Dave Hill
Dave Hill is a specialist journalist on London’s politics, places and people who runs and edits On London, an independent site devoted to the capital’s politics, development and culture. He also publishes a twice-weekly newsletter under the On London Extra banner and maintains a Substack that carries much of his reporting and commentary in longer form. His background includes decades as a freelance writer and author focused on London, which underpins his detailed, context-heavy coverage of local government and city policy.
London's politics, development and culture
On London is set up to provide news, analysis and commentary about the capital’s politics, development and culture, and Hill’s own work sits at the centre of that brief. He covers how city decision-makers and other power centres interact over issues such as the future of Oxford Street, examining moves like Westminster Conservatives abandoning a planned judicial review in the context of wider political campaigns and business interests. His articles combine straight reporting on council decisions or policy announcements with commentary that locates them in longer-running debates about London’s economy, transport and the public realm. Across this coverage he is explicit about wanting to counter shallow or hostile narratives about the city and instead provide informed, nuanced accounts of how its politics and development actually work.
London's formula for regional growth
Hill writes in depth about regeneration and growth projects, using the Olympic Park and other major schemes to illustrate how London’s planning and investment model functions. In his coverage of the Olympic Park he links physical development to questions of regional equity and long-term economic strategy, showing how a flagship project reshapes surrounding neighbourhoods and contributes to wider patterns of growth. These pieces draw on detailed local knowledge and long familiarity with the area, setting out the governance structures, funding arrangements and political choices that made large-scale redevelopment possible.
He also connects present-day debates about regeneration to earlier phases of London policy, offering continuity and memory that are rare in routine reporting on development.
Grenfell Truths and the protest left
Hill’s Grenfell coverage focuses on how narratives about the fire and its causes are constructed, including by activists on the protest left and by national media. He interrogates claims that the disaster was solely a product of inequality, bringing in evidence such as the prevalence of dangerous cladding across different kinds of housing tenure to complicate simplified stories. The tone in these articles is direct and critical, but rooted in documented facts and an interest in how campaigning, housing regulation and local governance intersect.
His approach gives weight to policy detail and regulatory history while still acknowledging the political energy and emotion that have shaped Grenfell’s place in London’s public life.
On London is nine years old
Alongside issue-led pieces, Hill regularly writes about the operation and purpose of On London itself. He sets out the site’s mission as providing unique coverage of London’s politics, development and culture, positioning it as an antidote to superficial or hostile treatments of the city. In appeals for reader support and anniversary articles he explains the funding model, stressing that the site is multi-contributor, independent, and runs without a paywall or advertising, sustained by donations and income from his newsletter. These meta-articles and thank-you notes underline his role in nurturing specialist reporting, maintaining editorial standards and keeping a small newsroom viable in a difficult environment for independent media. Beyond journalism, he extends his interest in London into narrative work, writing sketches and fiction under the pen name John Vane.
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