Dear readers — over the weekend Millers were treated to a comeback for the ages. Like Cristiano Ronaldo stepping out at Old Trafford after 12 years away (but with a happier ending) or Brendan Fraser returning to the limelight for an Oscar-winning turn in The Whale, ex-Mill editor Sophie Atkinson graced these pages once more on Saturday. Her piece unspooled a mystery that has hung like a dark cloud over the librarians of the north west for a decade and a half.
The belief is that a quarter of a million books were disposed of during the refurbishment of the Central Library in the early 2010s for no good reason at all. As Sophie writes: “Are [the librarians] the last keepers of a dark Mancunian literary secret? Or are their claims muddled and — as the council would have it — their evidence anecdotal, amounting to nothing more than a curiously persistent conspiracy theory?”
“The @manchestermill.bsky.social is such a gem of a local paper,” wrote Jennie in response to the piece. “This article on the Central Library demonstrates so well how the local can be a microcosm of wider trends.” Meanwhile Julia called it “great journalism yet again about things that really matter to many, me included,” and lots of others weighed in with their own thoughts in the comments below the piece — you can add to the debate here.
Elsewhere last week our latest staff writer Lucy debuted in these pages (perhaps more akin to Cristiano Ronaldo’s sparkling 2003 United debut against Bolton Wanderers or Brendan Fraser’s breakthrough role at the box office: 1997’s George of the Jungle), and later in the week our reporting about lawyer Andrew Milne was raised in parliament. The latter involved Bolton West MP Phil Brickell addressing the House of Commons and asking why homeowners in Bolton should have to “live in fear of being ripped off by ‘crooked lawyers’” (that’s Milne). A fair question, and one we’ve been pondering ourselves…
The Dream Space podcast invites you to imagine a new world
Can art show us the way to a better world? Factory International's podcast, Dream Space, takes you right into the unique minds of the world's leading artists. Each week, Gemma Cairney asks a different artist to build their dream world, exploring with them how artistic thinking can help us see our world's problems afresh. The latest season asks recent resident of Aviva Studios, Marina Abramović, to delve into her dream space, looking at the central role her own dreams play in her life and art, and reflecting on how they interact with forces like spirituality and old age. You can listen to this episode and others wherever you get your podcasts, or via the link below.
James Binks has resigned as CEO of Rochdale Council
Top line: James Binks, CEO of Rochdale Council, has resigned. Binks was suspended after we revealed a confidential report into his conduct while he was assistant CEO at Manchester City Council.
Context: Last November we broke the news about Binks’ conduct at a council staff awards ceremony in November 2024. That piece detailed how, following disclosures by whistle-blowers, Manchester City Council commissioned a report into the actions of some of its executives.
- The report found Binks, then assistant CEO of Manchester, “inappropriately touched and grinded against” a junior female colleague.
- It also found then-deputy CEO of the council Paul Marshall also acted inappropriately towards the same woman (the phrase used in the report is that they “worked on” her together). The council’s HR director Mark Bennett witnessed this conduct but did nothing. Both men resigned following the report.
- Binks started as Rochdale’s CEO in April of last year, a few months before the investigation was commissioned.
Aftermath: Following Binks’ suspension in December, focus turned to how early Neil Emmott — Rochdale’s council leader — was made aware of the Weightmans report. The Guardian found council officers in Rochdale received the findings of the report five weeks before passing them on to Emmott.
But sources told The Guardian, and this paper, that Emmott had been aware of the allegations against Binks at least a fortnight before we published our story about the report. Rochdale council has maintained this was not the case.
Reaction: The Mill hasn’t yet managed to find a councillor saddened by Binks’ resignation, which we understand was tendered on New Years Eve. Over the last month, multiple councillors have spoken about the reputational damage done to the council — one already marred by previous scandals — by the allegations against Binks and officer’s tardiness in addressing them.
“They sat on the report,” one councillor, off the record, says. “I don’t trust them to deal with these issues going forward
Another councillor, also off the record, spent most of the conversation with The Mill distracted by other matters and bits of gossip. But they ended our call by saying: “Anyway, yeah, sorry [Binks] fucked his life up at 42 or whatever, lost a £200,000 job and all that, but he should have known better.”
Bottom line: Binks’ resignation will be officially ratified tomorrow, at the council’s Chief Officer Employment Committee. Currently, the council’s director of corporate services Julie Murphy is acting as interim, but councillors want to see the position taken by someone from outside of the organisation. “I believe it needs to go out to be advertised, to give everyone a chance to apply for the role,” says councillor Danny Meredith. “We need to be looking at external candidates again.”
