Dear readers — welcome back to The Mill’s Monday briefing: a newsletter composed entirely of both news and letters.
Our weekend read – a defence of Manchester City Council’s dealings with Abu Dhabi by Sir Howard Bernstein’s biographer and former No.10 advisor Mike Emmerich – prompted a veritable buffet of comments and insights. Former directors of development, regeneration wonks, planners and one former European Commission official piled in to praise, criticize and expand on Emmerich’s argument: that critics from national newspapers (and also The Mill) have attempted to rewrite the history of Abu Dhabi’s investment in East Manchester.
Many expressed frustration with our recent coverage, which they call too critical of the council’s dealings with Abu Dhabi, and lacking in the context required to show why it was so crucial. “Thank you Mike for this reasoned and much needed intervention,” said former regeneration head Niall Power. “Please find ways of making similar contributions within the national media.” On Bluesky, former economist David Higham and the FT’s Northern Correspondent got into a debate about how we define Manchesterism (strategic use of public land plus foreign investment is less easy to sell as an antidote to neoliberalism, turns out).
Meanwhile, this morning the MEN laid its claim to setting the record straight with a long-read promising the “never-before-told” story of the Abu Dhabi deals — a piece which mentions the bakery Pollen more than you’d expect of the subject matter. It includes quotes from people who live near New Islington but don’t buy their bread from Pollen; as well as statements from Bev Craig, council leader Garry Bridges and CEO of Manchester City Council Tom Stannard. There’s also a characteristically forthright interview with Sir Richard Leese who — when asked about the difficulties of partnering with the UAE given its human rights record — says some people think the UK “isn’t that wonderful” either. It puzzled us, too.
Also in this briefing are an explosive letter to MCC; dispatches from Speedway from our unofficial and ungovernable sports correspondent Alec Herron; the usual shenanigans from Bolton Greens; and a fond farewell to a friend of The Mill.
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