The Manchester Weekly from The Mill

Has the question of whether Manchester or Birmingham is Britain's second city distracted us from another possibility: That Britain doesn't have a second city at all?David Rudlin, director of urban design at BDP, thinks so. A little-known law states that neither Birmingham nor Manchester are big enough to claim the title of Britain's second city, which brings us onto an interesting question: How have both cities fallen short? And what would it take for them to catch up?With thanks to Manchester Museum's Wild Show for sponsoring this episode. Wild is a brilliant new exhibition at Manchester Museum exploring 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.Many readers have been sending in photos of their favourite wild spaces, if you’d like to join them, just email us a photo and description of your favourite wild space to editor@manchestermill.co.uk. 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 and plan your visit via this link.Recommendations:Britain doesn't have a second city, The MillI value Brummie art, but who else does? The ObserverHow to invigorate Britain's second-tier cities, The EconomistThe Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane JacobsThe Economy of Cities, Jane JacobsManchester Unspun, Andy Spinoza

Writer Alec Herron's gran’s house was on the Grey Mare Lane estate in Beswick, east Manchester. He can still remember Sunday afternoons "filled with rice pudding, sucking bone marrow and hours sat around the table hearing stories of tragedy and petty gossip told with the same veracity".It will all be coming down soon. The regeneration of Grey Mare Lane estate was initiated after a 2017 public consultation concluded the estate was being “left behind”. Late last year, a £70 million masterplan for the area was withdrawn, two years after being first presented to residents. Three weeks ago a new masterplan was released. 124 social rented homes are to be demolished, and at least 550 new homes built — more than double the number of the previous masterplan.In this week's episode, Alec discusses his memories of the estate — some happy, some painful — and why this area is ripe for regeneration, and asks whether the same community can live on after the demolish-and-rebuild scheme is complete.A warning: this episode contains a description of physical violence.With thanks to Manchester Museum's Wild Show for sponsoring this episode. Wild is a brilliant new exhibition at Manchester Museum exploring 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.Many readers have been sending in photos of their favourite wild spaces, if you’d like to join them, just email us a photo and description of your favourite wild space to editor@manchestermill.co.uk. 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 and plan your visit via this link.Recommendations:Clinging on in east Manchester, The MillEstates, Lynsey HanleyReclaiming East Manchester, Len Grant

It’s been a frantic few days of political shenanigans as Sir Keir Starmer’s ruthless operation in London moves to impose its favoured people on the safe seats that are up for grabs in Greater Manchester, the Lib Dems attempt to remove any Tory blue from the Greater Manchester map and the Tories fight to hold on in Bolton. So who are the people vying to be the next MPs of Greater Manchester, and what's going on with Labour's candidate selections? Mollie and Jack take a look.Recommendations:‘It’s basically a f*** you to the left’: Labour’s candidate selections are going down well, The MillYes, Galloway won Rochdale. But it’s the runner up who really tells us about politics in the town, The MillAfter Labour blows up in Rochdale, George Galloway seizes his chance, The MillWhy Labour stormed local elections across the country - but lost ground in Greater Manchester, The Mill

Last Thursday, The Mill revealed that Primary Security, a company controlled by Sacha Lord, had obtained more than £400,000 of public money from an Arts Council scheme that was supposed to support culturally significant organisations during the pandemic. Our story presented evidence that the application was deeply misleading and that Sacha Lord’s company Primary Security had recently changed its name to Primary Events. Fast forward to 5.04pm on Friday, and an expensive law firm in the capital sent a letter threatening to sue The Mill. Our story was defamatory, the letter said, and “factually wrong”. We had until 4pm on Tuesday to publish an apology and take down the story. Instead of complying with this deadline, we dug deeper. After we discovered new details, the Arts Council and the GMCA launched an investigation into the funding application, and as of yesterday evening, Sacha Lord has now withdrawn his legal threat against The Mill. In a lengthu public statement, which you can read in full here, Lord denies all of the allegations. In this special episode of The Manchester Weekly from Mill, Joshi Herrmann and Jack Dulhanty take you behind the scenes of our reporting and we sit down with the original source for the story, Mark Turnbull, the former director of Primary Security.

Co-op Live is finally live! Bury rock band Elbow performed at Manchester's new £365 million arena to a crowd of thousands on Tuesday night, after a series of disastrous mishaps where gigs were postponed or cancelled and an air conditioning vent fell from the ceiling. What was behind the delays in the first place, and what does Co-op Live have to do to win back the public's trust?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.

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 MillManchester has a homelessness crisis. But it's not the one you thought, The MillMonths after a violent attack on a homeless man, the police are still trying to rebuild trust, The Mill

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.

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 MillJordan Neely’s Death and a Critical Moment in the Homelessness Crisis, The New Yorker

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 PodcastSobriety's Wake-Up Call: Karl's StoryFollow Heard Storytelling on Instagram to keep up with their latest events, projects and announcements