Following the Young Fabian's "Getting into Political Journalism and Writing" event, event host and journalist Matt Honeycombe-Foster recommends some further resources.
A link to the event can be found here:
A few bits and pieces that I would recommend:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Essential-Public-Affairs-Journalists-Morrison/dp/0198828039/ref=sr_1_1?crid=178NINEGL8ZCI&dchild=1&keywords=public+affairs+for+journalists&qid=1595331701&sprefix=public+affairs%2Caps%2C145&sr=8-1
^ This is really the best book out there for just getting your head around the different UK institutions and systems, as well as being packed full of practical story ideas for political coverage and exercises to test your knowledge. I cannot recommend it highly enough, and I usually get the latest edition when it comes out even now. It’s featured on most MA/NCTJ courses so you can give yourself a real head-start if you’re thinking of doing down that route
https://tcij.org/handbooks/the-story-tells-the-facts/
^ This is a great (short) read on writing longer-form features and investigations — often they use the same core skills, but the approach is different, and this can give you tips on how to begin the process and structure your documents and thinking for those kinds of pieces.
In terms of websites/mailing lists, I’d really recommend this list from Sian Meades which flags weekly paid writing gigs:
https://mailchi.mp/69d207801f23/freelancewritingjobs
The jobs boards on journalism.co.uk and holdthefrontpage.co.uk are a great place to get the latest job opportunities in the industry.
If you just want to get your head around the political news day, PoliticsHome’s daily Breakfast Briefing is free to sign up to here:
https://www.politicshome.com/account.htm
Plus Politico’s indispensable Playbook is hard to beat.
https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/
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Matt Honeycombe-Foster is PoliticsHome’s acting editor and has been a news editor since 2018. He first joined PoliticsHome as junior reporter in 2014 and from 2015-2017 served as the deputy and online editor of Civil Service World, covering the fallout of the Brexit referendum in Whitehall. He has also written for the New Statesman, The House Magazine, HuffPost UK, the i and The Quietus. He studied political journalism at City University London.
He tweets at @matt_hfoster