Taking commissions for reported features and editing
An independent journalist covering the public systems behind ordinary working life.
My beat is the everyday infrastructure everyone leans: buses, parks, libraries, software, schools, and the people who keep each of them going.
Selected writing
01 / Reported feature
A feature on the cleaners, cooks and carers left waiting when the last service pulls out before their shifts finish.
Over four evenings I rode one cross-town route from the commuter rush to the final departure, talking with the drivers and night workers whose trips the printed map reduces to one coloured line.
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02 / Analysis
Why a few treeless stretches can turn the walk from school to the bus stop into a heat risk.
I mapped one bare half-mile against planting plans, canopy budgets and watering schedules to show where the shade policy stops, and I label my own counts as spot checks, not official data.
Read the clip2025
03 / Reported essay
An essay on the checking, mending and judgement that remain after a workplace task has been automated.
It looks past the automated step itself to the people handling the exceptions, training and upkeep, and it does not claim that a single workplace stands in for a whole industry.
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04 / Field note
A field note on shifted opening times, cool rooms and what an older public building can realistically do in a heatwave.
I followed one branch through a hot week: the early set-up, the packed midday hours, and the judgement calls staff make about the building itself, drawing on rotas and repair logs for background.
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05 / Photo essay
A short photo essay on how the market hall gets ready: shared tools, set routines, and who does what before the first customer.
Captions describe jobs and equipment, not personal stories. The sequence starts with closed shutters and damp floors, moves through stacking and pricing, and finishes as the hall opens to the public.
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06 / Long-form profile
A profile of the winter routines that keep small working boats seaworthy.
The story is organised around timber, paint, weather windows and the repeated repair decisions of one yard. It avoids big claims and lets the visible work speak for the craft.
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Practice index
About
Every story begins with a plain question: who keeps this running, who relies on it, and what happens when it is under pressure? I work in features, analysis, interviews, field notes and editing.
A good portfolio lets each piece be read alone, so every clip here states its subject, its form, my role and the central question up front.
Experience
Features and edits on public services, local culture, technology and labour for magazines, charities and news desks.
The Harbourside Review
Wrote short features, edited contributors' drafts, and tracked corrections and updates.
Education
Westmere School of Journalism
Coursework in reporting methods, media law, interviewing, editing and public-interest writing.
Replies within two working days.