Luke Alsford

I am an early career journalist covering news, investigative and human-interest stories. As News Editor at Palatinate, I have written a range of feature, data and breaking news pieces on Durham and Durham University.

Palatinate •

Durham in Stockton: how are international students prepared for University life?

By Luke Alsford


It is often forgotten by students studying in Durham, as they attend lectures in view of the city’s cathedral, or grab coffee by the River Wear, that Durham life continues almost thirty kilometres away, in the market town of Stockton.


On the edge of County Durham, Stockton-on-Tees is home to hundreds of international students completing a foundation year or a Pre-Masters course, in the hopes of progressing on to academic study in Durham, or elsewhere.


Run by the educatio...
Palatinate •

Durham’s “worst kept secret”: what are the plans for Durham’s 19th college?

By Luke Alsford, Will Dixon and Elliot Burrin

Durham University has outlined plans to establish a 19th college that will neighbour Hild Bede.

This proposal forms part of the University’s project to refurbish Hild Bede on the Leazes Road estate.

In an email to Hild Bede students on 24th May, the College’s principal Professor Simon Forrest labelled the development a “new college neighbour for the College [of St Hild & St Bede] on the site.” Work on the project is scheduled to start in 2025.

Av
Palatinate •

Palestinian student fundraising to evacuate her family from Gaza

A Palestinian student at Durham University has described how her dreams and plans have been “shattered” as her family remains trapped under life-threatening conditions in Gaza. Dalya Saleh is now fundraising to evacuate her husband, daughter and close family through the border crossing with Egypt at Rafah.

“When I came to the UK I had big dreams,” Ms Saleh told Palatinate last week. She had worked as an English teacher in Gaza before winning a master’s scholarship to attend Durham University wi
Palatinate •

Asian students feel “less confident” and “isolated” as hate crimes rise in County Durham

The number of reported hate crimes against Asian people in County Durham has increased by more than 50% since 2019. Data from a Freedom of Information Request to Durham Constabulary also shows that hate crimes against Chinese, Japanese and South East Asian people in particular has not returned to pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels. Campaigners believe that a high rate of underreporting is obscuring the true number of racist hate incidents and crimes faced by Asian people.

Palatinate has spoken to mem
Palatinate •

Analysis: Highest paid Durham University staff are disproportionately white and male

A Palatinate analysis of data provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) has shown that there is a disproportionate number of white and male full-time academic staff in Durham who are paid the highest salaries.

The data from the 2022 to 2023 academic year shows that 77% of total full-time academic staff at Durham University identified as white. However, 89% of the full- time academic staff who were being paid in the highest salary bracket of above £65,578 were white. In the UK as
Palatinate •

Students feel “shocked” and “isolated” following Christian Union talk on sexuality

Content Warning: this article contains reference to homophobia and transphobia

Inclusive Christian Movement Durham (ICMD), Durham Students’ Union (SU) President Dan Lonsdale, and Durham’s LGBT+ Association amongst others have criticised the Durham Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (DICCU) for hosting Rev Matthew Roberts in their talk ‘Good News for a Sexualised World’.

The talk happened as part of DICCU’s ‘Good News’ week, which ran from 19th to 23rd February and included 15 talks “explaining h
Palatinate •

Four JCRs declare climate emergencies amid climate crisis

University College (Castle)’s Junior Common Room (JCR) has joined Trevelyan College, St John’s and St Chad’s College JCRs in declaring a climate and ecological emergency. A motion to that effect was passed at a Castle JCR meeting in November last year.

Trevelyan and St. John’s College JCRs both recognised a climate emergency as part of more comprehensive Environment and Sustainability policies that were passed in Michaelmas term by both respective JCRs. St Chad’s JCR has, on the other hand, ado
Palatinate •

International students re-evaluate next steps following UK visa changes

In December of last year, the Home Office announced changes to legal migration rules for family and work visas for 2024 and a review of the Graduate visa. Palatinate has spoken to Durham University students who are worried that the changes will affect their plans, or the plans of their loved ones, to live in the UK after they graduate.

The package of new measures proposed by the Government included a rise in the baseline minimum salary to be sponsored for a Skilled Worker visa from £26,200 to £
Palatinate •

Students hoping for an ADHD diagnosis face long waiting lists and uncertain University support

Students seeking a diagnosis for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are enduring over a year-long wait for an NHS diagnostic assessment and unreliable disability support from Durham University while they wait, Palatinate has learned. Data provided by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust reveals that the mean waiting time for an adult diagnosis is 57 weeks in the Country Durham area. Palatinate spoke to students who have been affected by the wait for a diagnosis, many o
Palatinate •

‘I have even considered elocution lessons’: Durham students describe pressure to modify regional accents

In 2020, Durham graduate Lauren White wrote a report about the treatment of northern students at Durham University; over 20 past and present Durham students from the North of England, described feeling isolated and hearing their northern accents described as “feral,” “dirty” and “vulgar”.

Despite the North-East location, Durham’s student population is predominately southern and disproportionately privately educated: less than half of admissions come from non-grammar state schools with 12% of th
Palatinate •

Community worries Hallgarth Care Home closure could cause “stress and isolation”

The closure of Hallgarth Care Home in August has left local residents worried for the future and accessibility of elderly care provision in Durham City.

Durham County Council has refused a subsequent planning application to convert the site into student accommodation, but stipulated that the property “is not needed to be used as a care home”.

Palatinate has spoken to affected Durham residents who reflected concerns about a shortage of care provision in Durham City and expressed worries that el
Palatinate •

Durham SU to establish new Association for Estranged and Care Experienced students

An association supporting Durham University students who are estranged or care experienced is to be established at the meeting of the next Students’ Union assembly in November.

Palatinate spoke to Isi Ali and Tash Deacon from the Durham University Estranged and Care Experienced (DEaCE) Association about the challenges faced by estranged and care experienced students at university.

Estrangement is when an individual is disconnected or separated from their entire family or specific members, wher
The Bubble •

Why Keir Starmer's tuition fees U-turn shows he wants to fight a cost-of-living election

If Keir Starmer has indeed developed one skill during his tenure as Labour leader that is necessary for life in Number 10, it is a knack for knowing when to drop bad news. In a week consisting of council elections followed by a coronation, Starmer will have hoped that his blink-and-you-miss-it U-turn on a previous promise to abolish university tuition fees would fly by undetected by voters. Not least because it did not go unnoticed by Labour’s political opponenets, who have already been lining u
Micro-Europa Studio Tübingen •

Studierende aus dem Vereinigten Königreich (465)

Radio Micro-Europa: Sendung (465) „Studierende aus dem Vereinigten Königreich“ am Sonntag, den 19. März 2023 von 12 bis 13 Uhr im Freien Radio Wüste Welle 96,6 – Kabel: 97,45 Mhz, auch als Live Stream im Internet

Der Link zum Anhören im Internet:

https://www.wueste-welle.de/broadcasts/livestream

Der Link zu unserer Mediathek:

http://vergil.uni-tuebingen.de/microeuropa/

Der Link zu unserer Homepage:

https://micro-europa.de/

Heute führen wir eine Diskussion auf Englisch über die Herausfo
Palatinate •

The ‘B word’: Why Sunak and Starmer hope Brexit is finished business

Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer can agree on something, and they want you to agree with them too: Brexit is now over.

Sunak is so confident of this fact that his own minister, Steve Baker, supposedly disbanded the hard-line Tory Eurosceptic European Research Group's WhatsApp group chat, as a declaration of Brexit's completion. The cause for celebration? The passing of the Windsor Framework into law. The EU-UK agreement, purporting to solve the once thorny issue of Northern Ireland's relationship w