The Manchester Weekly from The Mill

On Friday 22nd March, tents started gathering under the porticoes outside Manchester Town Hall in St Peter’s Square. An activist named Emma was protesting the government not halting arms sales to Israel, and seeing the sleeping bags under the porticoes gave her an idea. Within a few days, dozens of tents were outside the town hall and there was a waiting list of rough sleepers hoping to join the camp. Manchester’s most pressing social problem was playing out right in front of the council’s nose. Now, Manchester City Council says the camp is over. 51 people from the camp have accepted a place in temporary accommodation, while five chose to remain. Deputy Council Leader Cllr Joanna Midgley said in a statement that “we cannot welcome an environment where vulnerable people are put at risk and others feel intimidated”, adding that “this camp is clearly untenable and not in the best interests of either the vulnerable people in it or the wider community who are impacted by it”, while the offer will remain open to those five people who initially refused temporary accommodation. Were the activists doing more harm than good? And what does this story tell us about the complexity of trying to help rough sleepers get off the streets? With thanks to Manchester Museum for sponsoring this week's episode. Manchester wants to become a 'greener' city that embraces nature, but how can that be achieved given the scale of new development? That’s one of the many questions explored by a fascinating new exhibition called Wild, which opens at Manchester Museum on 5 June. Wild will explore how people are creating and repairing connections with nature, from post-industrial urban landscapes like Manchester to Aboriginal-led cultural revegetation projects in Western Australia and the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park in the US. We’d love you to take part. Just email us a photo and a short description of your favourite “wild” space in the local area, whether it’s the site of an abandoned mill or a lovely spot in your local park. Our favourite ones will be published in future newsletters and you will get a free curator’s tour of the exhibition. Read more about Wild here. Recommendations: Manchester's new homeless camp has good intentions. Is that enough?, The Mill Manchester has a homelessness crisis. But it's not the one you thought, The Mill Months after a violent attack on a homeless man, the police are still trying to rebuild trust, The Mill Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In late 2021, a noise complaint filed to Manchester City Council about the iconic Northern Quarter venue Night & Day Cafe caused a city-wide row that lasted more than two years. In today's episode, Jack and Joshi discuss Jack's recent piece, that took a deeper look at what, until now, had been quite a simple story. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When a video emerged of a Greater Manchester Police constable kicking and stamping on a homeless refugee, there was a huge public outcry. Andy Burnham demanded an internal investigation and homelessness charities called it "appalling, unacceptable and degrading". What does this incident tell us about the police's attitudes to the homeless community in Manchester, and what will it take for the authorities to regain the trust of some of society's most vulnerable? Mollie speaks about her reporting on this topic and reveals that Greater Manchester Police still haven't sent their review of their decision-making in the aftermath of this incident to the GMCA. With thanks to The Hallé for sponsoring this week's episode. We're offering our listeners 25% off tickets to the world-class Hallé orchestra's performance of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra at Bridgewater Hall on Thursday 18 April. It's an opera built around intrigue and revenge, featuring abductions, murders in the palace and a plot to overthrow the aristocracy. They will be under the direction of the legendary Sir Mark Elder, providing one of the final chances to see Elder in action before he steps down as Music Director after 24 years. Click here to get your tickets, and make sure to enter themill18 in the promo code box to get 25% off. Recommendations: Months after a violent attack on a homeless man, the police are still trying to rebuild trust, The Mill Jordan Neely’s Death and a Critical Moment in the Homelessness Crisis, The New Yorker Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2016, Caroline Dyer and Colette Burroughs-Rose shared frustrations with how the world was becoming more divided. They believed the political developments of the time — the election of Donald Trump and Brexit — had caused more friction in the world and there was a need for more nuanced conversations to help us reconnect. In the aftermath of this division, Heard Storytelling was born. It began with a series of live events in a pub in the Northern Quarter, where people were invited to share their personal stories in front of a live audience. Just last month, they launched their first podcast series, the Heard Storytelling podcast. They publish twice a week, with one long form episode on Monday which features a story and an interview