough hotelier,

Holiday sacrifices

What would you be prepared to give up to go on that dream holiday? Or any holiday? As people find it tough to make ends meet they are prepared to make all kinds of sacrifices to ensure they and their

Students hit by crime

Student crime is an area which is rife, produces real statistics and is often overlooked by the media. Every year one third of students are victims of crime with burglary, robbery and theft the most common crimes. They are young,

Which communication channels?

How do Britain’s top managers prefer to communicate these days? There’s a whole range of media at their disposal, including post, phone, fax, text, twitter and e-mail. Try a poll of your local business leaders. Does e-mail make the senior

The oilseed rape story

We can all see it, we can all smell it but what’s the story behind the fields of oilseed rape? Britain’s farmland has burst into a patchwork of yellow fields as its vivid flowers blossom. The striking flowers, which make

How many homes do you know with an outside loo?

There could be more than you think: major cities have households into double figures where people have to brave the winter rain and cold to relieve themselves. Most are in privately rented properties, many occupied by elderly people. What’s the

Part of the union

Does your town have a credit union? They are clubs where locals get together to run a savings and loans scheme. The idea is that people save regularly and, after a qualifying period, are eligible to borrow at very low

Office space

To make your office space more personal, people create boundaries both on the floor and their desk, and personalise their workstation with photos and mementoes. Go into a big office and see how people make their “nest”. And talk to

Dust busters

No time for housework? Join the club. Franchises are cleaning up as more and more people get help with the weekly chores. But from £9.99 an hour could they ever do the job as well as you’d do it yourself?

Celebrities being bullied

Harrison Ford, Kate Winslet, Duncan Goodhew and Winona Ryder have all admitted publicly to the misery of being bullied at school. See if local figures on your patch will talk about their school experiences. bullying.co.uk will provide background info as

Getting your feet done

Do you know anyone who regularly “has their feet done”? Do people need to see chiropodists on a regular basis to have healthy feet? Are they just for the elderly or is there more to their life than ingrown toe