Dear readers — this week on The Mill is going to be a little different. We were once described in the esteemed pages of the Manchester Evening News as a “hyperlocal email newsletter”, and while that makes us sound like we’re barely a rung up from an ecclesiastical parish print-out, it’s also sort of accurate. However, for the first time in four years, we’ve started developing ideas above our station.
We aren’t going to say too much for now, but we are going to unsubtly hint at what we’re getting at by including the below picture from 2021, when we distributed 15,000 copies of a Mill print edition. This time though it’s going to involve a series of pledges The Mill will be making to Manchester — so stay tuned. One other difference…we’re gonna need a bigger boot.
Our friends at RHS Garden Bridgewater are helping us get into the Christmas spirit with the return of their Glow winter light trail. Head down to the beautiful gardens, from 26th November to 30th December, to experience the magic for yourself. With enchanting lights, brand new trails and mulled wine aplenty, it’s the ideal festive evening.
This week’s weather
It’s officially cold, says our local weatherman Martin Miles, although you’ve probably already noticed that by now...
Tuesday 🌧️ Cloudy and breezy with showery rain, which will be wintry in hillier areas, especially overnight and into Wednesday. Max 6°C.
Wednesday 🌧️ Cold with bright spells and a few showers, which will be locally wintry. Max 5°C.
Thursday ❄️ Mostly dry and sunny but feeling cold with frosty conditions. Max 5°C.
Friday 🌦️ Cold and bright at first but turning cloudy with rain by evening. Max 6°C.
Weekend 🌥️ Turning milder but with unsettled and often cloudy weather.
Your Mill briefing
🌍 Exciting news, all: you are living in the 69th best city on the globe. A new, incredibly-official ranking, from the aptly-titled World’s Best Cities, puts us amongst the very best of the best (12th place) for global connectivity and doing pretty well indeed for economic output (35th). Things could be better, of course, we could be living in 68th-placed Perth. But things could also be worse, such as the misfortune of finding yourself in the low 70s — commiserations to Cape Town.
🚄 Better links between the inner cities of the North could help build a new interconnected economy the size of Birmingham, new analysis finds. A paper from the Manchester-based consultancy Metro Dynamics outlines the potential benefits for Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, West and South Yorkshire from integrating Northern job markets, ahead of a (potentially delayed) announcement on Northern Powerhouse Rail. According to the report, the economic benefits of national investment could be multiplied if councils and mayors pursue complementary policies, in particular the increase of well-connected areas and city centres, and improvements to local transport networks.
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✉️ Amid his rumoured conflict with Morgan McSweeney down in Westminster, would-be Starmer successor Wes Streeting now has another senior Labour figure on his case: Andy Burnham. Burnham, alongside Sir Richard Leese, will write to Streeting to express concerns over his planned demolition of Healthwatch, a network of 150 “patient voice” bodies which aims to represent the views of health and social care users. While Burnham isn’t calling on Streeting to reverse the decision in his letter, he does emphasise that any replacement system would need to maintain an “independent public voice”. Large chunks of the letter have been published on PoliticsHome.
🏳️ Workers removing Union Jacks and St George flags from public structures and lampposts across the north west — put up over the summer’s “Operation: Raise the Colours” movement — are being threatened and abused. One contractor in Salford was pulled down from his ladder while actually working on camera equipment, not removing a flag. Trafford Council, which has spent some £25,000 removing flags and repainting roundabouts made to look like the St George flag, have paused the removals after staff members were threatened on social media.
🏗️ Over in Wigan, there is continued furore over the construction of four giant warehouses in the middle of a residential area. The 60-feet high buildings — built by seeming owner-of-everything, Peel — take up 30 acres of land, and a local group has been lobbying the council to pause the works. Last week they delivered a stop notice request to the town hall, claiming that design changes regarding mounds built around the site (called bunds) were made without public consultation. The group has the backing of various Greater Manchester MPs, and Andy Burnham has written to Wigan Council asking it to take the group’s request seriously.
🎭 Is everything okay at HOME? Last year we ran an in-depth piece on the arts venue after an event called ‘Voices of Resilience’, billed as a celebration of Gazan writing, was cancelled then reinstated. Since then we’ve had a few staff at the venue reach out to The Mill to say the story is ongoing. We don’t have all the details yet — it might well just be a not-uncommon case of staff gossiping about their workplace — but if you do know more about it, email Jack.
📻 In our inbox: Manchester City Council need your help to preserve the legacy of the city’s most iconic radio station. Got any old tape recordings of Piccadilly Radio broadcasts in the attic, by any chance? Send them this way.
Home of the week
Pretend you’re in Paris by moving to this balconied 2-bed flat above a boulangerie. £310,000 (you’re not in Paris you’re in Didsbury).
Our favourite reads
Almanac restaurant review — ‘It feels so good being in this place’ — The Times
“These old mill towns are changing. And what’s the surest sign of a place coming up in the world? [...] A sharing-plates restaurant.” Charlotte Ivers has nothing but good things to say about Almanac, the new modern-British restaurant in the Peak District, and it’s a mouth-watering read even if she does keep referring to Glossop as things like “a little commuter town you’ve never heard of”.
Restoring Hopwood Hall Was Supposed to Be a Fairytale. How Did It Go So Wrong? — The Wall Street Journal
Recurring Mill character Hopwood DePree has made it to the pages of the Wall Street Journal. You may remember our article about the actor moving from Los Angeles to Rochdale (as one might) to lay claim to Hopwood Hall (as one should), only to have his dreams of restoring the hall viciously yanked from his grasp by Rochdale Council earlier this year.
Our writers recommend
📰 There’s a few tickets left for The Fall and Rise of Local Journalism, a talk by Mill founder Joshi Herrmann, at the Anthony Burgess Foundation this evening. It kicks off at 18:30, followed by a Q&A, tickets here.
🎄As the most Pat Karney-adjacent member of The Mill staff, Jack Walton is eyeing up wreath-making workshops even though it’s still mid-November. Here’s one in Bolton on Wednesday that might just be the winner. It’s on a farm.
🎤 And because spending nine hours a day, five days a week with each other just doesn’t quite cut it, the entire Mill editorial team are off to see Loyle Carner this weekend. Jack D and Ophira know little about him, but Jack W says he’s a rare performer who can blend sincere and vulnerable lyricism with entire songs about middle-eastern cookbooks.
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