with the storyteller, and on Fridays, they publish Briefly Heard, which offers behind-the-scenes insights into how a story was crafted. In this special episode, Mollie sits down with Heard Storytelling's co-founder Caroline Dyer to discuss the inspirational Manchester stories that they discovered while making the podcast, the importance of being vulnerable with strangers and why storytelling matters. Warning: this episode contains a mention of suicidal ideation. Recommendations: The Heard Storytelling Podcast Sobriety's Wake-Up Call: Karl's Story Follow Heard Storytelling on Instagram to keep up with their latest events, projects and announcements Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earlier this week, our editor Joshi Herrmann sat down with US Senator Bernie Sanders to discuss the colossal decline of local news in the UK, how that impacts communities and how he imagines the crisis in local news might be resolved. "It is a disaster for democracy," Bernie Sanders told us, a powerful statement about something we all care about. In today's episode, Mollie and Joshi examine that interview and take a deep dive into the crisis in local news in the UK and why we're still optimistic about the future. Many thanks to Manchester Museum for sponsoring this week's podcast episode. After its major reopening last year, Manchester Museum’s South Asia Gallery won headlines around the world. The New York Times noted that it was “the first permanent museum gallery in Britain to spotlight the South Asian diaspora,” in a new space that “focuses on the community’s lived experience: on what it means to be British and South Asian at the same time.” That gallery features everything from ancient Sri Lankan musical instruments to displays about the secret South Asian Daytimers raves of the 80s and 90s, as well as exploring garment manufacture and South Asian working lives in Manchester. Plan your visit now — and you can see the stunning Golden Mummies of Egypt show (ending in April) and Stan the Tyrannosaurus rex at the same time. Recommendations: Colossal decline of UK regional media since 2007 revealed, Press Gazette Is this the future of local news?, Media Confidential What Happens to Democracy When Local Journalism Dries Up?, The Washington Post ‘The Men Who Are Killing America’s Newspapers’, The Atlantic Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Sir Tony Lloyd died last month, his seat in Rochdale looked like a relatively easy hold for Labour. Now, with the party’s candidate disowned for spreading a conspiracy theory about Israel and George Galloway picking up support over the war in Gaza, the by-election has entered uncharted territory. Under the glare of the national media, three former Labour members are on the ballot, but Labour has effectively suspended its campaign. And speaking to The Mill from his campaign HQ in a Suzuki garage, Galloway is feeling confident. Members of his team are even claiming that Labour’s now-expelled candidate Azhar Ali has left the country. In this week's episode, our reporter Jack Dulhanty takes us behind the scenes, and tries to find out what on earth is going on in Rochdale. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"How did Manchester became the poster-child of neoliberal urbanisation, and what can the people that live there do about it?" That's the subject of tenant organiser and author Isaac Rose's debut book, The Rentier City: Manchester and the Making of the Neoliberal Metropolis. In this week's episode, Joshi Herrmann hears from Isaac Rose about whether the "Manchester model" of property-fuelled growth symbolises where the British economy is going, and what needs to change to make Manchester a more equitable place to live and work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last month, before Mr Bates vs The Post Office created a massive public outcry and elevated Fujitsu to nationwide notoriety as the company that allowed its software bugs to destroy the lives and reputations of hundreds of innocent subpostmasters, Andy Burnham and Manchester City Council leader Bev Craig were on a bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo, on their way to pay Fujitsu a visit. The central achievement of the trip was secured at the global headquarters of Fujitsu in Tokyo, where a landmark deal was signed, a partnership that Burnham described as a “massive boost” for Greater Manchester. Now, Burnham faces questions about whether the partnership should go forward at all. Many thanks to The Hallé for sponsoring this week's episode. Manchester is globally renowned for its bands and its football teams, but we also have — in the words of The Times — “one of the world's best orchestras”. The Hallé have been entertaining Mancunian audiences for 165 years and they have a sensational calendar of concerts ready for this year, including a three-day celebration of the music of Steve Reich, a living legend from the world of contemporary classical music, on 1 Feburary. It will feature world-class artists like “daring percussionist” Colin Currie and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. Reich himself says the festival “promises to be a magnetically attractive event.” Book your tickets