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October 25, 2019updated 30 Sep 2022 8:30am

Editor’s rebellion: London weeklies turn green for special climate crisis editions

By Freddy Mayhew

Mastheads across four London weeklies have turned green for special editions highlighting the climate crisis, which the titles’ outgoing editor said amounted to a “small act of rebellion”.

The Ham and High, Hackney Gazette, Islington Gazette and Brent and Kilburn Times switched their usual red and blue colours for a “peaky” green colour as they hit newsstands yesterday.

In his column, editor Ramzy Alwakeel (pictured) apologised to readers if they thought their paper looked “ill” this week, adding: “But maybe it’s appropriate, after all, that it looks peaky. The world is sick.”

Exclusive interviews with MPs, including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who represents Islington North, and council environment chiefs feature in the newspapers, all of which are owned by regional publisher Archant.

Also featured are local “green” projects, interviews with respiratory experts, a page of facts about the climate crisis and profiles of local climate campaigners, including Extinction Rebellion.

Awakeel, who joins Huffpost UK as news editor next month, told readers: “We shouldn’t have to devote an entire newspaper to the government’s failure to address an indisputable international crisis.

“But it seems we can’t rely on our leaders to take the urgent, fundamental action they’ve been putting off for decades. So I suppose this is our small act of rebellion.”

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