Welcome to the ninth issue of The Northern Correspondent, When we settled on the “people and power” theme for this issue, at the start of the year, we guessed there would be plenty of subject matter for our writers, photographers, illustrators and designers to use as their raw materials for the pages of the magazine. But who knew than that the EU referendum, north east devolution talks and Labour leadership election would so “rattle the cage”, with such profound implications for our region and country?

No surprise then that a fair chunk of this magazine grapples with political power, talking with those who seek power, hold power to account or, in the case of refugees – seeking asylum here from political persecution elsewhere – find themselves powerless in their bid to escape.

But we’ve also tried to explore how power is used and abused in other areas of everyday life – from the balance of power within a marriage and invisible machinations of algorithms, to the addictive hold of gambling and superpowers that come with a one-piece jumpsuit.

It’s a theme that has caused us to consider our own positions of power and powerlessness. We hope you’ll find it a challenging but rewarding read too.

Ian Wylie, Editor