It's a new year, and we're really keen to hear what you, our readers, think about The Mill. We've set up a short survey where you can tell us what you like, what you don't like, and a bit more about you as well. It only takes 5 minutes and it really helps us to improve what we're doing - many thanks.
Your briefing
🚗 GMP are asking for eyewitnesses to come forward after a crash in Bolton killed four people and injured five over the weekend. The head-on collision happened just before 1am on Sunday morning on Wigan Road, with three teenagers and a man in his 50s among the dead. Neelam Khan, a local, described the “disturbing” aftermath to the BBC. There has been a spate of serious crashes in Bolton in recent years, and GMP’s chief inspector, Helen McCormick, has said that “we’ve all got much more to do” in terms of road safety.
👮 After a police investigation was launched into the Holocaust memorial bench destroyed by vandals in Salford last week, the city’s mayor, Paul Dennett, has promised to repair it. The bench was first displayed in Clowes Park in 2017 to commemorate Chaim Ferster, who survived eight concentration camps, including Auschwitz, during the Second World War. Its destruction, which saw the bench discarded in a lake, was described as an “act of antisemitic hatred” by the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Dennett has since confirmed he’s been in contact with Ferster’s youngest son and community representatives to offer support, and said the council will address security concerns in the area and restore the bench so that it can be “rightfully put back in place,” the MEN reports.
🧱 The mystery of Manchester’s vigilante vandalist thickens. Two days ago, yet another strange graffiti photograph appeared on Reddit, just a week after speculation about anti-White Hotel spray paint near Cheetham Hill Road. This time, the graffiti takes aim at Ancoats cafe Pollen, branding the bakery "Homo-Phobic". A few commenters on Reddit believe it must be the same person behind both, with one person even saying they came “face to face” with the alleged vandal the other day.
Some claim the vandal is a man with a Pomeranian. Others claim him to be "homeless and dogless". While our graffiti experts thought last week’s writing looked “studenty”, it remains up for debate whether this week’s spray painting was penned by the same hand. If you know anything, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Ophira.
This week’s weather
Tuesday 🌧️ Cloudy & breezy with showery outbreaks of rain. Max 9°c.
Wednesday ☁️ Cold & frosty to start with, then clear spells. Turning cloudy by the afternoon with the odd shower later. Max 7°c.
Thursday ⛅ A mix of bright spells & light showers with heavy rain moving in during the evening. Max 8°c.
Friday ⛅ Sunny spells during the morning before a mixed afternoon with scattered showers. Max 8°c.
Weekend ☁️ Temperatures will remain around average for the time of year & despite a lot of cloud cover, there will be plenty of dry weather.
Home of the week
If the idea of living in a swanky flat in the Northern Quarter appeals to you, then here's one for £278,000. If it doesn’t, live somewhere else!
What we’re reading
Inspirational police chief shows we can get a grip on crime — The Times
“The shoplifters running down Bury New Road in Prestwich could not possibly have known who was about to tackle them,” begins this surprisingly dramatic profile on Manchester’s chief of police Sir Stephen Watson. This piece argues that the GMP has been transformed from failing force to an unprecedented success by their chief constable — and set the standard for policing across the UK.
The 'dangerous rise' in TikTok urban explorers — BBC
Meet the Greater Manchester TikTokers going viral for exploring abandoned asbestos factories. The BBC argue this is not the most sensible pastime. In fact, even the Urban Explorers themselves don’t recommend it. “[Y]ou really shouldn't follow our footsteps unless you're completely sure about what you're doing and you take it really seriously", says one of them.
To do this week
☘️ For the green-fingered among us, Jack recommends the evening gardening club at Altogether Otherwise this Tuesday. It runs weekly, is very low-expectation, and can offer help and support with pretty much anything gardening related. More info here.
🍷 And Jack 2 won’t be able to attend this event because he’s already out of money for the month, but were he not, the prospect of Italian wines and cheeses (or vino e formaggio) at Malmaison would be calling out to him like a siren song. Perfetto!
🍔 In the spirit of Veganuary, Lucy is heading to The Allotment, a veggie restaurant in the Northern Quarter. They’ve got a 30% discount on food throughout January, and with a menu offering vegan versions of everything from meatball marinara to sticky toffee pudding, there really is no excuse not to give the plant-based life a go.
2026 has barely begun and we've already seen the resignation of James Binks, a senior council official in Rochdale, due to our work, and had our reporting on lawyer Andrew Milne raised in parliament. Not a bad 12 days!
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