Dear readers — we’re starting the week with some fantastic news: We hit our campaign target of 5,000 subscribers! So to the 500 of you that have joined in the past fortnight, take this as an official welcome. Details on our party to celebrate the milestone are in the works, so await your invites.
Our weekend read was about how the increased scrutiny of deals between Manchester City’s owners and Manchester City Council has forced Andy Burnham to confront the uglier truth of his much-feted Manchesterism. It got a big response online, shared by sports journalists from all over the world. Closer to home things were more mixed: one Mill commenter described it as “succinct and brilliant”, while another said it was a “hard read” and would be setting time aside to read it again. The duality of Mill reportage continues to befuddle. If you’d like to read the piece, or perhaps read it for a second time in a quiet room, find it below:
Joshi Herrmann
Seeing the weekend’s papers were all but dominated by Andy Burnham’s bunged response to the Manchester City scandal, our briefing opens with a round-up of what’s gone on, who is saying what, and crucially what we’re saying. Enjoy!
The world looks to Manchester, but not in a good way
Within a week of his adored conference speech, it is now open-season on Andy Burnham as reporters scramble to connect him and the owners of Manchester City. It has followed Burnham’s response to the 114 counts of financial mismanagement the owners are charged with, in which he was concerned about the owners having to sell. “They’ve been such a huge partner in the building of modern Manchester,” he said, to much blowback.
Now, The Times, The i, Telegraph and New York Times are scrutinising deals made between Manchester City Council and ADUG — owned by Emirati royal Sheikh Mansour — who invested millions in the redevelopment of east Manchester. Much of that reporting draws on a document published by The Mill last summer, which outlined how Mansour would be given “right of first refusal” (in other words, first dibs) on the development of a big swathe of land starting at Great Ancoats St and going all the way to Holt Town.
The Telegraph focussed on the senior official, named in our reporting as Dominic Hayes, who resigned over the deals the council was doing with ADUG. Multiple papers highlighted how the area Mansour was given first dibs over included the site that is now earmarked to be No.10 North’s permanent home. Though it’s worth noting that the first-dibs deal expired months before it was announced that No.10 North would move into that site.
Burnham is yet to make a statement on the media frenzy around ADUG’s deals in Manchester. Former Manchester City Council leader Richard Leese spoke to Radio 4 defending the council’s relationship with Mansour and his company. Leese, who is now honorary president of Manchester City, said he was speaking “on behalf of himself, not the club” and said Abu Dhabi had “real credibility” in the city and "one thing about working with Abu Dhabi is that everything that they've promised, they've delivered. They have real credibility in the city. That's something we want to maintain."
Crumpsall Synagogue scouted for planned bomb attack
Two Iranian men carried out a reconnaissance of Heaton Park Synagogue, North Manchester, while planning to attack it with a homemade bomb, a court heard on Saturday. Rahman Salehi, 34, of Salford, and Salam Ahmadyan, 36, from Liverpool appeared in Westminster Magistrates' Court on Saturday, where they stand charged with preparing attacks on a number of sites in the city, including Manchester Jewish Museum on Cheetham Hill Road.
Prosecutor Mark Luckett told the court: “The defendants were observed carrying out, what the prosecution say, is a hostile reconnaissance within Manchester’s Jewish community, identifying attempted targets such as the Jewish Museum and Heaton Park synagogue.” In a separate incident, Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby were killed at Heaton Park Synagogue on Jewish holy day Yom Kippur in October last year, when Jihad Al-Shamie drove into the gates of the Synagogue and began attacking with a knife, wearing a fake suicide belt. The men will return to the Old Bailey on 23 October.
Tory bottle in question
Illustrator to Manchester’s stars, Stanley Chow, has said he is seeking legal advice after his famous depiction of Andy Burnham was used on Conservative Party conference handouts. An image of the prime minister in Chow’s trademark style appeared on a bottle of water with the pretty amusing label text: ‘Bottler Burnham, 0% strength, bottled under pressure from Badenoch’.
It’s not the first time Chow’s Burnham illustration has been used for political purposes against the PM. In June, Nigel Farage deleted a social media post which showed an AI-generated image of migrants on a small boat holding Burnham’s Makerfield campaign poster, which featured Chow’s image and the messaging ‘Vote Andy For Us’. In that case, Chow threatened legal action and Reform removed the posts.
Chef's casino restaurant folds
Celebrity chef James Martin has closed his only Manchester restaurant, which was in the Manchester235 casino in the Great Northern. The restaurant had lasted 14 years but announced its immediate closure last week. We never went, but there was a kind of office fascination about the place that followed the time we made Jack go to a speed-dating night in the bar there. Read that classic below.
Jack Dulhanty
This week’s weather
Our indefatigable weatherman Martin Miles tells us to expect a noticeable chill later in the week, which is actually just us returning to normal temperatures after an unseasonably warm September.
Tuesday 🌦️ Mild and mostly cloudy with showers mainly during the afternoon. Max 17°c.
Wednesday 🌦️ Much cooler with bright spells and showers. Breezy. Max 13°c.
Thursday 🌦️ Cool with sunny spells and a few showers. Max 13°c.
Friday 🌦️ Breezy and mild with showery periods of rain. Max 15°c.
Weekend 🌦️ Remaining seasonably cool and changeable.
Home of the Week
Do you want rural and urban? Do you want easy access to Bury and Bolton? Do you want to be able to see who is going up the stairs at all times? This characterful stone cottage, complete with log burner, is all yours for £250,000.
This week’s recommendations
🎸 On Tuesday, Brushy One String will be showing the world, well Band on the Wall, why everyone from John Lennon to Alex Turner have been wasting their energy on five strings too many. Expect reggae, folk, roots, and blues and humour all played out on a guitar with one string. Tickets can be bought here.
👑 On Thursday, Alec will be heading downstairs from the office to see the Royal Exchange Theatre’s ongoing run of King Lear (sic). David Threllfall, who let’s be honest, you’ll first recognise as Frank from Shameless, plays the lead role. Shows run until November 15.
📖 How this event hasn’t sold out yet is well beyond us. Booker Prize-winning author Bernadine Evaristo will be interviewing iconic Manchester-based screenwriter Russell T Davies on stage at the RNCM Concert Hall . Davies, whose works includes Doctor Who, It’s a Sin and Queer as Folk, is set to discuss his forthcoming memoir. Very last tickets can be grabbed here.