now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last month, before Mr Bates vs The Post Office created a massive public outcry and elevated Fujitsu to nationwide notoriety as the company that allowed its software bugs to destroy the lives and reputations of hundreds of innocent subpostmasters, Andy Burnham and Manchester City Council leader Bev Craig were on a bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo, on their way to pay Fujitsu a visit. The central achievement of the trip was secured at the global headquarters of Fujitsu in Tokyo, where a landmark deal was signed, a partnership that Burnham described as a “massive boost” for Greater Manchester. Now, Burnham faces questions about whether the partnership should go forward at all. Many thanks to The Hallé for sponsoring this week's episode. Manchester is globally renowned for its bands and its football teams, but we also have — in the words of The Times — “one of the world's best orchestras”. The Hallé have been entertaining Mancunian audiences for 165 years and they have a sensational calendar of concerts ready for this year, including a three-day celebration of the music of Steve Reich, a living legend from the world of contemporary classical music, on 1 Feburary. It will feature world-class artists like “daring percussionist” Colin Currie and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. Reich himself says the festival “promises to be a magnetically attractive event.” Book your tickets now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the past year, we've been aware of a bizarre new trend where TikTok creators share videos of women wandering the streets on a night out in Manchester. The video creators claim to be documenting modern life in Manchester, but watch enough of these videos and you’ll start to see an extremely skewed version of the city, where beautiful, drunk women are on every street and there’s a nightclub on every corner. You’ll also notice something else: these women aren’t looking directly at the camera, and don’t appear to be aware that they’re being filmed. So who's behind it? And what's in it for them? That's what Mollie and Jack are discussing in this week's episode. Many thanks to Pomona Partners for sponsoring this episode. Founded by a longtime Mill member, Pomona Partners is a new Manchester business representing the sharpest expert talent. People who bring events and campaigns to life with their knowledge, charisma and storytelling skills. Maybe you’re looking for someone to fire up your staff, get people talking at your conference or engage your prospects over dinner? Pomona has experts in everything from AI to activism, politics to productivity. To find the right person for your event or campaign, drop the Pomona team a line or check out their website. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's nearly the end of 2023! What a year it's been. In our final episode of the year, Joshi, Mollie and Jack round up their favourite stories and take you behind-the-scenes of reporting some of our big investigations and feelgood features. Many thanks to the Hallé for sponsoring this week's episode. Manchester is globally renowned for its bands and its football teams, but we also have — in the words of The Times — “one of the world's best orchestras”. The Hallé have been entertaining Mancunian audiences for 165 years and they have a sensational calendar of concerts ready for 2024, including a three-day celebration of the music of Steve Reich, a living legend from the world of contemporary classical music. It will feature world-class artists like “daring percussionist” Colin Currie and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. Reich himself says the festival “promises to be a magnetically attractive event.” Book your tickets now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's nearly the end of 2023! What a year it's been. In our final episode of the year, Joshi, Mollie and Jack round up their favourite stories and take you behind-the-scenes of reporting some of our big investigations and feelgood features. Many thanks to the Hallé for sponsoring this week's episode. Manchester is globally renowned for its bands and its football teams, but we also have — in the words of The Times — “one of the world's best orchestras”. The Hallé have been entertaining Mancunian audiences for 165 years and they have a sensational calendar of concerts ready for 2024, including a three-day celebration of the music of Steve Reich, a living legend from the world of contemporary classical music. It will feature world-class artists like “daring percussionist” Colin Currie and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. Reich himself says the festival “promises to be a magnetically attractive event.” Book your tickets now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode, Mollie and Jack talk about gatecrashing Chanel's exclusive afterparty at Victoria Baths, the importance of the French luxury fashion house coming to the city and the collective hysteria that settled over Manchester as celebrities flocked to the best hotels and restaurants. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some say the 'Manchester model' is a cautionary tale about what happens when a city hands over its keys to property investors. Others say it's an example of how the great cities of the UK should regenerate and rebuild their prosperity. Economist Mike Emmerich is closer to the second view and has been a key voice in the city for decades. He used to be an advisor in the Treasury and Downing Street before returning home to Manchester, where he helped to negotiate the first big devolution deal. In an in-depth interview with Joshi, he expresses frustration with "the cheap talk of a certain kind of radical politics that fails to give credit to the city's leaders for the unbelievable hard work that they did to bring this city back from the near dead". In the episode, we refer to Mike's recent lecture at the University of Manchester and Daniel's long read for The Mill about whether the city's economic growth is benefiting Mancunians more broadly. Thanks to our sponsors Glow, at the RHS Garden Bridgewater for supporting this episode and our journalism. Book your tickets now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode, Mollie and Jack talk about Fallowfield, the south Manchester neighbourhood that has become a de facto student village for those studying at the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University. Local residents, many who have lived in the area for decades, feel like they are being forgotten, and that their local community has been remade to only cater to a transient student population who, ultimately, aren't invested in the area. As it happens, the students agree. And thank you to our sponsor, Glow at RHS Bridgewater, you can find out more here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Mollie and Jack discuss a very hard-to-access Facebook group in which Mancunian women warn each other about who not to date. The group seems like an important safety mechanism for a generation of women who do a lot of their dating via apps, meeting complete strangers rather than dates who are friends of friends. But does the group always stick to its stated premise? Many thanks to Brsk for sponsoring this episode. Brsk is a new independent broadband provider whose engineers are installing lightning-fast internet connections across the south of Greater Manchester. If you live in Stockport, Didsbury, Chorlton, Withington, Sale, Stretford or the Heatons (check out the ever-expanding map of coverage) you can now get your broadband via 100% fibre optic cables, with more areas like Wilmslow, Hale and Altrincham coming online soon. Brsk runs its own full-fibre network, which means crystal-clear video calls, lightning-fast streams and multi-device browsing — so several members of your family can be reading The Mill at the same time. Find out more by clicking here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode, Mollie and Jack talk about where Chanel - the French luxury fashion house - is looking to host its next show. We know it's going to be in Manchester, but Mollie and our intern Shikhar did some more digging to find out exactly where. The answer is surprising, until you take a second to think about it. Seeing the brand couldn't have existed without the textiles the city produced, there's an argument that a Manchester show is actually Chanel returning to its roots. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode, we hear from our intern, Shikhar Talwar. He and Mollie discuss his investigation into why Afghan refugees - who came here to escape the Taliban in the summer of 2021 - are now turning up homeless in Manchester, having been evicted from the hotels they were originally housed in. Shikhar met Khooshbo Ali, sat with her back against a dustbin on the Curry Mile. She came to Manchester from Bhusawal, a small village beside the Kabul river. She told him: “I am not even sure if coming to England was better than staying in Afghanistan”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Mollie and Daniel discuss the biggest headline that came out of the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester last week — the scrapping of the Manchester leg of HS2. How much of a big deal is this for Manchester, and what's the situation on our existing, not so high-speed, railways? Many thanks to the Great Northern Craft Fair for sponsoring this episode. The contemporary craft fair is back at Victoria Baths this month (Thursday 19 to Sunday 22 October) and will feature beautiful hand-made pieces from the most talented ceramicists, jewellers, textile and glass artists, printmakers, sculptors, blacksmiths and silversmiths in the land, not to workshops, exhibitions and craft demos. Listeners can get two tickets for the price of one by following this special link. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode, Mollie and Joshi talk about the Old Courts, a beautiful arts and culture institution in Wigan that was showered with public money and held up as an example of how the arts can be spread in towns far from London. However, when ex staff members started reaching out two weeks ago to tell us the organisation was in a financial meltdown, we started asking why that might be... Plus, we take you behind our reporting to show you how these investigations come together. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.